Submitted by Adam P. 

I am 27 years old. I am from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I have been dealing with anxiety for 12 years and PTSD for 6 years.

The challenges I was facing were often tied to my anxiety

But it worsened after a traumatic event when I was in college. I couldn't sleep due to racing thoughts and recurring nightmares. I would also put off sleep to avoid nightmares at times.

Eventually, the stress and anxiety led me to be hospitalized twice. I was constantly anxious and fearful, which, in combination with the lack of sleep, often caused me to feel paranoid and out of control.

I felt as though I could not regulate my emotions in any way. I either felt nothing at all or far too much all at once. In my college days, I was depressed and often felt hopeless.

Before I started using cannabis regularly, I tried a few medications to try to help myself

These were antidepressants, and while they may have helped a bit, I still never really felt myself. The medications didn't hurt, but I was never really sure they were doing anything to help.

I was still anxious and constantly on edge. I had tried cannabis in the past but did not use it regularly. This being said, my times using cannabis were some of the only times that I had felt a brief moment of peace. I considered this and felt that cannabis may be something that could at least provide some relief.

I was raised in the classic reefer madness, drug war-supporting, DARE-loving style

I was taught to believe that weed was a gateway drug and that nothing good comes from it. I was taught that cannabis makes you lazy and people that smoked weed didn't accomplish anything. As I grew older I realized, as many of us do, that all of that is absolute lies and the government knew it.

As my understanding of how the government worked increased, the more I doubted anything I was taught that was drug-related. I realized that I could only help myself and what people thought didn't matter.

The way that I have always overcome the stigma around cannabis is by learning as much as I could about it and educating others.

As my interest in cannabis grew, so did my confidence that education of the general public on cannabis is what would eventually lower the stigma. I overcame the stigma by being unashamed in my cannabis use and teaching people why there is no need to hate the plant they were taught to fear.

I use a variety of products, but my routine each day is similar

In the morning, I usually take a dab or flower bowl of a terpinolene dominant strain, dominant in THC, although I sometimes enjoy a 1:1 ratio of THC: CBD. This helps me get up and motivated for the day, while also providing me with some focus.

For my anxiety, I take a dose of some sort of edible sometime during the morning as well. This is usually a gummy, tincture, or something I have made myself. I normally take 25mg for anxiety management.

At night, I enjoy a dab of live rosin or a bowl of flower. This is to relax, decompress, and eventually go to sleep. I usually prefer myrcene and linalool dominant strains at night.

Alternatively, I will sometimes take a larger edible dose at night instead of using inhalation. This is 50-150mg of full-spectrum oil.

Before using cannabis, I was feeling hopeless, and paranoid

I felt like I had no control over my life. I was either not sleeping at all or sleeping all day. I felt like I had no way to regulate my emotions and my body was fighting against me. Ultimately, my anxiety was the worst when I was hospitalized twice in the span of a month due to stress.

I was also incredibly fatigued and would spend most days in bed. I was a mess and I felt like it. I was still traumatized, waking up from recurring nightmares at night and looking over my shoulder during the day, paranoid of threats that only existed in my head. I knew I had to do something to try to help myself.

After incorporating cannabis to address my health issues, I was able to begin improving

If only a little bit at a time. After starting to use cannabis regularly, I was still depressed, anxious, and suffering from PTSD, but the plant offered me moments of peace and clarity.

After medicating, I was finally able to take a step back from my worries and anxieties. Medicating with cannabis means something different to everyone, but for me, it was a way to get my life back and recover.

First, I was able to use it to begin getting my sleep schedule back on track. Next, with my sleep on track, I was able to slowly start addressing responsibilities I had been neglecting. I also started to do things I enjoyed again.

For me, the plant didn't fix everything in my life, but it gave me the clarity to be able to think about my life rationally without my everyday anxiety.

Since I started using cannabis in college, I have not stopped because it helps me ease my anxiety and depression by allowing me a sense of calm. It helps me regulate my emotions and feel at ease every day.

I alluded to it, but I also have ADHD

And cannabis helps me regulate, focus, and get stuff done quite a bit.

This is Adam’s personal story and not meant to be medical advice. It is for informational purposes.

To work with a medical Cannabis professional, please visit our directory of coaches, educators, and medical professionals. Everyone's Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is different; good results start with the right approach. You don't have to figure it out on your own.

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