Marijuana Can Ease the Pain of Loneliness?

Loneliness is a disease—it’s far more harmful to health than most people realize. Being lonely could lower the immune system, making a person more susceptible to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, and depression. According to science, loneliness could even increase an individual’s chances of an early death by 14 percent.

Indeed—loneliness is a disease, and scientists and psychologists are pretty much aware of that. Many of them have sought and researched a variety of approaches to reduce the effects of chronic loneliness. One of the unexpected findings is that medical marijuana sold at dispensaries can be used to ease the pain of loneliness, social exclusion, and low self-esteem in people.

Medical marijuana is often prescribed for pain relief, so it’s really not that much of a stretch to imagine that it could also relieve emotional pain. Researchers, however, are quick to point out that although marijuana does help with feelings of loneliness, it’s simply meant to treat the symptoms and not the cause of loneliness, such as being abused or rejected by others, not being able to fit in, or losing a loved one.

To truly get rid of loneliness, a person needs to reestablish deep emotional bonds with the people in his/her life, maybe even develop new social connections. More than anything else, medical marijuana can be a depressed person’s ally on that potentially difficult road ahead.