Marijuana and Autistic Spectrum Disorders

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I'm 19 yrs old and I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. I had Aspergers of course, and Depression, and Social Phobia. I was not diagnosed and I didn't know this at the time. I used Marijuana to cope with a lot of things: stress, boredom, chronic anxiety and to deal with my strong obsessions with certain girls at school.

A few months after trying Marijuana for the first few times, I began to smoke on a regular basis, soon, every day.

Because of the way my brain is wired, it is very easy for me to get addicted to drugs, and because of my Aspergers (which I didn't know I had at the time), it was very easy for me to get fixated on things. This made quitting Marijuana a nearly impossible task.

In university, I moved on to smoking hashish (resin from the marijuana plant compressed into chunks) which was a lot more powerful than marijuana. My behaviour become increasingly odd, I was frequently paranoid, having minor halloucinations constantly, having delusions and odd beliefs and I become even more isolated. I developed a drug-induced psychosis. I also developed a sensitivity to light and sound which I still have to this day. I developed intolerances to MSG, chocolate, various cookies, and a mild lactose intolerance.

After I got caught by my parents, I got treatment for my addiction and that eventually led to my AS diagnosis.

Marijuana and Hashish caused me to develop a lot of autistic behaviours and made my negative symptoms of AS worse. I believe that marijuana can worsen and intensify autistic spectrum disorders if smoked frequently over long periods of time. I am also at risk of developing schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy so my brain was effected more severly.

However, I do believe that marijuana contributes to and worsens the sensory overload aspects of AS and also intensifies social awkwardness, paranoia, odd rituals, childlike behavior, motor coordination problems.

These problems do go away if the drug use is discontinued (i am 5 months clean and feeling great) and proper medications and therapy are included in recovery.

I hear that drug use is not common among people with AS or Autism, but I thought I needed to share this because I have Aspergers and I used drugs. Perhaps this will help others either stay away from drugs or quit if they are currently using.

I use various things to cope with my feelings.

it doesn't matter what you are, pot should never be introduced to depressed people. Pot helps people with muscular problems (injury, Cerebral Palsy) and I heard it's good for ADD/ADHD (as long as it's not paired with alcohol). But no one who is depressive should smoke pot, especially if they have social anxiety. It just heightens the isolation, magnifies imaginary problems which all contributes paranoia.
This is true with NTs too, in fact some of the worst pot addicts I know in RL are NTs.

The only thing it ever did for me was make me sleep. It was very popular when I was in my teens and twenties. I never had much use for it, but then most drugs don't have the expected result with me. Many have a completely opposite effect on me.

Anyway, none of my manifestations increased after smoking pot and that included on time when my friend and I got ahold of pot laced with Angel Dust. I did hallucinate then, but it didn't do anything after it wore off. I didn't smoke pot again though. I didn't want anything that didn't come out of a pharmacy after that.

**NT warning alert**

KimJ wrote

ProwlingParadox, sorry, I can't understand your first sentence at all. I don't know anyone with actual depression that have been helped with pot. I know plenty of other people that can use it for the things I mentioned and Bipolar too. But with the latter, it's usually for the mania and hypomania, not the deep depression. Again, it intensifies the depression and legitimizes the low self-esteem going on.

My son, in grade 6, had to do a debate: "Which one is worse, Alcohol or Pot."

With the information he was handed, the choice was clear, Alcohol was MUCH WORSE then pot!

I had a huge problem with the assignment though, because I did not think it was a good idea for any 12 year old Aspie child to be thinking about which mind altering substance is worse or better... It just seemed crazy to me. I tried to object, but alas, he wanted to do it, the teacher pushed back, and I gave in, however made sure it was carefully monitored so that my son would not make any "judgements" that would be negative, sticking in his Aspie head for the next 40 years!

The truth is, I agree, Pot is really bad with depression. And I think a lot of Aspies can't tolerate it very well either. It is a crutch, that can be overused and even "gasp" become somewhat addictive.

I saw my sister throw away 5 years of her life on the stuff.

That said, the arguement is not "stay away from the weed man". Rather, stay away from any mind altering drug, including alcohol. You are not going to find the answers to your lifes problems in the bottom of a glass of beer or in a roach.

If total abstanance is not your "style". Make sure you are very aware of the stages of addiction, and will spot the warning signs of a problem. Generally, if you are doing it everyday, alone, or feel the "need" to get high or drink, then you have a problem. Maybe not a huge problem yet, but if you carry on, you are going to end up with one.

I'm lucky in that I don't have the propensity for addiction. I agree that overall, pot is safer for the general public. If you're going to pit them against each other. But the truth is, I enjoy drinks a lot more.
I can't stand the pot vs alcohol debates though. Hippies say pot is natural and mellow, while drink is Corporate made, sugary and makes people aggressive!
Some conservative drinkers counter that with "Pot is illegal, so pot smokers are criminals".
Those arguments are silly. Mind-altering is okay for fun. I get really high listening to Vivaldi, drinking beer or reading Wikipedia for hours at a time.
Too much of any those activities and I might lose my family! Really, it's about recognizing the line between healthy recreation and self-destruction.

LOL! I am not from the government.

I am from Canada and the cops and goverment realy doesn't care if you smoke the ganja.

I didn't research this anywhere.

This is my info.

from my experiences.

Hmm. Marijuana never did anything for me. Zero. I'd go "huffhuffhuffhuffhuff," and I'd say "are you sure this is real?" The most I ever got out of the stuff was a little giggling, but even it felt fake.

I have smoked it and it increases my depression ten fold. It got me so down that friday night i tried to die and I failed.

i smoke weed everyonce inawile, it seems to defragment my brain. i think it should be legal, its alot more safer than alcohol ill tell you that much