If you are struggling with anxiety and depression, it’s important to have a full understanding of the pros and cons of marijuana use. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so I wrote this blog post to help “clear the air.”

Is Marijuana a Miracle Drug for Reducing Anxiety and Depression?

Marijuana use is growing across America – as more and more states legalize the drug. As of 2023, 20 states and the District of Colombia have legalized cannabis for recreational use, and 27 states allow it for varying medicinal purposes. Weed is fully legal in Canada and many countries around the world. I commend political efforts to decriminalize the drug – people shouldn’t be going to jail or being penalized for using marijuana. But to the untrained consumer reading all kinds of opinions and conflicting information on websites and social media, unpacking weed use can feel confusing. It can seem like a miracle drug – and who doesn’t want to believe a miracle drug exists? Can marijuana use really make you feel good, decrease anxiety, and decrease pain? Is marijuana some sort of wonder drug with various health benefits and no consequences?

I wish that were the case. Who doesn’t want to have access to some special herb or panacea that can take away all our ailments with no adverse side effects? Unfortunately, people who make these claims are blowing a bunch of smoke. I have yet to meet or hear of a single patient whose depression or anxiety was cured by marijuana. 

Weed Use Has Benefits and Downsides

Weed use can have some benefits: it can help you temporarily escape unpleasant feelings, and produce mild pain relief, and induce relaxation. For some people, it can temporarily reduce anxiety or help with sleep. But it’s not without its negative side effects. Weed is a performance-inhibiting drug – it reduces cognitive performance across a variety of measures including memory, fine motor skills, and attention. Heavy long-term use can also have profound consequences. A study from New Zealand tracked 1037 individuals from birth to age 45 – measuring their marijuana use intelligence, and cognition over time. Those adults with heavy use, who used weekly at age 45, showed on average a 5.5 IQ point decline compared to when they were children, as well as poorer learning abilities, lower processing speed, as well as attention and memory problems. While one study doesn’t explain the whole story of marijuana – why risk having lackluster brain performance in our increasingly competitive world? 

Other negative side effects include reduced motivation, paranoia, increased anxiety, binge eating, and slowing your cognitive performance – essentially reducing your brain power. It makes you more distractible, less focused, more forgetful, and can cause your thoughts to be more scattered – and all these symptoms can last 1-2 days after smoking. With daily use, marijuana can impair your memory and make it harder to read social cues – causing problems in your relationships. It can be hard to be in sync with your partner while you’re off in space – unless you’re off in space together.

What About Medicinal Marijuana?

What about medicinal marijuana? If weed has so many negative side effects, why is it used for medicinal purposes? Only certain medical conditions qualify for medical marijuana where the risks of marijuana use are outweighed by potential benefits and alleviation of suffering – and the qualifying conditions are typically chronic. For Connecticut, the list includes diseases like cancer, Chron’s disease, glaucoma, and AIDS. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the only mental health condition that qualifies.  This list is similar in Florida, New York, and other states.

While recreational marijuana use might not get in the way of work and relationship performance (i.e., mild use 1-2x a week,) you’re dreaming if you think smoking weed every day won’t get in the way of functioning at your maximum potential and crushing your personal, career, and relationship goals. Unfortunately, the idea of a wonder drug that can have benefits with no downsides is just a fantasy. 

Should I Stop or Just Cut Back?

If you use marijuana regularly, it’s important to examine the ups and downs of its use for your lifestyle. Do an inventory of any negative side effects from marijuana use and compare those against the positive. On balance, is marijuana use interfering with your goals, career, school, or relationships? Ask some trusted friends and loved ones for feedback. If you’re a daily user, it may feel hazy to think about what your life felt like before being high every day. In this case, it may be good to take a 2-4 week break to see how your mind operates without it.

One thing that most people don’t realize is that marijuana can have a subtle “hangover” effect the following day including scattered thoughts, mild anxiety, foggy thinking, and low motivation. Using weed once in a while or on vacation likely won’t cause much (or any) harm if you’re an adult without any psychiatric history. Marijuana use is not recommended for teenagers and children of course, as research has found that youth’s developing brains are more vulnerable to its negative effects on learning, attention, emotional health, and can more easily contribute to mental health issues like psychosis and addiction. So if you’re under the age of 18, wait until you’re an adult and your brain is more developed before experimenting with cannabis.

Like With Any Vice, Less is More

If you aren’t ready to stop using marijuana, like with any vice, use it in moderation. Considering limiting its use to weekends, or vacations where you have no responsibilities. If you’re smoking a lot of it (for instance, a half gram or more per day), start by reducing the amount daily and eventually have days of the week where you don’t use it. If you enjoy marijuana with no negative consequences and are crushing all your goals – then you are one of the rare, lucky ones! 

Bottom Line

Marijuana affects everyone differently, some to stronger degrees than others. The truth is, for most of us, it’s hard to be a high performer who continues to level up while using a drug that hinders performance. If you do use marijuana to self-medicate anxiety, depression, stress, or something else – a better approach could be to either address the root cause or find healthy coping strategies rather than self-medicating with a band-aid approach. Healthy coping strategies have few or no downsides while helping you maximize your performance. There’s no credible research evidence that marijuana can cure depression or anxiety. If you are a healthy adult who enjoys using it occasionally, on the other hand, there’s likely not much harm being done.