Adult Autism and Cannabis
Working with people with adult autism spectrum disorder often feels like traveling through an unexplored jungle. While there is an extensive library of research and study surrounding childhood autism, the field of adult autism is much less explored and documented.
While reviewing recent literature on adult autism, I came across an article in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders by Al-Soleiti, et.al. from the University of Jordan in Amman, titled Brief Report: Suspected Cannabis-Induced Mania and Psychosis in Young Adult Males with Autism Spectrum Disorder (52, 4164-4171 [2022], DOI 10.1007/s10803-021-05254-8). The paper cites a total of 32 references. Of the nine references sourced by this article specifically addressing cannabinoids and autism, four are specific to research in children.
This article follows the clinical course of three young adult males with autism who developed mania or psychosis after the consistent use of cannabidiol and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. These three people could be a random sampling of men with adult autism or they could have been cherry picked. Any time we tell a story with a limited number of characters (in this case, three subjects), we are going to discover skewed results which are in no way representative of any segment of society. This study’s findings report:
Caution should be utilized with cannabis use in individuals with ASD until large-scale, replicated randomized controlled trials demonstrating efficacy, safety and tolerability have been published.
What does this mean? There are a fair number of retrospective and uncontrolled trials of cannabis consumption in people with autism spectrum disorder. Unsurprisingly, these studies report both potential benefits and adverse effects from cannabis use among people with adult autism.
If you are a person with adult autism who wishes to utilize cannabis for recreational or medicinal purposes, do so safely. I would offer the same advice regardless of a person having adult autism or not: Check in with yourself and with someone else to ensure you are achieving the goals and experience you desire with a minimum of adverse affects.
