Marijuana Is A Drug Not A Remedy For Mental Health

Growing up, I had heard smoking Marijuana was not something that was openly talked about but strongly discouraged both in school and at home. Marijuana was one of those drugs I used to hear from my classmates and on television shows as the drug that would help its smoker mentally and emotionally "escape" an abusive situation for a little while  or perhaps, to help a teenage boy breathe better by as it was said " opening one's own chest."

However, it has become surprisedly beneficial when recent studies have shown a " weed" that is similar to Marijuana in looks and smells The Hemp Flower, which is supposedly very supportive of mental health.  

Those who have suffered from mental disorders have been encouraged to think about inhaling cannabis because the components on the Hemp flower have the ability to numb the mind according to the article, “ Does Smoking Hemp Flower have Any Mental Benefits?

People who suffer from depression have low serotonin levels- a chemical that governs mood has enormous power on a person’s brain in contrast to people who have anxiety have no serotonin at all. Additionally, cannabis’s effects are not only for the mind but can be used as therapeutic options.

However, anyone that suffers from Depression or Anxiety or maybe both, have other options that too can regulate a person’s mood by understanding their thought process and working with coping techniques that can help them think more clearly about their thoughts and behavior patterns through what is now known as Talk Therapy that is practiced by psychotherapists and influences the changing unhealthy life choices.

I myself have attended psychotherapy without the aid of medications with a highly trained psychotherapist who has helped me grow into a much stronger and highly focused person than I was. Throughout our talk therapy, I was able to understand my thinking patterns and got help deconstructing them towards making them better so there was no need " to calm" any part of my brain.        

What are Hemp Flower and its connection to Marijuana?    

Simply put, a Hemp flower is a flower that is made up by the Hemp plant. The flower itself is marijuana – a weed that intoxicates the mind that is explained by the website, Cannabis Training University.

According to Kevin Klein, Hemp and Marijuana are completely two different plants of the same species. The Hemp plant does not intoxicate the mind but marijuana does. However, the Hem flower does look and smell like marijuana.

And so just because a part of marijuana – the Hemp flower or the marijuana itself as a medical aspect of mental health treatment might sound convenient and effective there is this a cause to wonder the effects of the Hemp flower being used by people who suffer from mental health issues such as Depression, Anxiety and Autism shown by CBDistilley.

Because the Hemp flower is a natural product that has not been processed by machinery it does seem like a healthier choice but since they are often mistaken for marijuana and used in the same way it can not be an option for mental health! When a Hemp flower is smoked, it releases in the same way tobacco releases harmful substances in your body.

According to Superadm, even though the Hemp flower has a high level of CBO, the flower Hemp is also saturated in CBDA that is inactive but becomes effective in the process of making it an active component in where the human body has to work even harder to break down in the body.

Just because marijuana has become legal in certain parts of the world and is now being idolized as a treatment for mental health because of its known history of it being an undercover intoxicant that suppressed the mind has a part that might actually be helpful does not mean anyone should be smoking or inhaling either one of it.

Still, it seems there are those who say that the Hemp flower and the weed marijuana are not part of the same family of plants but just have different names and since the science that is used to understand what makes marijuana able to numb the mind of a mentally or distressed drug as a highly intoxicated drug.

According to Aaron Cadena's article Hemp vs Marijuana: The Difference Explained, the chemical balance of the intoxication of marijuana has equal amounts to the numbing aspect of the drug but at varying levels.

While smoking the Hemp flower does not produce the same intoxication as marijuana but it does respond to the mind in a way that is not considered dangerous by reacting to the receptors in the human brain by producing the feeling of relaxation where several people have reported a slight buzz according to Jack Woodhouse's article, CBD Testors, Are the Psychoactive Effects of Smoking Hemp flower Understated? 

Because of the many similarities between the Hemp flower and the drug, Marijuana and the slight cases that in the medical field that its uses might be beneficial is still in questioning, regardless, if the numbing effect is not intoxicating enough to give hallucinatory side effects. It should not mean it should be put to use for temporary relief towards patients who suffer from depression and anxiety.

In Marla's article, The Mind and Body Benefits of Hemp Oil Massage, Organic4Green Livings.com, with passing time, the Hemp flower has also gotten acceptance into a form of massage oil as well where it has been said to once again, soothe the body of stress without having any bad side effects to the body.

While I have no arguments nor should anyone else have against having a good massage to relieve tensions of the human body, the Hemp flower is still dangerous to the human mind and should not be used as a mental health drug.

Patients should not be subjected to another row of medications wherein the subject of mental illness is addressed because there is already an everlasting amount of medication that is not only available but at times proven to not be enough. Start with talk therapy. 

What Counseling Sessions Can do for Mental Health?   

Talk Therapy is the most natural way for any human being to work on their mental health because there is nothing more natural than talking to another person about any thought process that may be affecting their lifestyle and their short-term or long-term goals.

The power of the mind lies in the thinking process which has been written about in so many ways by trained and untrained people all over the world. 

• Start slowly by calling a counseling hotline such as NYC Talk. This will help you get started talking to anyone on the phone without them knowing who you are and without giving any personal information since there is no need to be consistent.  
• Talking to any counseling hotline, if it makes you feel good to express yourself emotionally to a stranger about your feelings might make you need more communication, why not walk into a clinic and ask to speak to a counselor right there and then? If you are ready, you can start preparing for your first official session.
• Keep a small journal and write out the topics you had talked about or are going to in your counseling sessions. When they make notes, you as their patient can also make notes too mentally - not only about what was being said in the session itself but the manner of how the session itself is being conducted?
• If you are uncomfortable with the session - say so, you can change your doctor or the way the session is being conducted. Maybe you want to talk about the news first or perhaps you prefer to look out the window while you speak. 
• Don't be afraid of what you talk about or how you feel might hurt who is not in the room with you. You are safe and in control. 
• Remember you can cancel or stop your sessions at any time, you want. But think to yourself- do you want to stop the little progress you do not see that you are already making? 
• Keep going! There are good, bad, and excellent therapists. The good ones will respect your thoughts and will keep you safe, the ones who are bad will warn you not to say certain things and refer you to another therapist, eventually and the excellent ones will respect your thoughts and will work as hard as you do with talk therapy and will help you without the need of medication in your treatment if that is your wish.
• I can tell you that when you walk out of your counseling session, you will not be the same person who walked in! When you go back to your session, you are going to be excited about the life experiences you have had regardless if it is good or bad because you have someone who is waiting to hear about it in a way you were not expecting to benefit you only. When you continuously walk in and out of your completed sessions, you will feel stronger than most people who think counseling is silly or weak. You are one of the luckier ones!

While there are many medications that are recommended and are being used to treat medical issues such as Depression and Anxiety among other mental disorders, Marijuana, and the Hemp flower should not be recommended.

Talk therapy sessions with proper diagnosis of medication treatment may indeed be a better choice because those recommended drugs are made for those mental health issues. Don't make mental health a reason to become a drug user so you can smoke Marijuana or the Hemp Flower. If you want to smoke Marijuana or the Hemp Flower, do so at your own risk.