Serious Question About Ramadan

[Samkurd]

I have a serious question.

I have a friend. What is the stance Islam takes on someone who has been suicidal in the past and still suffers from chronic depression/suicidal tendencies, to be able to use cannabis as an ailment? I understand intoxicants are forbidden, but visiting doctors and dieticians in the past 3 years and talking to them about using it instead of synthetic pills has generally been quite positive for my friend. So how does someone who copes with chronic depression / suicidal tendencies go about ramadan without anything to help them?

I cannot accept an answer along the lines of Islam being the cure to depression, its beautiful to think about it in this way but in reality that's just a fairytale for people who actually suffer from this illness and have to deal with the mental and physical side to it aswell. I also understand that depression is usually caused by chemical imbalances in the brain which intoxicants can contribute to, but my friend is on a process of cleaning his diet (he's allowed to eat small meals during Ramadan as he's diabetic to avoid sugar level dipping too low and going into a coma) to try and change this chemical imbalance while using cannabis to help him with his depression generally.

There have been two periods in his life where he has moved out of the country to not be around any avenue of using cannabis to help him with his depression and to see if he could push himself to rebuild his life. For the first, it wasn't his choice to move, but he did and it sent him into a really deep dark hole. Once he was out he was fine and 2 years later he decided he wanted to escape all the negative energy surrounding his life where he was currently living, so he moved out for 2 months. During that time, he refrained from taking anything that would have some type of intoxicating effect on his body. During that time, he found he had also eventually spiralled into a worse depression, and actually attempted suicide by an overdose of insulin but was rushed to hospital before he was in a coma. It was as if he wasn't himself anymore. Moving back to his old place he realized cannabis was actually suppressing his overwhelming negative emotions and just let him go about his day peacefully. I understand there are some deep rooted issues within himself that need to be sorted and depending on cannabis is not the ultimate answer to his problems, but it certainly helps.

So, if someone suffers from chronic depression and has known to be suicidal in the past, is it logical to tell them to refrain from using cannabis which might greatly increase their risk of suicide?

Thanks

[Aisha]

Interesting question. I've been wondering about this myself.
Your friend will have to consult a reliable Mufti and ask about his specific situation.

Severe depression is an illness and sometimes other forms of treatment are necessary - as well as making sure that one prays their Faraa'idh and fulfills the commands of Allah. Both go hand in hand, just like with any other illness. Any form of treatment can only work if one has complete trust in Allah and believes that all Shifa comes from Him alone. There's a lot of misunderstanding out there about this issue, most people tend to think that mental illness can be 'cured' by thinking it away.

May Allah make things easy for your friend and grant him complete shifa. Ameen.

[Lisa921]

Assalamu alaykum
Does he have a clear reason why he will not use synthetic drugs?
They are certainly more studies and tests done on them. Yes they have side effects but doesn't maurijauna usage have side effects too.
And more importantly they are not as heavily addictive as maurijauna.
I know there are a lot of unproven 'theories' out there that synthetic drugs are bad. But me and some of my friends have used them or years without major setbacks.
Just wondering why he would take his chances with an experimental and possibly (allah knows) haram substance when there are good enough alternatives out there?

[ardianto]

I can understand if diabetes make your friend depressed. But relieve depression with cannabis is not the right way. Even cannabis can make depression getting worse because although cannabis doesn't cause physical addiction like heroin, it causes emotional addiction which makes the user feel not comfortable when he is not using it.

Cannabis affect emotion, but does not always make someone happy and want to laugh. It's depend of emotional state. If the user was in problem and not in happy situation, then cannabis might make him enjoy his sadness, and it might cause suicidal thought. Yes, your friend's suicidal thought is caused by his unstable emotion which is effect of his cannabis smoking habit.

So what can you do for your friend?. Direct him to the right people. He is suffer from diabetes, isn't he?. Tell him to join in diabetic community where he will get support to face the problem of his illness in the right way. And if you can, introduce him to people who successfully have left cannabis or drugs. Closeness with people like this is really effective to build a motivation to leave cannabis or drugs.

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[Scimitar]

I have a serious question.

I have a friend. What is the stance Islam takes on someone who has been suicidal in the past and still suffers from chronic depression/suicidal tendencies, to be able to use cannabis as an ailment? I understand intoxicants are forbidden, but visiting doctors and dieticians in the past 3 years and talking to them about using it instead of synthetic pills has generally been quite positive for my friend. So how does someone who copes with chronic depression / suicidal tendencies go about ramadan without anything to help them?

I cannot accept an answer along the lines of Islam being the cure to depression, its beautiful to think about it in this way but in reality that's just a fairytale for people who actually suffer from this illness and have to deal with the mental and physical side to it aswell. I also understand that depression is usually caused by chemical imbalances in the brain which intoxicants can contribute to, but my friend is on a process of cleaning his diet (he's allowed to eat small meals during Ramadan as he's diabetic to avoid sugar level dipping too low and going into a coma) to try and change this chemical imbalance while using cannabis to help him with his depression generally.

There have been two periods in his life where he has moved out of the country to not be around any avenue of using cannabis to help him with his depression and to see if he could push himself to rebuild his life. For the first, it wasn't his choice to move, but he did and it sent him into a really deep dark hole. Once he was out he was fine and 2 years later he decided he wanted to escape all the negative energy surrounding his life where he was currently living, so he moved out for 2 months. During that time, he refrained from taking anything that would have some type of intoxicating effect on his body. During that time, he found he had also eventually spiralled into a worse depression, and actually attempted suicide by an overdose of insulin but was rushed to hospital before he was in a coma. It was as if he wasn't himself anymore. Moving back to his old place he realized cannabis was actually suppressing his overwhelming negative emotions and just let him go about his day peacefully. I understand there are some deep rooted issues within himself that need to be sorted and depending on cannabis is not the ultimate answer to his problems, but it certainly helps.

So, if someone suffers from chronic depression and has known to be suicidal in the past, is it logical to tell them to refrain from using cannabis which might greatly increase their risk of suicide?

Thanks

Sounds like the old me... I used to smoke it a lot - and I do mean a lot, to help me deal with issues by forgetting about them. It's no different to why people use alcohol to forget their problems.

As much as I once thought "yeah yeah Islam is supposed to be my ticket to a normal life but I don't think that will work" - the amazing thing was, it did work.

Islam is the anchor that keeps one balanced. Not no weed, or drug.

Scimi

[Scimitar]

http://www.islamicboard.com/general/...ml#post2848624

Scimi