Medical Marijuana and ADHD
Many people diagnosed with ADD/ADHD have turned to medical marijuana for treatment of their symptoms with positive results and minimal side effects. Most patients who choose medical marijuana over these medications do so because they are not happy with the bad side effects of stimulants. Other patients who do find these conventional treatments helpful will sometimes treat the unwanted side effects of the stimulants with marijuana; this combination therapy often relieves the side effects of sleeplessness and lack of hunger. There is not enough scientific evidence to state that medical marijuana definitively helps with ADHD, however there are overwhelming anecdotal and case reports to support at least a trial of cannabis for those adult patients who struggle with symptoms and the unwanted side effects of conventional treatments. After passage of Proposition 215 in California, doctors began seeing adult ADHD patients who reported that cannabis had positive effects on their ADHD symptoms with no unwanted side effects. Adult ADHD patients that use medical marijuana report that they feel calm, are able to focus on and complete a task that they normally could not do, are able to eat and sleep better, and overall have a better quality of life. Studies in hyperactive/impulsive rats have shown that they improve with cannabis. It is time for the scientific research community to begin adult human studies on this most natural medication which improves ADHD symptoms without the unwanted side effects of stimulant medication.