Which Came First: Marijuana Use or Depression?

By Meghan Vivo

“It’s only pot. I smoked a little weed back in my day, too. I’m sure it’s just harmless teen experimentation.”

Millions of parents assume their teens are “normal” if they’re dabbling with marijuana. Although the drug’s popularity with teens has dropped by 25 percent in the past seven years, more teens still use marijuana than all other illegal drugs combined. In addition, more teens are in treatment for marijuana dependence than for any other illicit drug. Why do so many people think marijuana is safe despite continued reports of teen drug abuse and dependence?

Part of the problem is that the marijuana available to present-day teens is ten times more potent than the marijuana their parents smoked in the 1960s. “The benign quality of marijuana, which has been an assumption since the ’60s, is now seriously questioned by researchers, scientists and doctors,” said Larry Greenhill, president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

It is well-established that marijuana has adverse effects on the brain, heart, and lungs. Although studies have not been conclusive, mounting evidence also suggests a correlation between marijuana use and depression. The question experts on all sides want answered is, which came first? Marijuana use or depression? Do depressed teens smoke pot to relieve their symptoms, or does smoking pot actually cause depression?

Experts now believe teens that use marijuana to “self-medicate” may worsen their underlying depression or other mental health issues. According to a May 2008 report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy titled “Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows ‘Self-Medicating’ Could Actually Make Things Worse,” depressed teens are more than twice as likely as others to abuse or become dependent on marijuana. And teenagers who use marijuana at least once a month are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than teenagers who do not use the drug.

“Marijuana is not the answer,” said John Walters, director of the ONDCP. “Too many young people are making a bad situation worse by using marijuana in a misguided effort to relieve their symptoms of depression.”

Teenage girls appear to be at even greater risk. According to the report, girls who smoke marijuana daily are five times more likely to develop symptoms of depression and anxiety than girls who do not smoke marijuana.

Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, stated that marijuana is “not going to help anything.” In fact, “It will make life much worse,” she said.

Among the report’s more controversial features is a study suggesting that marijuana use increases the risk of developing mental disorders later in life by 40 percent. This and other findings led the authors to conclude that “there is now sufficient evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life.”

Backlash from the Critics

Not all experts agree with the findings of the report. Although marijuana use may exacerbate or prolong symptoms of depression and other mental illnesses, previous studies have cast doubt on the premise that using marijuana as a teen places people at greater risk for depression as adults.

Policy groups have charged that the report is misleading. “We agree that kids shouldn’t smoke marijuana, but we simply have to be honest to teens and parents. This report [is] deliberately confusing correlation with causation,” said Bruce Mirken, director of communications at The Marijuana Project, a group that represents the interests of medical marijuana patients in Washington State.

Critics point out that both depression and marijuana use could be related to countless other issues, and that many teens who smoke pot never become depressed. They argue that depression is a complex mental health issue and may not be properly attributed to just one cause. Weeks before the report was released, a British government advisory group concluded in a report that there is not convincing evidence to show “a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and the development of any affective disorder.”

Officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy acknowledge that more research is required about the causal relationship between marijuana use and depression. But most experts continue to support the broader assertion that mental illness and substance abuse often go hand-in-hand, especially among teens with predisposing genetic or environmental factors. It is also clear that people with co-existing substance abuse and mental health disorders have worse treatment outcomes than those with either problem alone.

Message to Parents

Experimentation with drugs affects each child differently – some could be flaunting their growing independence while others could be showing signs of serious problems.

“Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years,” said Walters. “This is not just youthful experimentation that they’ll get over as we used to think in the past.”

Contrary to what many teens and parents believe, marijuana use is not safe. Whatever the correlation between the two, teen depression and marijuana use are serious problems that parents must address. Parents who notice signs of depression or substance abuse should not dismiss changes in their child’s behavior as a phase or typical teenage rebellion. Instead, parents should talk to their teens about the pressures and influences impacting their behavior and the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. If you have a hunch that something is wrong, seek professional help, and be sure to have your child professionally assessed for both depression and substance abuse.

“It’s not something you look the other way about when your teen starts appearing careless about their grooming, withdrawing from the family, losing interest in daily activities,” Walters said. Whether the cause is depression, marijuana or other drug use, or something else entirely, “Find out what’s wrong.”

Source: Aspen Education Group

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