From badness to illness: Medical cannabis and self-diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

While the use of legal medical cannabis is increasing in the USA, the trend is less pronounced in Europe. However, several studies indicate that illegal cannabis use is increasingly given medical justification even in European countries. In this qualitative study of cannabis users in Norway (N = 100), a considerable proportion reported that they used cannabis for allegedly medical reasons, even if none of them had obtained cannabis legally. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was the most prevalent medical motive reported (n = 18), although most users had self-diagnosed this condition. We found that: (i) the ADHD diagnosis was typically a response to various social problems in the participants’ lives; (ii) cannabis reduced symptoms believed to be associated with ADHD and thus reinforced the perceived validity of the diagnosis; (iii) symbolic boundaries were drawn to cannabis used for intoxication and pleasure; and (iv) cannabis was compared with traditional ADHD medications, which were described as more harmful. The findings suggest that stigmatising social problems and drug use may be transformed into “illness” by means of an ADHD diagnosis, reflecting widespread processes of medicalisation. However, at the same time, drawing on the “green” values in the cannabis culture, participants substituted traditional ADHD medication with cannabis.

• ADHD
• cannabis
• medical cannabis
• medicalisation
• subculture

Declaration of interest

The author has no affiliations to persons or organisations that may inappropriately influence (bias) the study. Thus, the author has no conflict of interest. This research was funded by a grant from the Research Council of Norway.