Aren’t We All Anxious?

Last week the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a committee of medical experts, recommended that anyone under 65 be screened for anxiety. The first thing that popped into my mind was, why not test everyone? Then I saw the reason is from coping with the pandemic and its aftermath (essentially), and they also tossed in rising crime and inflation. I am pretty sure everything happening affects everyone, regardless of age.

What is the reasoning for that? Supposedly there is no actual data that older adults need to be tested because anxiety is similar to regular old aging. Personally, I find that hard to believe. I am not 65, but I am not that far (yikes), and if anything, older adults tend to be who they are, anxieties included, after hitting 65.

The biggest question is considering that everyone has some anxiety level, how will we treat all of this? The answer is certainly not in pharmaceuticals. The answer should be in cannabis and psilocybin products. We will never have the right medical cannabis products we want and need until Federal Government declassifies cannabis as a level one drug. Then, the amount of research will explode because there will be private funding. That changes the game.

Israel has been doing research on cannabis for decades. Their findings have had impressive impacts on multiple levels of medical care. Why don’t we?

Back to anxiety relieving drugs that also come with therapy. Therapy should be covered on all insurance. Products like Ketalin, micro-dosing mushrooms, or an iowaska journey have taken years of therapy off people’s plates and helped others with depression. That is a fact. I have witnessed this first-hand.

Being able to have honest conversations about anxiety alone is game-changing, but what would take us there is shifting the mental health care we all receive, not just for people under 65 but for every age.