As much as I don't want to, I have to agree with WC. WC stated very well that lives seem to destabilize with pot use, not the other way around. I am a prime example. When I started smoking pot, it helped to bring down the highs and bring up the lows. When I was manic, I used to smoke a bit to bring me down enough to study my engineering texts. This is before I was diagnosed, and I can only understand it in retrospect. However eventually I began smoking more and more often. This has led to multiple times of psychosis and sobriety throughout the years. I've nearly lost my marriage and family over it, and can guarantee that if I smoked again I'd eventually wind up in another psychosis.

I'm a proponent of legalization, but that doesn't mean I'm for the idea of everyone using it. People with bipolar have to be very careful with the way they handle substances, and I just can't recommend using pot to someone with BP. You're right that it's playing with brain chemistry, but not in the way that other medications do. The long-term effects of medication for people with BP are often positive. The long-term effects of pot smoking to control mood symptoms are often negative. I'm not saying everyone who smokes pot is going to end up in a psychosis, but our brains are unstable to begin with. Adding pot to the mix usually ends up in more instability.