What Job Have You Hired Weed to Do?
When someone tells me cannabis helps them, my first question isn't automatically, “How do we get you to stop?” It's: What is it helping you do?
Maybe cannabis helps you transition out of work mode. Maybe it helps you sleep, quiet sensory overwhelm, make socializing easier, access pleasure, or simply signal to your body that the day is over. Sometimes, it may even help you create distance from something uncomfortable. None of those answers needs to be judged before it can be understood.
The more useful question is: Is cannabis one way you meet that need, or has it become the only reliable way? That distinction can tell us a lot.
If cannabis is doing the work of regulation, let's get curious about what your nervous system needs. If it's doing the work of sleep, let's talk about sleep. If it makes social situations tolerable, let's understand what makes those situations so exhausting in the first place.
If it's helping you avoid something, a feeling, a responsibility, or perhaps a difficult conversation with your partner, well, eventually we're probably going to have to talk about that too.
You Don't Have to Start With Shame
Neurodivergent adults are often told that the strategies they've developed to get through the world are the problem. I'm not interested in adding to that.
Maybe cannabis became part of your life before you understood your ADHD, your sensory needs, masking, or the sheer amount of energy certain situations required. Even if it didn’t, that’s not the point.
If something gives you relief when you don't have other tools, that matters, but understanding why a coping strategy developed doesn't mean we have to stop examining what it's doing now. Sometimes the tool still works beautifully. Sometimes the job has changed. Sometimes the cost has changed. Also, sometimes you simply deserve more than one way to meet the same need.
You can be curious about cannabis use without turning it into a character judgment. Maybe the more useful conversation is about what your nervous system is asking for, what situations leave you depleted, and whether you have enough supports for things like sensory overload, sleep, emotional regulation, or executive functioning. ADHD and autism support should create more options, not more shame. You’re allowed to look at what’s working, what isn’t, and what you might want to add to your toolkit.
If You're Taking Medication, Tell Your Prescriber
If you regularly use cannabis and take psychiatric medication, your prescribing clinician should know.
That's not a confession. It's important information that can help them understand the full picture when considering medication effects, side effects, sleep, anxiety, cognition, mood, and other factors.
Cannabinoids can interact with metabolic pathways involved in processing some medications, although the significance varies substantially depending on the specific cannabinoid, medication, dose, and individual.
Your clinician can't make the best-informed decision if they don't know what's actually happening in your life.
The Weed Question Is Really a Curiosity Question
I don't use cannabis myself. My nervous system and weed have met, and they will not be pursuing a relationship, but the fact that cannabis doesn't feel good in my body doesn't tell me what it feels like in yours.
So if cannabis is part of your life, try asking:
What does it give me?
What changes when I use it?
What happens when I don't?
Has its role changed over time?
If you're in a relationship: What is my partner experiencing?
You don't have to begin with whether weed is good or weed is bad. You can begin with curiosity.
The goal isn't to prove that weed is helping or hurting you. The goal is to understand the role it's actually playing in your life.
Maybe you discover that cannabis is one useful part of a larger regulation toolkit. Maybe you realize you've been asking it to do more and more. Maybe the real issue isn't cannabis at all, but loneliness, secrecy, exhaustion, or disconnection. Maybe nothing needs to change, except that you're using something intentionally rather than automatically. That's information too.
Curiosity doesn't demand a predetermined answer. It gives us enough understanding to make a more intentional choice. Usually, that's where the useful work begins.
A Thought To Remember
If this made you pause and think about what role cannabis is actually playing in your life, you’re not alone. The SAME Team Society is a space for those honest, nuanced conversations, without shame, judgment, or having to arrive with all the answers.
Join The SAME Team Society and keep the curiosity going with people who understand that sometimes, the real work starts with asking better questions.
Reference:, P., Elsohly, M., & Hill, K. P. (2021). Cannabidiol interactions with medications, illicit substances, and alcohol: A comprehensive review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 36(7), 2074–2084. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33515191/
Your Neurodivergent Life & Relationship Guide,
Dr. Ali Perkinson
P.S.
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