High, Numb, or Healing? Rethinking Your Relationship with Weed
Weed can be medicine, a muse, or a mask — sometimes all three at once. It can ease pain, spark creativity, deepen music, or soften the edges of a hard day. It can help you access stillness or play when your mind won’t stop running.
But when the same plant that once brought presence starts creating distance — from your body, your energy, or your goals — it’s time to pause and ask: Am I high, numb, or actually healing?
This isn’t about good or bad. It’s about relationship — noticing what weed gives you, what it asks of you, and whether that exchange still feels aligned with who you’re becoming.
1. The Science: How Weed Shapes Your Brain and Body
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, mimics anandamide, one of your body’s natural endocannabinoids — molecules that help regulate pleasure, mood, appetite, memory, and pain (Mechoulam & Parker, Annual Review of Psychology, 2013).
When THC binds to CB1 receptors in the brain, it temporarily alters dopamine and GABA signaling, producing that relaxed, floaty high. These receptors are dense in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum — the regions responsible for focus, memory, and coordination (Volkow et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2014).
Here’s what research tells us about short- and long-term effects:
Short-term effects: Slowed reaction time, altered sensory perception, and impaired short-term memory. For some, it enhances creativity or mindfulness.
Neurochemical impact: Cannabis increases dopamine release in the brain’s reward system but may blunt dopamine response over time with chronic use (Bloomfield et al., PNAS, 2016).
Cognitive function: Studies from Harvard Medical School and the NIH have found that heavy or frequent use can subtly affect attention, working memory, and motivation — especially when use begins before age 25, while the prefrontal cortex is still maturing (Cambridge et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2018).
Brain structure: MRI studies show reduced gray matter volume in the orbitofrontal cortex in heavy users, though some compensatory connectivity may develop (Filbey et al., PNAS, 2014).
Sleep and regulation: THC can reduce time to fall asleep but suppresses REM, the dream-heavy restorative stage, which can increase irritability or vivid dreams upon withdrawal (Babson et al., Current Psychiatry Reports, 2017).
For people with ADHD or trauma histories, weed often doubles as a form of self-medication — easing sensory overload or anxiety. But with prolonged use, your body may produce fewer of its own calming endocannabinoids, leading to rebound anxiety or irritability when sober (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2024).
This isn’t about judgment. It’s about clarity: this is what your brain and body are navigating when you use weed to regulate.
2. The Reflection: Spotting Your Patterns of Use
Grab a notebook or voice memo. This is where insight becomes medicine.
Ask yourself:
When do you tend to use? (After work? After conflict? When overstimulated or bored?)
How much and how often? (Once a day? All day? Weekends only?)
What happens before you reach for it? (Anxiety? Loneliness? Creative block?)
What does it give you? (Relief, focus, pleasure, connection?)
What does it take from you? (Motivation, money, memory, clarity, sleep?
You’re not taking inventory to judge yourself — you’re studying your nervous system. Weed is often a communication tool between your body and your overwhelm. The key is translating what that message actually means.
If you notice:
You can’t relax without it
Your tolerance keeps rising
You feel foggy or emotionally flat when sober
Then it may be signaling that your nervous system is doing too much work on its own — and weed has become the shortcut to stability.
You don’t have to quit cold turkey. Harm reduction starts with choice. You might:
Take a night or weekend off and observe how your body responds.
Swap the evening joint for a body-based downregulation practice.
Track use in a notes app — just data, no judgment.
Awareness first. Change later.
3. The Reset: Building Short- and Long-Term Supports
Healing happens in community and practice, not isolation or shame.
Supporting yourself
Journaling or tracking: Use prompts like “What am I trying to avoid or soothe right now?”
Replacement rituals: Breathwork, somatic shaking, walking, or music before lighting up. Let your body learn new doors.
Harm reduction thought starters:
Switch to lower-THC or CBD-dominant strains.
Reduce sessions gradually.
Use vaporizers instead of combustion for lung health.
Avoid combining with alcohol or nicotine.
External support
Therapy or Coaching: Find trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming clinicians who understand regulation and dependence without pathologizing you.
Peer communities: Don’t wait to hit bottom to attend. You can also use a pseudonym, stay off camera, listen only, and attend a virtual meeting from a different location if it makes you feel safer.
SMART Recovery — a CBT-based harm reduction model.
Marijuana Anonymous — cannabis-specific 12-step groups.
Alcoholics Anonymous — when the support of any meeting will do.
Local substance abuse centers (many offer virtual groups and support harm reduction).
Medical guidance: If anxiety or ADHD symptoms spike after cutting back, work with a provider familiar with post-cannabis withdrawal and neurodivergence.
Over time, your endocannabinoid system rebalances. Sleep returns. Emotions re-emerge. You rediscover what calm feels like when it’s yours — not leased from a plant.
If You Take Nothing Else Away
Weed doesn’t have to be your enemy — or your everything. The goal isn’t purity; it’s awareness. Healing starts when you stop asking, “Am I using too much?” and start asking, “What part of me is asking to be soothed?”
That’s the real high — the one your body already knows how to create.
References
Babson, K. A., Sottile, J. E., & Morabito, D. (2017). Cannabis, cannabinoids, and sleep: a review of the literature. Current Psychiatry Reports, 19(4), 23.
Bloomfield, M. A. P., et al. (2016). The effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on dopamine release: A systematic review. PNAS, 113(17), 4527–4532.
Cambridge, S. T., et al. (2018). Association of cannabis use with cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 75(6), 585-595.
Filbey, F. M., et al. (2014). Long-term effects of marijuana use on the brain. PNAS, 111(47), 16913-16918.
Mechoulam, R., & Parker, L. A. (2013). The endocannabinoid system and the brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 21-47.
Volkow, N. D., et al. (2014). Adverse health effects of marijuana use. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(23), 2219-2227.
National Institute on Drug Abuse (2024). Research Report: Marijuana. Retrieved from https://nida.nih.gov
About the Author
Minal Kamlani is a trauma-informed ADHD recovery coach based in NYC. She works with neurodivergent adults in recovery from trauma, burnout, and survival-based coping. Her coaching blends structure and nervous system awareness to help clients reclaim function—without shame or perfectionism. Learn more at Higher Vibes Coaching.