(New York Times) Dr. Jean Talleyrand, who founded MediCann, a network in Oakland of 20 clinics who authorize patients to use the drug, said his staff members had treated as many as 50 patients ages 14 to 18 who had A.D.H.D. Bay Area doctors have been at the forefront of the fierce debate about medical marijuana, winning tolerance for people with grave illnesses like terminal cancer and AIDS. Yet as these doctors use their discretion more liberally, such support — even here — may be harder to muster, especially when it comes to using marijuana to treat adolescents with A.D.H.D.
“How many ways can one say ‘one of the worst ideas of all time?’ ” asked Stephen Hinshaw, the chairman of the psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley. [Uh, "War on Drugs", "Drug-free America", "marijuana prohibition", hmmm, there's three ways right there...] He cited studies showing that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, disrupts attention, memory and concentration — functions already compromised in people with the attention-deficit disorder.
Advocates are just as adamant, though they are in a distinct minority. “It’s safer than aspirin,” Dr. Talleyrand said. He and other marijuana advocates maintain that it is also safer than methylphenidate (Ritalin), the stimulant prescription drug most often used to treat A.D.H.D. That drug has documented potential side effects including insomnia, depression, facial tics and stunted growth.
Counterintuitive as it may seem, however, patients and doctors have been reporting that marijuana helps alleviate some of the symptoms, particularly the anxiety and anger that so often accompany A.D.H.D. The disorder has been diagnosed in more than 4.5 million children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Berkeley, Dr. Frank Lucido said he was questioned by the medical board but ultimately not disciplined after he authorized marijuana for a 16-year-old boy with A.D.H.D. who had tried Ritalin unsuccessfully and was racking up a record of minor arrests.Within a year of the new treatment, he said, the boy was getting better grades and was even elected president of his special-education class. “He was telling his mother: ‘My brain works. I can think,’ ” Dr. Lucido said.
“With any medication, you weigh the benefits against the risks,” he added.
It’s always a thorny discussion when you’re talking about kids and marijuana, because on every parent’s list of nightmares for their kid’s future is “hopeless drug addict”. Our side has the anecdotes about the teenagers who smoke pot and get straight A’s and turn out to be wonderful adults; many of my colleagues speaking on the summer hemp festival circuit publicly trace their cannabis use back to as early as age 12. Then their side has the anecdotes of the teenage doobie puffer who became either a listless slacker or a recovering heroin addict. Both sides have their studies and enough personal accounts to make compelling arguments.
I didn’t try cannabis until I was 22 years old. I wouldn’t recommend its non-medical use by anyone under age 18, even though politically I know that any re-legalization effort will require and age 21 limit. It’s not even that I’m so worried about any physical or mental harm that might befall a teenage pot smoker. It’s more that I think those teenage years are when your personality and character are formed. You’re experiencing so many emotions for the first time – love, jealousy, anger, frustration, accomplishment, loneliness, and so on – these things should be felt fully and unaltered.
However, I say this as a teenage drinker. I first drank at age 16. I blunted many good and bad times with alcohol, up until, not-coincidentally, I first smoked marijuana. Looking back, alcohol led to far worse outcomes for me as a teen than had I been a marijuana user… assuming I wouldn’t have gotten caught. So I’m always curious about our society that is so quick to demonize the idea of teenagers smoking reefer when teenage use of alcohol seems pervasive and socially encouraged. Couple that with our pediatricians who seem more than willing to throw powerful pharmaceuticals at every troubled teen and I’m left perplexed.
In this case, I trust the doctors who are carefully treating young patients, like Dr. Frank Lucido in this story, or Dr. Lester Grinspoon, who helped his young son through cancer treatments with cannabis.
Topics: ADHD, Dr. Frank Lucido, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, New York Times, pharmaceuticals, teenagers
out of my nose 3 [...]
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we live in texas where is totally taboo to even consider on medicating a child with cannabis but truth of the matter is that if it works is not side effects to it and the child will perform and behaive in a better manner there should be some kind of pills or tablets with low doses of thc for kids with ADHD or are there? we are tired of medicating our child with chemicals that make them worse and inmune so they use more and more there should be more done to this and get real facts and get to it for the benifit our future that are our kids.
I say to each his own. Everybody is unique. While one kid might be violently allergic to pot, another might serve as a catalyst to more normal behavior and adjustment. It is very hypocritical however to say pot is dangerous when most of the illness and side effects, even death are caused by drugs that come out of the laboratory.
My son and I both are ADHD. I was not diagnosed as a child of course. I have known several kids who are ADHD as well. Know how many had horror stories about Ritalin? All of them! How does a 5 year old child taking Ritalin think of suicide? My son, he had nightmares, it effected the child like look in his eyes that was there before and he seemed doped up, not like the sweet little boy he normally was. I had the doctor change his meds, yes she made me feel judged but she changed it to Adderall, well Adderall took his appetite away and did not work for him. Finally he was on concerta and it was working but then he stupidly took a pill to school and I was told he could go to jail for that and he never saw any more pills again after this. It was the only way I could think to make sure it didnt happen again. So we had to do this without medications. Now if my son was highly ADHD I would not have been able to but he was mild in compairison. He only took the meds the days he had school (for his teachers sake) even though they never cared he was ADHD and never made any allowances for it, they ignored it. Me not knowing everything there was to know about options, I was not aware I could have had more help him. We did it anyway. He is now age 17, has been off those medications for a few years now and even though he doesnt make perfect grades… he is passing ~without medications. RITALIN SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET!!! It is one of the worst medications you can give to a child. So I guess I would have to agree about the comparison to medical marijuana to medications given to ADD/ADHD, I think the medications are far more capable of warping our children permanently.
Marijuana has long been the poor-girl’s PTSD medication. It worked for me. Why not for adolescent ADHD? (There may be a connection between the two.) Just as in the studies with kids and autism, THC helps to calm anxiety and panic attacks, and helps to channel one’s natural creativity and imagination. It becomes easier to concentrate and focus, and enjoy what one is doing.
I believe it helped me from the age I was traumatized (12) until the present (55). Also, I never drank alcohol or indulged in any other drugs, including the valium, tranquilizers and other drugs the doctors were prescribing for me when I was an adolescent.
At one point, my brother and I staged an intervention for my mother who was suffering from acute alcohol-induced psychosis. We not only kept her out of jail, we saved her life by forcing her to switch to marijuana. I believe she was ADHD as well as an alcoholic. The THC dramatically changed her mental health: she became calm and clear: my mother again. It also kept her sober and productive until she met a man she married who disapproved of it. And, they both relapsed as alcoholics.
I’m a highly successful professional in my creative field. I have a doctorate and am a tenured professor. I still smoke. It still helps me.
I have noticed a marked improvement in my 14 year old son’s impulsiveness the one time I believe he was smoking. His teachers have suggested that I get him tested for ADHD. It makes me wonder. I would never give him Ritalin. I once worked with severely mentally disabled young adults in the early ’70s. I witnessed the results of Ritalin-addled kids. Sure. They weren’t running off. But they weren’t “there” either.
It also makes me wonder about using it help assuage an epidemic of violence-prone, morally-deficient, non-self-reflexive kids.
Thanks for the post.
There is a logical reason why marijuana might work with ADD. People with that condition actually have troubles moderating their concentration. Either they can’t concentrate, or they go into hyper-concentration (not as often). The research that says that marijuana causes loss of concentration was done with normal brains.
Contrary to popular belief ADD is not a “kids disease”. Many adults suffer with that condition. So, has nobody noticed that, despite the fact that there are adults that can provide anecdotal evidence, and participate in research, they skipped right to the hysteria of “giving drugs to kids”.
First we go to the old cliché of the double-blind study. Once the efficacy is recognized by scientist, we can the consider giving it to kids.
[...] Using medical marijuana to treat ADHD in teenagers [...]
No, keep this story up I say. I diagnosed myself years back with ADHD (’cause my low income family couldn’t afford to take me to a doctor to get a diagnoses). I still have ADHD symptoms to this day and the only thing that has really helped me is marijuana. I know this is a controversial issue when it comes to treating kids with marijuana but I think it’s much better than the pharmaceutical drugs many American children are on today. Do I believe children should be treated with marijuana though? I do, whether it be by vapors or edibles though ’cause it does a better job than straight smoke. I also believe that recreational use shouldn’t be allowed for people under 18.
How does this work does a kid take a couple of puffs before school of sativa or something? Or a vaporizer, or does he take a pill?
use your brains gentlemen and get this story off this site it does not belong here
Why? We report on cannabis in the media. We report on medical marijuana. Seems like a perfect story for this site.
Yes, mister oliver… I also ask you, why shouldn’t they reprint and comment on a story that shows how cannabis, that is safer than asprin, should not be made available to minors whose parents choose this safe and effective natural herb for treatment of adhd…
Perhaps you’d prefer the syntetic ritalin be the only thing available even though for some, as in the case of Dr. Lucido’s 16 year old patient, it did not work.
Hmmm… speed is OK, but a little cannabis, that actually works for him, and is safer than the bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, is taboo?
By not sharing and discussing this article, Russ would be remiss in allowing lies and ignorance to prevail.
Do you have any logical argument behing your demand, David? One that would give any of us any reason to think this shouldn’t be re-printed and discussed?
get your head out of the sand. this is reality, and subject matter is open for discussion. if you don’t approve of subject you can go to a different site.