MMJ for ADD/ADHD?

[Gothmog]

I'm not currently a medical user of MJ, but I have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. My doctors have prescribed the usual types of pharmaceutical stimulants and I've found that generic Adderall works the best for me. The only problem with this is that I can't tolerate much more than a marginally effective dose without experiencing physical side effects.

Of the two species (or subspecies) of Cannabis--C. sativa and C. indica, I've heard it said that C. indica has a mellower and more relaxing effect, while the other is more stimulating, and sometimes works really well for ADD. But it also seems that C. sativa is a lot stronger generally, and being overly stoned isn't what I want. What, if you'll pardon the expression, is the straight dope?

 

[greengo840]

I'm not to sure what you're asking. I was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD in adolescence and spent a couple years experimenting with pharmaceuticals. I did not like the medication or the effects of missing a dose. I smoked pot then and do now 15 years later. I like smoking pot, but I would not say that it helps me with ADD/ADHD.

If I’m attending a biology class, smoking a joint isn’t going to help me focus regardless of the strain. While medicated, I might enjoy doing some independent research, reading, pontificating, but when it comes time to doing productive and meaningful work in a subject, field, or profession that is not my passion, sobriety works best for me.

Personally, I place Adderal right up there with Meth as far as being a dangerous narcotic. It's widely used on the campus that I attend, and I have heard more than one student praise its ability to help them get through an all-nighter. It's your body and you have to do what's best for you, but I am extremely biased when it comes to this kind of medicating.

Indicas typically provide the stronger more narcotic "couch-lock" highs, while sativas tend to offer the more desired (my opinion) stimulating, head in the clouds high, but these are not absolutes. Cannabis may affect me differently than it others. For example, it helps me with minor pain relief, depression, and anxiety, but it doesn’t do shit to help me deal with attention deficiencies (whatever that means).

 

[Gothmog]

Well, the reason I am curious is that, about six months ago, there was something on a news show about MMJ in L.A., and this was before the current clampdown on the dispensaries, when there were more cannabis dispensaries than Starbucks outlets. Anyway, they interviewed someone from one of the shops who talked about the two different strains, and this person said that people with ADD sometimes got a lot of benefit from the more stimulating kind.

The idea of the two different strains having different effects is novel to me--back in my college days when dinosaur rock bands roamed the earth--e.g. the 70s, pot was just pot to us. That's not to say that there weren't varieties we were aware of, like sinsemilla and Thai stick, but the effective differences were just in "packaging", or in the concentration of THC.

As for the pharmaceutical stimulants, it is true that they are all much like meth if not virtually the same; the "mixed amphetamine salts" sold as generic Adderall are what meth breaks down into after being ingested. In therapeutic doses I don't think it's anything like recreational meth abuse, but the side effects can be moderately annoying, and yes, I do notice that I get irritable if I cut down.

 

[FreakNature]

My work can be very detailed and challenging. When it's particularly difficult my mind can go in 50 different directions, I just want to pull my hair out and walk away. I've never been diagnosed (I just don't use doctors, generally) but I think I could be called ADD/ADHD. The best way for me to focus and get things done in these situations is to smoke a hit of Cannabis. My thinking becomes focused and clear. Usually a mixed strain w/ indica/sativa. This is what works for me.

 

[Gothmog]

My work is also detailed and challenging, although at the moment said work is only being a student in the field in which I normally have earned my living. When I'm in the state of mind you describe where the mind runs around in 50 different directions I find it impossible get anything done and instead find myself poking around on a messageboard which I moderate, and browsing Google Earth.

On the other hand, when I'm "on", the different pieces of my project seem to fit together in my mind and I'm able to work different angles of it concurrently, with success.

FWIW as a side note, I've found that a gentle toke a few times a week is a miracle cure for a persistent scratchy throat/throat clearing habit--better than any DXM or codeine preparation I have used, by far.