A major controversy arises when the question “Do psychology experts recommend medical marijuana for disorders like anxiety?” are brought up in professional or laymen conversations. The answer to that question is far ranging with many diverging views and attitudes. The current situation differs from State to State. There are many conflicts between law enforcement agencies and medical practitioners that exacerbate the situation.
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Current Laws
The 1970 Federal Controlled Substances Act stands as a bulwark against the proliferation of marijuana use whether for recreational or medical use. Under normal circumstances, Federal Laws hold precedence over local authorities. But, with current public opinion running against this Federally mandated restriction new State laws are appearing with the authority of State-wide voting. Nine States and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana use as a prescriptive against psychological disorders like PTSD, depression, and anxiety. More States are considering the move as education overcomes prejudice against a drug that enhances lives and reduces the risks associated with many psychological conditions as well as physical pain associated with chemotherapy and other medical procedures. Many psychologists and Medical practitioners feel caught in the vacuum between two forces as they attempt to juggle the viability of marijuana treatment versus the specter of the law and courts.
Is There Proof of Marijuana’s Effect?
For over 70 years the assumption that marijuana creates more harm than good has created an environment that fostered the examination of the negative aspects of marijuana use without any consideration of the positive aspects. The result is a host of material on the effects of marijuana as a gateway drug toward opiates and other life-threatening drugs. Seeking a balance in information was an impossible dream up to the 90s when studies into the physiological aspects of the human body in relationship to marijuana consumption finally surfaced through all the negative propaganda. It turns out, as revealed in Psychology Today, that the human body supplies a cannabis system of its own called the endocannabinoid system that regulates mood, memory, appetite, and pain sensation. The use of an outside cannabis source serves as an enhancement of the system already present in the human body. Indeed, there is some proof that psychological disorder like anxiety is the result, to some point, of the failure of the endocannabinoid system working correctly. The use of marijuana to combat this failure of the bodies system acts as a jump-start for something that already exists.
Medical marijuana for Anxiety Treatment
Many doctors, psychologists, and other specialists still observe the Federal laws against the use of marijuana as the goal post for all discussion around the topic. Mired in the repeated mantras of the past these otherwise curious and prescient individuals maintain their distance from the drug and hence, fail to allow their patients to discover the advantages of the treatment. Others are researching the data on their own and opening their minds to the relief they can give their patients. Anxiety, just like the other psychological disorders, causes patients to fear reality and shut themselves off from the possibilities of their lives.
The Future Outlook
With the slow changing of laws around the issue of prescribing marijuana as a treatment, the evidence is appearing before the eyes of doctors who were once intransigent in their attitude toward the use of the drug. The practice of prescribing marijuana as a treatment for anxiety and other psychological disorders will increase as doctors watch the improvement in their patients.