There’s a lot of reasons people decide to quit using cannabis. You might be smoking up every day, spending more time or money on it than you want to, or be worried about the very real health harms that can come with chronic cannabis use. Cannabis harm reduction is one way to make sure you’re not doing yourself a disservice – it might include cutting down the amount you’re using, seeking treatment, or making use of some savvy tips that will help you keep it together and stay healthy when smoking (especially for daily smokers).

Dr Karen Hitchcock is one of Australia’s first authorised prescribers of medicinal cannabis and a supporter of its benefits. She recently spoke at the “Garden States” conference, run by Entheogenesis Australis (EGA), where she outlined how the medicinal cannabis world has changed over the last 4 years. She busted some old myths like “If you don’t have multiple sclerosis (MS) or epilepsy, you can't get prescribed cannabis”, “Only a few doctors in Australia can prescribe”, “There’s only a couple of cannabis oils that can be prescribed.” The following is based on her informative and insightful responses at a Q&A at the conference.

I first sought out an ADHD diagnosis when I was 23, and the psychiatrist told me, “No, actually you just have the learning capacity of a 16-year-old due to your drug addiction.” Yikes. It took me a couple of years to wrestle with that message – to make sure I rejected it on a deep level – before I tried again with another doctor. And boom, I was right: my ADHD scored off the charts. No wonder amphetamines help my brain feel regulated.

When you’re beginning your journey of drug use, it is easy to get a bit overenthusiastic and end up lost, especially when you don’t have any elders around to help guide you. Akshay spent a lot of time worrying that cannabis and LSD had given him drug-induced anxiety, depersonalisation and psychosis, but he eventually realised that the people who were trying to help him held some negative attitudes towards drugs, and he needed a more supportive — and experienced — community around him.

Post-election Interview with Bernie Bradley, Queensland Legalise Cannabis Party