Nicole was never part of the stoner crowd in high school, but everything changed during her freshman year of college. What began as a rebellious puff — just an occasional joint to manage her stress — quickly turned into a daily ritual.
“I didn’t even realize by the time I was staying home every day just to get high,” said Nicole, a junior psychology major whose full identity is being shielded. “I was just like, ‘Oh, this is me being in college having a good time.’”
While cannabis remains illegal in Pennsylvania, recreational marijuana has been legalized in 24 states around the country, including neighboring states New Jersey and New York. Some students choose to continue smoking weed regardless of its legalization status as a method to combat stress and mental health struggles.
Chris Goldstein, a marijuana legalization advocate, columnist and former adjunct professor at Temple, prefaces conversations about using marijuana for mental health management beginning with its legal status. Anxiety about the ramifications of marijuana use can outweigh its benefits, he said.
“If [smokers] tried other things for their mental health but they find cannabis as a successful therapy, if they’re using it in an environment where they [can be placed] under arrest or losing their kids or their job, all of a sudden, there’s a huge problem with them accessing this therapy, and it really is an added stress to their mental health,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein taught a marijuana in the media course at Temple with professor Linn Washington in 2017, exploring topics like how cannabis gained certain stereotypes, the language used to describe weed and how the drug is portrayed in the media.
Washington is especially passionate about disproving negative marijuana stereotypes that prevent people from using weed in a beneficial way.
“There’s been a negative mystique that has been put in place,” Washington said. “Propaganda that marijuana use immediately causes hard addiction to hard drugs and that kind of thing, and those have been disproved so many times.”
Goldstein posits that weed does not cause mental health conditions like depression or schizophrenia, as some past research has suggested. Instead, he says it can serve as a helpful tool, similar to antidepressants or ADHD medications.
Goldstein recommends smoking marijuana flower instead of vaping THC oil or consuming edibles to reap the most mental health benefits because the effects are an immediate and natural stress reliever, he said.
“A lot of people who are indoctrinated to be afraid of smoking and vaping are afraid of smoking vaping, and they go to eat cannabis and they do not have the best experience,” Goldstein said. “Whereas they might have a better experience when they come to relieve conditions like anxiety if they use simple inhalation.”
Nicole’s depression reached a point where she was unsure whether it was the weed that caused her depression, or her depression that caused her to smoke weed.
But two years after using marijuana to the point where it was hurting her mental health more than helping her, Nicole has found a smoking balance that manages her stressors and doesn’t hold her back from attending class or social events.
“I try to be very careful to not let it get to a point where I’m not doing other things to smoke, because I think that’s what tends to cause depression and mental health issues,” Nicole said.
Through his research, Goldstein found that cannabis itself is not inherently dangerous — unlike alcohol or cigarettes, which are linked to cancer and addiction. Instead, he points to the risks involved in modern processing methods, particularly in products like weed pens that can contain synthetic cannabinoids.
Washington makes sure to emphasize that overuse of any substance can have a negative impact. But when used in moderation, cannabis can be used as a helpful tool to combat mental health disorders.
“You can just have a mouse inhale the equivalent of a pound of marijuana and it’s gonna go crazy,” Washington said. “If you just give them the equivalent of a joint, the mouse will probably go on the corner and chill.”
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