In the last few days, quite a few pieces have appeared in the media about the use of marijuana as a treatment for autism. In fact, our own About.com Guide to Addictions has written a blog post on the subject and received some interesting responses from parents and, notably, from adults with autism.
Her questions and concerns grow from articles on sites such as Opposing Views, Autism-PDD.Net, and the New York Times' MomLogic blog which cites a blog from a mom who writes about "Why I give my 9 year old pot."
Each of these pieces is very similar. They begin with a personal story of an individual with autism whose symptoms of aggression, pica (eating non-foods such as dirt), and/or pain improved with the use of marijuana. Then they raise the question of whether marijuana, which is of course illegal, should be made available to people with autism and other disorders.
So far, there has been remarkably little research on the medical uses of marijuana, and the American Medical Association has decided they'd like to see that changed. According to a Newsweek article:
Precipitated by a similar decision by the group's Medical Student Section, the AMA resolved that "that marijuana's status as a federal Schedule 1 controlled substance be reviewed," with the goal of facilitating clinical research, and presented a new medical report, conducted by its Council on Science and Public Health, laying out the drug's various medical benefits.
What's your take on marijuana as a treatment for autism? Intriguing new direction or scary plunge into the unknown? Likely to be useful for treating aggression and pica, or more likely to push people with autism further into their own worlds? Share your thoughts.
I’m an adult with autism and I use cannabis daily. It provides several benefits to me. It attenuates some of my stronger emotions, and helps me to relax after a stressful day. I say that it “recharges” me, so that I have the energy to deal with the sensory and social issues that inevitably arrive each day. It also improves my sensory gating while I am smoking, so that I can tolerate environments (such as college parties) which would be otherwise impossible for me.
Cannabis culture is also an excellent experience for the Aspie. There is a great deal of information to learn and memorize, and the more of an expert you are on the various strains and their effects, the more people appreciate having you around. It becomes a special interest people are actually curious to hear more about. Additionally, it provides for a social scene with prescribed rules and etiquette, and all new users, autistic or not, need to be explicitly directed about how the social world of stoners operates. On the flip side of that coin, if you make a social flub which would be catastrophic in a sober circle, it will be written off when among fellow smokers, who attribute the error to your state of highness, not an innate difficulty with social interaction.
I do not know if my experience is typical or unique, and I would strongly suggest discussing the benefits and drawbacks of cannabis use with a doctor in great depth before deciding whether to try it with your child. But for me, beginning to smoke cannabis has had life-changing positive effects.
I’m an Aspie, and my son has demonstrated all of the hallmarks of Asperger’s. He has used a pharmacopoeia of drugs, especially marijuana. Another son, not quite as Aspie, but clearly with attention deficit problems also used marijuana. Their lives on drugs were disasters; a lost decade as the drugs, predominantly marijuana, exacerbated the Aspie tendency to not care about what other people think. If you do not care what other people think, and completely lose your own ability to think critically and set priorities, you sink deeper into the self absorption, totally wasting time. My one son watched so much anime that he learned to speak basic Japanese! I suspect marijuana also creates an uninhibited mind set that lowers the barriers to more dangerous drugs. The son who finally completely eschewed drugs ironically is the most critical of his brother who has yet to scrape himself off the bottom, a lifestyle only surviving parasitically off mommy’s largess. The drugs also blur the lines between Asperger’s and intrinsic ability; am I wasting my time trying to clean him up and educate him? Will the slurred speech which started after the drug exposure ever go away? Will he regain his short term memory? Will he stop nodding off in inappropriate places, like, behind the wheel of a car? How do you hide the missing decade on a résumé?
Drugs often seem like an “easy” answer. They are generally quick, sometimes produce pleasurable effects, and sometimes produce the results we want. As parents of children with autism, we may wish for a drug that will make our child’s challenges go away. From a personal perspective, although perhaps not the easiest motivation to admit to, we may want our child’s behavior to become more managable.
But, as with using candy to control our kids behavior, using drugs may cause more problems in the longer term.
I would suggest that parents concerned about aggressive behavior in their children take an honest look at the social pressures on your child, and whether the aggression is an attempt to communicate.
You might also consider neurotherapy as a non-drug alternative to altering your child’s brain functioning. It can help with a host of problems, such as hyperactivity, stimming, focus and speech, as well as social difficulties such as aggressive behavior.
Wow, didn’t see this one coming. I have heard, of course, of using marijuana for medicinal purposes. I work for an eye doctor and we know that it does have some use as a treatment for glaucoma, but that doesn’t mean its prescribed where I work. The problem is its an unregulated drug. While I have no problem with ADULTS using it for whatever reason, I wouldn’t give it to my six year old son with autism.
Although I’ve heard a lot of talk about the benefits of both marijuana and cannabis and also alcohol in people with Autism and especially aspergers, I’m not sure that it’s a viable long-term solution.
While drugs and alcohol can make social situations easier, they are also addictive and when improperly used, life-damaging.
I’ve seen too many lives destroyed by drugs to feel that their positive effects could outweigh their risk.
I don’t know about giving it to the kids, but it could definitely calm down some of the parents if you know what I mean.
There are obvious pros and cons to the use of marijuana (or any drug for that matter) in treating ANY condition. The only reason this is so “controversial” is because marijuana has been “demonized” so pathetically over the last few decades.
The benefits to a person with autism will certainly depend on the individual’s response to the drug, their predisposition for addiction, the overall functionality level, their life goals, self determination, and a host of “other factors” involved. I feel that if the drug might help even a handful of autistics, it ought to be made available to them; anything less is as cruel and inhumane as withholding an I.V. from a dehydrated man. This IS nearly 2010 people. Marijuana is NOT the boogeyman, okay.
Yes, it does have several calming effects and yes, as a high functioning autistic, I use it at least twice each week. Yes, I believe it does help me to function better and hold down gainful employment and be a productive citizen.
When I was young, they used to try and scare kids away from ALL drugs by telling us that marijuana would always lead to the use of “harder” drugs; they called “weed” a “GATEWAY” drug. WEll, if that’s the case, I’ve been standing in that “gateway” for twenty-off years because I’ve never touched anything harder than marijuana nor have I had the desire to.
I am a 19 year old and think I have aspergers.* I used marijuana twice in my last job. It made me more energetic and made the sensory over load of all the sounds in my work-place easy to manage. Going from selling my mind and body to this living hell to make enough money to get by is no fun. I don’t know if the long term effects of cannabis use is good for my psychee, but I do know that it worked…
And that it deserves some serious research!
*Your Aspie score: 131 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 77 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
I’m a writer from Spectrum Magazine, a magazine that covers issues related to autism. I’m working on a story related to autism and marijuana treatment. I’m interested in talking to those with autism who have used medicinal marijuana or parents who have given it to their children. I can be reached at nbuglione@spectrumpublications.com
are you still around and writing for Spectrum? am a 57 year-old Asperger female and would like to share, if still interested, experience in past with marijuana use versus struggles since dropping it 26 years ago.
When you see severe cases of autism and self injury as is shown on you tube under kgaccount, you would think people would support medical marijuana in some cases of autism, especially when all other treatments have failed. Clearly, medical pot couldn’t be worse than the side effects of haldol, mellaril or thorazine….ie tardive diskinesia, lowered seizure threshold, etc…that said, pot isn’t ideal, as it too has side effects, but we have to judge each situation based on the INDIVIDUAL not a one size fits all this is the only way to do it approach.
I am an adult female who has aspergers and I say with absolution that marijuana has transformed my life. Marijuana gives me the ability to calm down and re-frame many normal social interactions I would not have been able to tolerate or attempt to deal with before. Today, I have my own apartment, a good job and am getting ready too date.
The problem is that the ratio of official vs unofficial information on marijuana is horribly skewed. Federal Classification prevents real medical research from being carried out, even as more and more people are being diagnosed. I think as a treatment, marijuana could help a LOT of autistic people and should be considered equally alongside other therapies and medications.
Kids, no! They should not be exposed. Those of us who are older now are in fact the gatekeepers, especially for our children. We should only want to improve upon their lives based upon our experiences.
Until the THC amounts can be clinically arranged to equate to say the value of taking an asprin we are all lost. Is it a valid resource to contain what I call “the Hulk” for myself but to each his own.
Discipline is key as well, many can fall into self destructive habits with marijuana abuse. It took me numerous years to find the restraint to treat one puff as one pill. Besides, there are so many strains, etc… it is hard to determine the actual THC content, even in one puff.
It think this is a resource that deserves much discovery and until then, those who partake have to remain under the radar.
I have a teenage Aspie daughter and have been working in drug prevention for the past 12 years. Although my daughter is facing many challenges and issues in her teen years, we would never consider providing her marijuana as a “treatment” for her condition. Already having a condition linked to “bad wiring” in the brain, giving a mind altering drug to a child with a still developing brain seems to me both careless and reckless. The brain does not stop developing until one reaches about 25 years old. Using drugs in this period of development may temporarily mask and alleviate some symptoms but at what costs to the long term health and well being of the child. When you consider the links of marijuana use and Schizophrenia and the fact that close to 50% of kids in drug treatment are there because of marijuana problems, are we not mortgaging and risking the future health of our children.
I am fully in support for further research on the potential medical properties and benefits of marijuana. My problem lies in the delivery mechanism being promoted. More than 25% of current prescription drugs are based on plants…do you know any of those that you actually smoke. Why the push and claims that only smokable marijuana provides medical benefits? Sativex is a marijuana based spray medication that provides medical benefits without the high. If marijuana is indeed to become a medicine, it should go through the same process of efficacy and safety as any other drug and should be provided in a form that can be administered safely and efficiently – And that is not by smoking it ! – When you consider that marijuana has 5-10 more toxins than tobacco and that it is the combustion of the plant that releases most of the toxins and harmful chemicals, smoking pot is NOT the best, safest and most effective way to gain medical benefits.
I submit that drug legalizers are pushing the smokable medical marijuana as a wedge to get their way. I do not wish my daughter’s condition to be used to push and ideology or political goal. For them, it is not about the medical benefit, it’s just about getting high !! We are already living in a society where “a pill for all ills” is the norm and where the use psycho-active drugs is being normalized. In my work in drug prevention , I am always asking how much of this drug taking culture has been contributing to the current increase in depression and mental health issues among our youth ?
We need to debate these questions but we must, as parents, be weary of the snake oil salesman that promises the great cures. There are no magic bullets or quick pills that will fix our aspie children. Lets make sure that the temporary relief we may get does not exacerbate the problem for them down the road. Providing them tools, techniques and strategies to cope with daily challenges will build assets and give them the confidence to succeed as opposed to a life long reliance on mind altering drugs.
I have a brother in law who lives with my husband and I. He is 23 and living with Aspergers. He smokes marijuana all the time. The problem with this is that he is extremely obsessive compulsive about it. He will smoke all of his weed in one night just to scrape the resin out of his pipe and smoke that. Also, his behavior is extremely aggressive when he smokes. My husband and I are both advicates for it being legalized, but the problem with self medicating is that the person with Aspergers that is using doesn’t see that there is a problem, they just feel better. It is a trade-off. His regular obsessive compulsive behaviors are traded for obsessive smoking and aggression. Temporarily he feels better, but after weeks of smoking, he becomes even less sociable with family and friends, but more sociable with people who aren’t exactly good for him to be around. He has admitted to using many different drugs while being around those people. I am at a loss because he’s an adult, but can’t live on his own. I cannot allow him to be high around my young children both because it’s illegal and because it causes him to be aggressive and mean. Please be aware that it might help some, but can also have adverse reactions that are much worse once they are old enough to make choices on their own. Once you introduce this, it might cause a whole array of problems you hadn’t thought of.
I have a neighbor who claims he is autistic and has “medical marijuana”….He freely lets his friends smoke it. This to me, is a reason to not allow medical marijuana. Or if it is allowed, there need to be pharmacy and physician control over the drug like any other drug.
@HAL…. so what if people smoke weed, how does it harm you? Tobacco and alcohol are legal and controlled, yet they kill hundreds of thousands each year. You will never find a case where anyone has died or over-dosed on marijuana. If you study history, it was mandatory for all U.S colonies to grow hemp! even george washington did, they only started to outlaw weed for political reasons (mexican cartels were making too much money), not because it was dangerous!
how many fights have occurred because someone smoked weed? How many fights have occurred because someone was drunk? i rest my case
i do not like drug use that said as a mother with asd raising a child with asd i can say you become very desperate in your choices of medication my son suffers greatly with insomnia and gut problems if a dr. told me that pot would help i would probably try it over the curse of 46 yrs for me 10 for him ther have been no magic fix it pils or potions if there is something with little future healthrisks that could help us now i am all for it , someone needs to do the research could young add asd people be self medicating ?I myself tried it as a young person i did not like it it was hard enough to think without amind altering drug word finding is hard enough for me in regular speech but for children who do not like to eat it could be a blessing better than traditional drugs.
My 19 year old son Nathan is Autistic, I am seeing alot of info on line about giving marijuana to autistic children and young adults. But I need to caution, some aspects of autism create a addictive personality, has is the case with Nathan. please read my personal blog. http://autismandmarijuanause.blogspot.com
please read about thc oil made from hemp ..you don’t need to smoke marijuana to get the proven benifits of thc
my son is 7 years old we first thought he had adhd but recently learned he is high functionig autisic iam condsidering trying this with my son i have tried counseling diet changes and non stimulant meds nothing works it breaks my heart to see him dislike school so much iam trying to have him tested at school so it wont be so stressful for him but his rlationship with his peers at home arent good it kills m to know that kids do not wana play with him because he crys alot as a parnt unless you have been through it yourself you cant really relate i would much rather give him a marijuana cookie then legal speed ritilan i just want my son to fit in and have a happy life