Nature’s Chill Pill: Using Cannabis for Anxiety with an Ann Arbor Cannabis Dispensary

If you’ve ever felt anxious, overwhelmed, or stressed out, you’re not alone. Nearly 20 percent of Americans report suffer from anxiety per year—that’s about 40 million people. For many of them, cannabis may be a way to alleviate their symptoms. In this post, we’ll explore using cannabis for anxiety with info from a top Ann Arbor cannabis dispensary.

How Does Marijuana Help Anxiety?

Researchers have uncovered countless potential health benefits related to cannabis. But the plant may possess one particularly intriguing trait from a mental health standpoint: its anxiety-fighting capabilities.

Cannabis and Anxiety: CBD vs THC

Before we cover how cannabis can help anxiety, we need to make an important distinction.

For some (usually newer cannabis users), marijuana can actually trigger anxiety. Anyone who’s gotten “too high” and ended up neck-deep in a panic attack can tell you as much. However, this appears to be triggered by marijuana’s psychoactive effects. In other words, it’s not the weed that’s triggering the anxiety, it’s being high.

Weed gets its psychoactive effects from THC. The most abundant cannabinoid in marijuana, THC can trigger euphoria, sedation, and more. To those who aren’t accustomed to it, this experience can be unnerving.

In contrast, CBD (the second most common cannabinoid) has no such psychoactive properties. Instead, CBD has a reputation for reducing inflammation, increasing appetite, improving sleep, and - you guessed it - reducing anxiety.

How does CBD Help Anxiety?

CBD appears to be the main compound in cannabis responsible for combating anxiety. In fact, researchers believe that marijuana may be able to counteract several types of anxiety disorders including:

• Stress-induced - Stress resulting from events occurring in the subject’s life. One of the most common forms of anxiety, plaguing millions of people every day. CBD seems to be particularly effective at reducing stress, helping those who suffer from it relax.
• Conditioned contextual fear - A type of anxiety that the subject learned from experience.
• Compulsions - Finally, CBD may be an effective countermeasure to anxiety that arises from compulsive disorders, like OCD. Specifically, researchers examined using CBD to prevent compulsive marble-buying behavior for up to seven days in participants. 

How does CBD pull it off? Researchers believe they’ve pinpointed the source: the 5-HT1A receptor. Mainstream medicine already acknowledges the 5-HT1A’s role in combating anxiety. In fact, some anti-anxiety medications currently available already use this same pathway to eliminate stress.

Need to Pick Up Some Weed for Anxiety? Trust Your Local Ann Arbor Cannabis Dispensary

Think cannabis may be a way to help you manage your anxiety? When shopping for cannabis for anxiety, keep a few things in mind.
First, stick to strains or extracts with a high CBD content and low THC percentage. These will be the most effective at eliminating stress. Second, pay attention to your consumption method. Smoking or vaping will result in fast results, but last for less time than edibles do. Finally, if you need a place to pick up some quality cannabis, trust your local Ann Arbor cannabis dispensary to deliver!