Am I using cannabis to cope in unhealthy ways?

Sometimes cannabis may be really helpful for alleviation of symptoms related to traumatic stress. Sometimes it may be keeping us in unhealthy patterns and more of a vice in an addiction. Being open to taking breaks to evaluate recovery status is a good thing. Many of the compounds in cannabis, after consumed, store in fat cells in our body, for weeks, sometimes over a month. If we are using cannabis more than once a week over a long period of time, it’s likely building up in your system. While that may not result in a poisoning or traditional drug overdose, it can lead to a lot of problems, from lethargy, fatigue, to sleep disturbances, brain fog, executive dysfunction, mood swings, psychosis, disassociation, and much more. Sometimes the benefits are diminishing when tolerance builds. Here are several well-formed questions, for regular users of cannabis to self-reflect on, to determine if cannabis is helpful or harmful:

Is Cannabis consistently helpful in alleviating your symptoms of traumatic stress? [Effectiveness]

Has Cannabis use prevented the need for more expensive, invasive, and risky interventions? [Prevention]

In what ways might your day to day functioning impaired by using Cannabis medicinally/medically?[Assessment]

What is the frequency and intensity of using Cannabis? Is it weekly? Daily? Multiple times a day? Is the dosage small, or until you cough? [Description]

If you continue on this regimen, do you see your condition improving or worsening a year from now? [Prediction]

Does self-medicating with cannabis lead you to engage in high-risk activities such as reckless driving, neglecting responsibilities, making poor legal, financial, or health decisions, or anything that could come back to bite you later? [Risk]

Are there negative effects brought on by self-medicating with cannabis for traumatic stress? Are any aspects of this use hurting you or people you love? [Harm]

When you look at the positive outcomes, paired with the negative outcomes of use, do you find that it is a good idea to self-medicate with cannabis for traumatic stress? Would it be worthwhile to take a break?[Cost-Benefit]