The reason why I personally won't try cannabis.

There are a lot of drugs I will never try actually, but some of them, even alcohol, seems to be considered more ok to avoid than others. So in this particular text I'm gonna focus on cannabis - what I think about it in general, but mostly why I won't try it with the background of my health and personality.



Let's start with my personality. If I sit at home doing nothing I continue to do nothing until I or someone else makes me do something - and then I'm stuck doing that instead. Mostly It lasts for a couple of hours, but sometimes I can get caught up in an activity for several days in a row. If I for example find a new video game I can sit, playing that game for every day during a whole week, until I or someone else finds something else I can do.

The same goes for boardgames. If I'm having a boardgame night with friends I can't just play one game and then just sit and chat about random stuff - I want to continue playing several games until I grow tired of it.

Now there's the same with music, food, drinks etc. I have my periods - I always had. When I find a new band I listen to that specific band for about 3 months in a row until I find their music less interesting or until I find antother band that I like. Take Tool for example - the most extreme music experience I've had so far. I discovered Tool in I think february 2014. I'd never listened to their music before but I was immediately captured by what I heard. I've barely listened to anything else since then, and now a year later I still get completely mesmerized every timle I press the play-button.

Now these things mentioned above are not per definition drugs, but it shows very clearly how I work - I become addicted to anything that I like - anything that executes my reward system and releases dopamin. I have an addictive personlity.  Therefore I know approximately how I would behave if exposed to a drug.



Now let's continue with my health.

I'd always been a very healthy young girl and by the age of 16 I'd never really been sick. Sure - I got the flu or a cold or whatever now and then, but it was never something serious. In 2010 however I began to develop some kind of sleeping problem. It grew slowly bigger and bigger and it wasn't really until the end of my third year in High School that I realised that something was extremely wrong - I overslept several times a week and fell asleep as soon as I was somewhat relaxed. I'm still under investigation and have not got a diagnosis yet, but I suffer from what is easiest described as (Idiopathic?) Hypersomnia.

Now this hypersomnia, combined with depression and stomachache, has led to quite a lot of trouble in my life. The stomachache is more or less gone now that I live with people I'm comfortable with, since it presumably was due to stress I had those problems. By the end of 2013 I got diagnosed with depression but half a year later I had cured myself through medication as well as fun activities, combined with a totally different perspective over my life.

These health issues have greatly affected my life. The depression was the most direct awful experience to go through - but led to a greater understanding of myself and the environment. Although I'm thankful for what it taught me I am from time to time extremely afraid of a comeback. I had no interests, no sexdrive to talk about and I felt completely empty.
Regarding the sleeping problems I have no engergy. I never feel alert. I need to sleep atleast 10-11 hours a night in order to not fall asleep during the day, occasionally I even need to sleep 14-16 hours before i can crawl out of bed. This means I can not, until medicated if possible, educate myself. I can not manage a full time work. I can't really get any driving license and my dreams for the future - Build a house and get children - seems to be pretty far away from implementation.

Now to the conclusion: Understandably I would give almost, almost, anything to get rid of this, maybe get an education and live my life full of energy.



So, for the more factual discussion about the drug itself - cannabis:

Cannabis; commonly known as marijuana or haschish is used as both medicine and as a drug. Now I'm all for further medical research - it is using it as a psychoactive drug I'm not comfortable with.

The cannabinoids (THC among other chemicals) intoxicate the body and the user can experience euphoria and different perceprion of time, colour, sound and shape, a feeling of relaxation and increased senses among other things. It also posesses sedative effects.
Extensive use of cannabis through smoking can cause respiratory damage. Extensive use of marijuana also impair cognitive abilities - up to several weeks after use.
Side effects of cannabis use can include anxiety, panic, paranoia and psychoses . It is unsure if these effects are due to the drug itself or external causes. Cannabis affects secretion and uptake of dopamine in the frontal lobes surface. In the same area it has measured high static levels of dopamine in schizophrenics. Use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis onset and schizophrenia. Cannabis use has also been linked to depression and amotivational syndrome.Studies has also indicated highly prevalent withdrawal symptoms among frequent cannabis users that include hypersomnia and feeling weak and tired.

Cannabis is not traditionally classified as an addictive drug, at least not through heavy physical addictive symptoms. It can though, as mentioned above, have a negative impact upon your social life and physical and mental health.­ You could also develop cannabis dependence syndrome. Cannabis can also result in birth defects in your child if you take it during pregnancy and it increases the risk of accidents if intoxicated while driving.



Now back to myself: 

As you see above cannabis can be linked to depression, amotivational syndrome, tiredness and hypersomnia among other side effects - specific conditions in my personal history that I have had problems with. Sure, these only seem to appear after extensive use and while cannabis isn't traditionally addictive, cannabis dependence syndrome could still occur. Combine that with my addictive personality (I can't even go buy pasta without having a chocolate bar falling down my basket), alcoholics in the family history and my non-existent experience with drugs what so ever - and you have my reasons. The expected hopefully positive sensation and possible increased creativity just isn't woth it.


(Note that I've just intensely read Wikipedia articles and studies I've googled - for a day, and I don't know very much about drugs apart from what's listed above. So please correct me if something is wrong. I still beleive that my peronality is reason enough to not do drugs though.)