PPD & Weed

Post-Partum Depression and Cannabis

We ask an expert and the women who tried it.

The number of women actually suffering from PPD may be well over 900,000 in the U.S. every year. While cannabis remains federally illegal, 29 states have now legalized the drug for medical purposes, and eight have voted to allow recreational use. 

Hundreds of shocked and frightened women have found their way into the office of Dr. Junella Chin. An osteopathic physician with degrees in nutritional biochemistry and acupuncture, Dr. Chin has been prescribing cannabis to women with PPD at her California (and now New York) clinics for over 15 years. When asked if medical cannabis is an effective treatment for PPD, she says categorically, "Yes." According to Dr. Chin, cannabis can alleviate many of the symptoms that women experience – sadness, anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite. It carries no risk of a lethal overdose. In fact, women can control their own dosing as needed. And its potential for addiction has been rated lower than caffeine. Since PPD is not a qualifying condition, Dr. Chin often uses a "chronic pain" diagnosis, which is approved in every legal state, and which, she says, all moms have.