The impact that marijuana can have on our health has become a hot topic of conversation over the last several years as more and more states across the U.S. are taking steps to decriminalize and legalize the use of marijuana for recreational and/or medicinal purposes. This post is not intended to address the medical marijuana industry, but rather explore the question of if recreational marijuana use is something that will trigger or worsen your psoriasis symptoms. 

So, is smoking weed bad for psoriasis? Although smoking marijuana may not seem to be a serious psoriasis trigger for many people, one should certainly consider the possible side effects that marijuana use may produce and how they will impact your skin health. Natural skin healing is about following a holistic approach and treating the human being as a whole. If your marijuana use is slowing you down in terms of improving your physical/mental health, then you may want to readjust your relationship with smoking weed and reconsider your priorities. 

Weed and mental health/addiction

The first point I want to address is the way that smoking marijuana can influence our mental health. If you are are someone who can enjoy smoking in moderation and don’t show any inclinations of becoming mentally or physically addicted, then you may be able to include marijuana in your lifestyle without it having any negative effects on your psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, etc… 

With that said, many of the weed smokers that I know smoke on a daily basis several times a day. I’m not necessarily saying that this is a bad thing, I just know that smoking too much can certainly induce some side effects that may not align well with optimum mental health.  

One of the well-known side effects/issues that is associated with marijuana use is lethargy and lack of production. In my opinion, a major key to reaching optimum mental health is feeling a sense of accomplishment. Taking the initiative to work on you and your future is an extremely important life practice. If you know you’re not going to be as productive if you smoke, then don’t smoke. Or at least wait until the end of the day when you have already accomplished everything that you wanted to accomplish. 

Although many smokers want to push this fact to side, marijuana addiction is a very real issue that people deal with. Of course, it is usually not as intense as an addiction to alcohol, cocaine, heroin or any other drug. But nonetheless, it is an addiction that comes with a set of consequences. 

If you want to thrive in terms of your overall health, you do not want to become dependent on anything that isn’t essential to your survival. Being dependent on a drug is not a good formula for skin healing or sustained mental health. So, I’m not saying you can’t smoke marijuana. I am just saying that you really need to be cautious in terms of the role that you let it play in your life. 

Inhalation of smoke

Although it is certainly not anywhere near as harmful as cigarette smoke, inhaling marijuana smoke is also not the healthiest thing that you can be doing for your body. Marijuana smoke may not seem to cause many health issues for those who smoke it in moderation. But as I was saying before, this may become an issue if you start smoking several times throughout the day every day. 

Although I would only consider this smoke to be mildly abrasive, the fact of the matter is, it’s still smoke and you’re still inhaling it into your lungs. When you light that joint, bowl, or bong, and inhale that smoke, you are breathing in hot smoke that may irritate your throat and your lungs. I don’t think this is a huge problem for many people but it is definitely a factor that you should consider. 

This then leads to the question of what are you smoking out of. If you are smoking out of a bowl that is all clogged up with resin or a bong that contains dirty bong water, you are undoubtedly inhaling some things that are not going to have a positive impact on your health. If you are going to smoke, you need to make sure that you are smoking out of a clean device and that you are not inhaling anything that you are not intending to. Also, if you are rolling joints or blunts, I would make sure to find some non-abrasive hemp papers and avoid using typical papers or cigar wraps.

So what is the healthiest way to smoke? I would say that if you are going to smoke weed and want to make sure not to set back your psoriasis healing, you just want to avoid smoking out of anything that isn’t clean. Vaporizers in particular can be great as they limit the harshness of the smoke you’re inhaling. You can also make some edibles so long as you are strictly using whole food ingredients. Most edibles obviously aren’t made with the healthiest of ingredients but I am sure that there are some healthy edible recipes out there. At the end of the day, my best advice is to just make sure that your smoking device is clean. 

The munchies

Munchies is a word that goes hand in hand with getting high. If you smoke weed, you more than likely are all too familiar with the appetite inducing effects of marijuana. If you are trying to heal your psoriasis or some other autoimmune skin disease, the munchies are obviously not going to do you any favors in terms of keeping your diet in check. 

One way to avoid letting this become a problem is to only stock foods that are healthy. If you fill your pantry with a bunch of your old favorite treats, you’re obviously much more likely to break down and eat something that you probably shouldn’t. Stock up on snack foods that are highly nutritious and fit into the framework of your diet. 

To end this short section, I just want to make the point that snacking in general is not a great habit to develop if you’re trying to heal your skin. In order for your gut to heal, you need to ensure that you are fully digesting your meals separately and independent of each other. You don’t want to eat dinner and then start snacking on something shortly after you’ve finished. You want to allow each of your meals plenty of time digest thoroughly before you eat something else. 

Strangely enough, I never really had any issues with the munchies after smoking. With that said, alcohol was a completely different story. If I were to drink a few drinks on a night out, the cravings I would start to have once I arrived back home proved to be difficult to manage. This leads me into the next section, which highlights a potential positive of smoking marijuana. 

Weed instead of alcohol

First of all, you do not need weed or alcohol. That’s the bottom line. Neither of these two substances are essential to your life and your skin and overall health is probably better off without them. With that in mind, if I had to choose which one of the two is a bigger issue for those dealing with gut issues and skin disease, it is definitely alcohol. 

The consumption of alcohol is arguably one of the biggest psoriasis triggers there are. People are different and certain people are going to have different reactions to certain things. But alcohol as well as refined carbs, processed foods, and diets that are high in fats and carbs at the same time are going to cause issues for just about everybody. 

Although I’m not saying that you can never drink alcohol again if you want your skin to improve, what I am saying is that it certainly is going to set you back. Especially if you have a hard time moderating your consumption. So if you are going to choose between marijuana and alcohol, I would say that weed is the safer option for most people. 

While I am certainly not advocating for smoking weed as a healthy skin healing practice, I think that if it can help you avoid or limit alcohol consumption then it may help you to overcome alcohol dependency. This of course is very controversial. I’m just saying, if you absolutely need something to take the edge off at the end of the day (which you shouldn’t) you’re probably better off smoking weed than drinking alcohol. 

Possible benefits of medical marijuana 

This post was really intended to address the recreational use of marijuana rather than the possible medicinal benefits. Although I recognize all of the new information that presents cannabis as a powerful healing substance, I am certainly not an expert in this area. I also do not believe that the medical marijuana industry has the answer that you are looking for in terms of sustaining healing success. 

The only real way to heal is to address the root cause of your disease through improving your outlook on nutrition and mental health and building a sustainable healthy lifestyle. You must take the initiative to learn about your body and mind and determine what must be done in order to optimize your health. I’m sure there are ways that you can use medical marijuana to ease your autoimmune symptoms, but you’re not going to find the “magic pill” so to speak within the medical marijuana industry or anywhere else for that matter. 

In my brief research I have found that medical marijuana can be used to help ease psoriasis symptoms in a few different ways. It can be consumed or applied topically to relieve stress, reduce inflammation, and ease itching and pain associated with psoriasis lesions. If you’re interested in  using medical marijuana as a tool to accompany your natural healing regimen, do your research and determine what your options are. Just keep in mind that the real key to improving circumstances is to take a holistic healing approach that effectively addresses your overall health.