Why Cannabis Alone is Not Enough

Only One Part of the Equation

All too often, a complaint from people who have tried cannabis is that it did not work. Besides the usual culprits like incorrect dosing, using the wrong products for their needs, issues with the chosen consumption method, and not giving their body long enough to adapt to it, one of the first potential reasons to explore is what else was going on in their life while they were trying the cannabis.

The Cheeseburger Problem

Using cannabis without also addressing underlying issues and ensuring a foundation of good habits, healthy lifestyle, and positive behaviours is almost guaranteed to result in a lack of desired results. You also need to identify and make changes to areas of your life you may be neglecting which are ultimately having a negative impact on your health and wellbeing. Using cannabis without approaching your health and wellness as a whole is tantamount to taking cholesterol pills to prevent a heart attack while continuing to regularly eat bacon cheeseburgers and fries and loads of other high-fat, greasy, artery-clogging foods. There is only so much those little cholesterol pills can do!

If you are using cannabis to help you relax from stress or anxiety yet continue to put yourself in stressful situations or ignore areas of your life that cause you anxiety, cannabis is unlikely to provide the long-term relief you seek and might actually exacerbate your problems. If you are using it to help treat pain, yet are sleeping poorly, abusing your body, and eating inflammatory foods, your pain is likely not going anywhere. It can also be dangerous if cannabis is used to mask symptoms that lead to a delay in a proper diagnosis and treatment. You wouldn't expect a broken leg to ever heal properly if you continued walking on it instead of seeing a doctor to get the bone set and cast just because you could self-medicate to deal with the pain. Depression, anxiety, chronic pain, sleep issues, and disease and ailments are no different. They need to be addressed and treated, not just medicated with cannabis.

A Well-Tuned Automobile

Our minds and bodies are intricately linked, so to reach an optimal state of wellness requires a multi-pronged approach. Think of a car with its many working parts. There are major necessities like an engine, gas tank, and tires that are required for the car to even drive, and there are lesser parts like windshield wipers and turn signals that do not stop the car from running but are necessary from a functional standpoint such as when wanting to drive in the rain or to legally drive on city streets. Then there are add-ons that do not affect functionality but do enhance the experience or comfort level, such as seat controls, a radio, or heat/air conditioning. Your health and wellness are the same. There are things you need for your mind and body to survive (food, water, sleep), others for them to function properly (nutrition, exercise, supplementation, medications), and others that make life more comfortable and enjoyable (friends, family, spirituality, hobbies), but all require regular maintenance. You can put shiny tires on a junker, but you likely are not going to get far before something else breaks down and it is probably still going to be a rough ride. Likewise, many people do themselves a disservice by assuming cannabis will fix everything while neglecting what is going on in their life.

To improve and maintain health and wellness there are generally 8 "Pillars of Wellness" that affect overall health and wellbeing - social, physical, emotional, career/occupational, intellectual, environmental, spiritual, financial. When things are out of balance in any one area, it can throw the other areas out of balance too. It is especially important to note that sleep, stress, and pain are all inter-connected, with each being both a cause and effect of the others. All three factors must be addressed if you are struggling with any one of them.

Taking cannabis to reduce anxiety without doing anything to address the situations that are causing the anxiety, using it to mask symptoms without dealing with the underlying issues, or failing to recognize that sleep, pain, and stress are all linked and why deficiencies in one can make the others worse and in the long-run is only going to lead to disappointment with using cannabis.