If you’re looking for a fiery topic to bring up at your favorite 12-step meeting in Denver, just say the words “medical marijuana.” Commonly used on the DL—yet so hotly debated—I’ve seen these two words draw a line down the center of the recovery community, dividing the Mile High City. Some claim it helps when coming off drugs and alcohol, others say you can’t really be sober if you’re using weed. But as a new article from Yahoo News and US News & World Report points out, the rocky marriage of medical marijuana and recovery isn’t just a controversial subject in my hometown—it’s universal.
Green and Sober
I’ll admit it: the idea of drugs as a means to get off drugs seems, uh, shall we say counterproductive? Yet some healthcare professionals make pretty compelling arguments for using weed to kick drugs and alcohol. Like Dr. Mark Hashim, an anesthesiologist who has treated opioid addicts with medical marijuana. “I’ve given it to patients who are in recovery and haven’t had an issue,” Hashim told US News & World Report. Others, like Amanda Reiman (PhD, MSW) and author of the 2009 study “Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol and Other Drugs,” think there is evidence to suggest that it does work in treating addicts. “When you look at the withdrawal symptoms of drugs like opiates and alcohol—things like nausea, tremors, trouble sleeping—these are all conditions which cannabis is really good at fixing,” Reiman said in an interview with Vice magazine. Other studies say that medical marijuana helps reduce anxiety (duh) and stimulate appetite (double duh) in people suffering from ALS. Also, the internet is filled with testimonials written by people like Buzzfeed contributor Katie Herzog who used to be alcoholics but are now stoners who can drink normally.
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Aside from perhaps getting the stink eye from people with long-term sobriety, there’s a slew of issues that come along with medical marijuana—relapse chief among of them. “People are more likely to seek their primary drug or alcohol when they are intoxicated or high,” says Anne Lewis, clinical psychologist and Licensed Addictions Counselor (LAC) with Indiana University Health told US News & World Report “It lowers your inhibition, so you don’t care. We don’t make good decisions when we’re drunk or high.” This was certainly my experience in 2002 when I tried marijuana maintenance to stop drinking. Only problem? I’d get so high that a Heineken would sound amazing, and soon one would magically appear in my hand. Thus, my quest for sobriety would have to start all over again the next day.
Deadly side effects like heart issues and traffic fatalities (which my own state has seen a huge bump in) make addiction professionals reluctant to recommend medical marijuana. But the biggest thing holding medical marijuana back as a cure-all for addiction is the utter lack of real clinical trials to prove that it even works. Folks like Sheila Shilati, chief operating officer of Seasons Recovery Centers, say her organization will hold off recommending medical marijuana until more data becomes available. “I don’t think we would go blindly into it and make recommendations [to use medical marijuana]at this juncture,” Shilati says. “We have a responsibility to fully understand its implications.”
Because I Got High
As the debate between government opposition and support for legalization heats up, this discussion will surely continue in the halls and basements of recovery. For me, it’s pretty clear: I like getting high and not feeling my life on pretty much any substance. I once smoked so much pot before seeing Lord of The Rings, not only did I almost pee my pants, but when I left the movie I questioned if the whole thing was real or not (like real-real). I’m also a person prone to massive depression, so smoking weed for me fast-tracked that particular mental illness and made the despair three-fold. Therefore, I basically avoid anything—medical or not—that makes me want to check out and go wander around a make-believe shire.
But that’s me. Total abstinence works for me and might not work for everybody else. If medical marijuana can help someone get off hardcore drugs or stop being a drunken jerkface, more power to them. Despite being a hot button issue, there’s one thing most sober people can agree on: find a recovery program that you can stick to and don’t do it alone.
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