"Access to medical and recreational cannabis has expanded rapidly, far outpacing rigorous scientific evidence supporting its efficacy for most clinical indications. As legalization has broadened availability and also reduced perceived risk, clinicians increasingly encounter patients viewing cannabis for symptom relief rather than as a substance of misuse. This shift raises a key question: Why has cannabis become so widely used as medicine despite limited evidence for sustained benefit and mounting evidence of harm?"
"Recent research provides persuasive evidence that stress biology plays a central role in motivating cannabis use. A longitudinal study by Park and colleagues at the Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience at Washington State University examined biological and behavioral traits in rats before cannabis exposure, following them through several weeks of voluntary cannabis vapor self-administration. This work addressed a longstanding limitation in the field: Most prior animal studies relied on forced injections of synthetic cannabinoids or isolated constituents, failing to capture the complexity inherent in human cannabis use."
Legalization and expanding access have outpaced rigorous evidence for therapeutic benefit while perceived risk has declined. Individuals commonly use cannabis to self-medicate for anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, depressed mood, and stress-related problems. Symptom-driven cannabis use often leads to tolerance, escalation of use, and increased risk of cannabis use disorder (CUD). Elevated basal corticosterone reflecting heightened HPA axis activity predicts later cannabis-seeking in a longitudinal rat vapor self-administration model. Prior animal research using forced injections failed to capture human-use complexity. Genetic factors also influence liking of cannabis and vulnerability to CUD, complicating clinical care and harm–benefit assessment.
Read at Psychology Today
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