When Your Teen Says Weed Is the Only Thing That “Helps”
Your teen may experience short-term relief on cannabis, but the long-term effects can be harmful. Here, how to help resistant teens cut down on cannabis use.
“Why do you want to take away the only thing that helps me?”
Teens and young adults with ADHD fall into cannabis use for many reasons. Some do it to achieve quick relief from boredom, racing thoughts, and uncomfortable feelings. Some claim it helps them focus and sleep. Some use cannabis to feel “normal.”
Chronic users are especially resistant to and defensive over suggestions to discontinue or reduce cannabis use. Some may deny that their cannabis use is a problem, or that it’s dangerous at all. Others may claim that cannabis is the only thing that helps them — and why stop something that delivers relief?
The truth is this: Chronic cannabis use causes more harm than good in the long run, and there are better, more effective ways to get relief.
How to Help Teens Who Rely on Cannabis
1. Understand what draws your teen to cannabis. One of the best ways to engage anybody in a conversation about substance use is to ask about its appeal and perceived benefits. What does your teen like about cannabis? Why did they start? What do they get out of using it? Are there aspects of cannabis that they don’t like? Expect to have ongoing conversations about cannabis with your child.
2. Has your teen tried to quit? Unsuccessful efforts to cut down or limit cannabis is a possible sign of problematic use. But many don’t know where they stand, since they’ve never actually tried to quit.
[Read: What Should My Teen Know About Marijuana and ADHD?]
If your teen doesn’t see an issue with their cannabis use and is resistant to quitting, present a short challenge. Say, “If it’s not a problem, can you see how you feel if you don’t use it for three days? What if you delay the first use of the day?” The goal is to get your teen to see what they’re like on and off cannabis.
Abstaining for a few days or a week may result in improved memory and attention. At the same time, acute cannabis use affects judgment. Over time, it’s difficult for users to notice how they may have accommodated their life to fit cannabis use. Work with your teen to help them notice changes.
3. Make it inconvenient. Barriers of any kind can help, especially if your teen struggles to reduce cannabis use because of availability. Encourage your teen to let their supply completely run out. If willpower and accountability are issues, consider storing cannabis in a time-lock safe.
4. Help your teen get better sleep. Sleep disturbances may drive cannabis use, but cannabis use only worsens sleep problems over time. Help your teen build healthy sleep habits, like adhering to regular sleep-wake times, avoiding screens close to bedtime, and practicing relaxation exercises prior to sleep. Spending time in natural light can help regulate the sleep-wake cycle.
Heavy users may experience insomnia when reducing or quitting cannabis — a common withdrawal symptom that can last up to three weeks. Talk to your teen’s doctor about a temporary sleep aid if this happens. In addition, targeted sleep interventions from CBT for insomnia to chronotherapy are available. Work with a doctor to find the right fit for your teen.
5. Is your teen’s ADHD being treated? Chronic cannabis use may be your teen’s way of coping with ADHD, depression, anxiety, a sleep disorder, and/or other underlying conditions. Is your teen’s cannabis use linked to any of these conditions? If so, are the conditions being treated optimally? Identifying and effectively treating all underlying issues can reduce your teen’s motivation to use cannabis to self-medicate.
6. Discuss relevant benefits of sobriety. How will refraining from cannabis use help your teen be present for activities and experiences that matter to them? From playing a sport to driving a car, your teen will need access to their full physical and cognitive abilities to engage, which won’t be possible if they’re under the influence.
7. Band with other parents who are in the same boat. It will be more challenging for your teen to stop or reduce cannabis use if their friends are also using. If circumstances allow for it, collaborate with the parents of your teen’s friends to collectively curb their cannabis use.
8. Make your teen aware of the truth. Teens may think themselves immune to any negative outcomes from cannabis use, especially when it provides them with quick relief. But your teen needs to know some potentially sobering truths: Chronic cannabis use changes the brain, zaps motivation, and worsens executive functioning, which is already impaired in ADHD, and it triggers other outcomes.1 2 3 It alters the brain’s reward center so that cannabis becomes the only thing the brain may find rewarding, and barely at that.
Your teen may be using cannabis to distance themselves from their problems, but the unfortunate reality is that chronic use only attracts more problems and impairs your teen’s distress tolerance skills. Reducing cannabis use will allow your teen to feel discomfort – a necessary motivator for change – and perhaps recognize that they can withstand tough feelings or learn to tolerate them with the help of a doctor. Either way, there are better, healthier ways of coping.
How to Stop Smoking Weed: Next Steps for Parents of ADHD Teens
- Self-Test: Signs of Substance Use Disorder
- Read: Better Sleep May Reduce Cannabis Use in ADHD Adolescents
- Read: How to Treat a Teen Self-Medicating ADHD and Anxiety with Marijuana
The content for this article was derived from the ADDitude ADHD Experts webinar titled, “How Cannabis Use Affects ADHD Symptoms and Sleep in Adolescents” [Video Replay & Podcast #504] with Mariely Hernandez, Ph.D., which was broadcast on May 7, 2024.
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View Article Sources
1 Burggren, A. C., Siddarth, P., Mahmood, Z., London, E. D., Harrison, T. M., Merrill, D. A., Small, G. W., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (2018). Subregional hippocampal thickness abnormalities in older adults with a history of heavy cannabis use. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 3(1), 242–251. https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2018.0035
2Broyd, S. J., van Hell, H. H., Beale, C., Yücel, M., & Solowij, N. (2016). Acute and chronic effects of cannabinoids on human cognition-a systematic review. Biological Psychiatry, 79(7), 557–567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.12.002
3Peraza, N., Smit, T., Garey, L., Manning, K., Buckner, J. D., & Zvolensky, M. J. (2019). Distress tolerance and cessation-related cannabis processes: The role of cannabis use coping motives. Addictive Behaviors, 90, 164–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.10.047
