Medical Marijuana For Autism and ADHD
12/20/23 • 103 min
Thomas Henley talks to lead cannabis researcher Dr Miyabe Shields about how medical marijuana could transform an Autistic or ADHD person's life for the better or worse (read more below).
Why are 70% of daily marijuana users Autistic? How can medical marijuana be used by Autistic or ADHD adults to support them? What are the negative impacts of marijuana on neurodivergent or neurotypical individuals? Let's answer these questions.
DISCLAIMER: This information should NOT be viewed or used as medical advice, but rather an exploration of data, science and experiences of neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals with marijuana usage.
Thomas' Links - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
Miyabe's Links - https://projectchronic.com/links/
Thomas produces weekly videos, livestreams and video versions of the podcast episodes you can view for free on YouTube. Join the 100+ members for only £0.99, support Thomas’ work, interact with him and receive all the perks! Dr Miyabe Shields has a PhD in endocannabinoid pharmsci and is co-creator of 'Network of Applied Pharmacognosy' with Dr. Riley Kirk, a non-profit contributing to education and destigmatising of emerging medicinal natural products. Miyabe is also a thriving queer and neurodivergent Instagram personality with over 40K followers, which is often used to promote 'Project Chronic' from 'Dose Like A Scientist', a community-based educational platform for neurodivergents providing a network, teaching them about pharmacology and advocacy. Introducing Season 3 of the Thoughty Auti Podcast, Thomas explains the new upload schedule of the podcast before pivoting to the episode topic... Marijuana and Autism. Miyabe gives a brief background to why she chose to pursue Pharamacological research into endocannabinoids before highlighting the differences in the legality and prescription of consumable hemp, recreational, and medical marijuana between the USA and the UK. Two big distinctions were product diversity and black market prevalence in obtaining marijuana. Thomas highlights his introduction to recreational drug users at university, sparking an interest in the physiological and experiential elements of alternative medicine and drug use. He had a very bad association with drug use, personality, work ethic, and intelligence, common to many proclaimed 'tea-total' individuals. Miyabe describes the Stoner Archetype and how it influences public perspectives on marijuana use as opposed to the use of legal highs like alcohol and tobacco. Miyabe explains the Triad Of Suffering, three issues common to neurodivergent individuals, but also something treatable with medical marijuana. Listing off the immediate and long-term potentials of THC and CBD through a medical lens, it's clear this medicine has a lot of therapeutic potential for neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals. A clear advantage to recreational use through the heightening of social rewards and reduced discomfort with eye contact through an oxytocin mediator seemed to explain the positive regard towards marijuana testified by neurodivergents in a social setting. Marijuana is not without potential risks, being linked to triggering schizophrenia, an array of mental illnesses, and neuronal changes in users under the age of 25; although correlation does not always equal causation, it's a clear concern for medical professionals and the public. Touching on the history of hemp and marijuana use, Miyabe details the many reasons why she is fighting for more widespread legalisation of both medicinal and recreational marijuana use. Ignoring its potential benefits, it proves to be a relatively lower toxicity and crime-facilitating option than the socially accepted recreational use of ethanol and nicotine. Whether you agree with legalisation of such a plant, you'll surely take away a lot of new perspectives and information about marijuana use for neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals.
🎵 Song Of The Day - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UDIyN5TSYN4zMcRoQPrG8?si=9255ed3480d840b5
🗣️My Socials and YouTube Channel - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
💻 My Amazon Recommendations (Sensory items, gym gear, YouTube set-up) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thomashenleyuk
Thomas Henley talks to lead cannabis researcher Dr Miyabe Shields about how medical marijuana could transform an Autistic or ADHD person's life for the better or worse (read more below).
Why are 70% of daily marijuana users Autistic? How can medical marijuana be used by Autistic or ADHD adults to support them? What are the negative impacts of marijuana on neurodivergent or neurotypical individuals? Let's answer these questions.
DISCLAIMER: This information should NOT be viewed or used as medical advice, but rather an exploration of data, science and experiences of neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals with marijuana usage.
Thomas' Links - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
Miyabe's Links - https://projectchronic.com/links/
Thomas produces weekly videos, livestreams and video versions of the podcast episodes you can view for free on YouTube. Join the 100+ members for only £0.99, support Thomas’ work, interact with him and receive all the perks! Dr Miyabe Shields has a PhD in endocannabinoid pharmsci and is co-creator of 'Network of Applied Pharmacognosy' with Dr. Riley Kirk, a non-profit contributing to education and destigmatising of emerging medicinal natural products. Miyabe is also a thriving queer and neurodivergent Instagram personality with over 40K followers, which is often used to promote 'Project Chronic' from 'Dose Like A Scientist', a community-based educational platform for neurodivergents providing a network, teaching them about pharmacology and advocacy. Introducing Season 3 of the Thoughty Auti Podcast, Thomas explains the new upload schedule of the podcast before pivoting to the episode topic... Marijuana and Autism. Miyabe gives a brief background to why she chose to pursue Pharamacological research into endocannabinoids before highlighting the differences in the legality and prescription of consumable hemp, recreational, and medical marijuana between the USA and the UK. Two big distinctions were product diversity and black market prevalence in obtaining marijuana. Thomas highlights his introduction to recreational drug users at university, sparking an interest in the physiological and experiential elements of alternative medicine and drug use. He had a very bad association with drug use, personality, work ethic, and intelligence, common to many proclaimed 'tea-total' individuals. Miyabe describes the Stoner Archetype and how it influences public perspectives on marijuana use as opposed to the use of legal highs like alcohol and tobacco. Miyabe explains the Triad Of Suffering, three issues common to neurodivergent individuals, but also something treatable with medical marijuana. Listing off the immediate and long-term potentials of THC and CBD through a medical lens, it's clear this medicine has a lot of therapeutic potential for neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals. A clear advantage to recreational use through the heightening of social rewards and reduced discomfort with eye contact through an oxytocin mediator seemed to explain the positive regard towards marijuana testified by neurodivergents in a social setting. Marijuana is not without potential risks, being linked to triggering schizophrenia, an array of mental illnesses, and neuronal changes in users under the age of 25; although correlation does not always equal causation, it's a clear concern for medical professionals and the public. Touching on the history of hemp and marijuana use, Miyabe details the many reasons why she is fighting for more widespread legalisation of both medicinal and recreational marijuana use. Ignoring its potential benefits, it proves to be a relatively lower toxicity and crime-facilitating option than the socially accepted recreational use of ethanol and nicotine. Whether you agree with legalisation of such a plant, you'll surely take away a lot of new perspectives and information about marijuana use for neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals.
🎵 Song Of The Day - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UDIyN5TSYN4zMcRoQPrG8?si=9255ed3480d840b5
🗣️My Socials and YouTube Channel - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
💻 My Amazon Recommendations (Sensory items, gym gear, YouTube set-up) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thomashenleyuk
Previous Episode
Non-Verbal Autistic To Professional Speaker
Thomas Henley talks to Paul Isaacs, an autistic public speaker who was late diagnosed with autism and OCD at the age of 24 in 2010. Paul was functionally non-verbal till the age of 11, suffering from a brain injury from cerebral hypoxia before birth. Paul details his life with visual and speech disorders, and how others can better understand the experience (read more below). Thomas' Links - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
Paul's Blog - https://theisaacs22.wordpress.com/
Thomas produces weekly videos, livestreams and video versions of the podcast episodes you can view for free on YouTube. Join the 100+ members for only £0.99, support Thomas’ work, interact with him and receive all the perks! Kicking off the episode, Paul explains his history with Autism and OCD. Diagnosed at the late age of 24 he was gifted with a very positive experience, something not common to many. Paul found a role model in a woman named Donna Williams, who shared many of his experiences in life, recounting her inspiring yet tragic life in great detail. Starting work at 15 due to his parents increasing concern about Paul's isolation in his room, he had a very ego-centric approach to communication with many processing delays. The two bond over their shared confusion and difficulty identifying bullying, gossiping, and gaslighting within the school system and workplace. Non-verbal until age 7, Paul describes the numerous visual and speech disorders he was afflicted with due to brain damage inflicted during a placental abruption and consequent cerebral hypoxia. Doctors originally believed he was blind, but eventually identified a few causes of his social, kinaesthetic, and sensory-sampling behaviours. Paul is hemiplegic, which impacts his visual perception, language, proprioceptive awareness, and some of his motor functionality. His visual agnosia left him unable to register anything he wasn't directly focused on, like extreme tunnel vision... meaning his ability to create word associations to objects in childhood was difficult. In terms of speech, Paul was 80% meaning deaf. The experience was described as perceiving large amounts of fragmented information, and couldn't interpret language as anything but meaningless phonics. His anomic aphasia made it difficult to find words to say, which resulted in him becoming highly echolalic. Paul and Thomas describe their shared difficulty with Alexithymia in childhood and how their feelings manifested as physical illness. Paul describes the idea of mergence, something common in infants who are in a state of sensing, rather than interpretation... this mergence was remarked by Thomas as being eerily similar to goals of meditation and the experience of ego-death many chase. Paul and Thomas differ in some respects. Thomas describes his default mode network or baseline activity of his brain as being constant and often stressful; Paul doesn't tend to think at all unless baited by OCD.
🎵 Song Of The Day - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UDIyN5TSYN4zMcRoQPrG8?si=9255ed3480d840b5
🗣️My Socials and YouTube Channel - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
💻 My Amazon Recommendations (Sensory items, gym gear, YouTube set-up) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thomashenleyuk
Next Episode
Martial Arts For Autism | Challenges and Benefits
Thomas Henley talks to Sensei Al Loren about his experience in martial arts and his unique approach to coaching autistic children and adults (read more below).
What are the benefits of martial arts for autistic people? How far should we push autistic people out of their comfort zone? How can YOU start martial arts training? Let's answer these questions. Thomas's Links: https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
Al's Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martial-Arts-Autism-Spectrum-Practical/dp/B0BZ6KG43P
Thomas produces weekly videos, livestreams and video versions of the podcast episodes you can view for free on YouTube. Join the 100+ members for only £0.99, support Thomas’ work, interact with him and receive all the perks! Starting with Al's history of fighting, the two share fond memories of their respective fighting careers and connect on their love for the original Karate Kid movie series. Al Loren shares his challenges and success with teaching autistic individuals, highlighting the important mindset to have when coaching children and adults on the spectrum. They wrap up debating the balance between challenging autistic people and being compassionate towards their difficulties.
🎵 Song Of The Day - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UDIyN5TSYN4zMcRoQPrG8?si=9255ed3480d840b5
🗣️My Socials and YouTube Channel - https://linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK
💻 My Amazon Recommendations (Sensory items, gym gear, YouTube set-up) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thomashenleyuk
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