Is cannabis helping your ADHD, or making it harder? And how do you know when a coping tool has become a crutch?

As Stephen says in the episode, “We’re not here to proselytize against or for marijuana. We’re trying to balance our lived experience with what the experts teach us.”

In this deeply personal episode of Attention Different, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith open up about their own long, complicated relationships with weed, THC, and substance use (and abuse) as adults with ADHD. This is not a judgment episode or a scare-tactic episode, but an honest conversation about lived experience, changing perspectives, and what happens when coping tools start creating new problems.

They explore the history of cannabis normalization in the U.S., why ADHD brains may be especially drawn to state-change behaviors, and how things like anxiety, procrastination, sleep disruption, impulsivity, and emotional regulation can become tangled with regular use.

✨Highlights ✨

✔️ Why cannabis is so common in ADHD populations
✔️ The difference between occasional use and dependency patterns
✔️ How THC can affect motivation, executive function, and memory
✔️ Why many adults use weed to slow down anxious or hyperactive brains
✔️ The hidden role of sleep disruption and rebound anxiety
✔️ How to think honestly about your relationship with substances

This episode is for anyone who has ever asked: Is this helping me cope, or keeping me stuck?

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We are Attention DIFFERENT not DEFICIT An advocacy and edutainment podcast centered on radical acceptance and neurodiveristy. Attention Different aims to de-stigmatize and build community by exploring the intricacies of living life and "adulting" with ADHD in the modern world. We periodically feature experts, special guests and influencers in the ADHD community.

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