ADHD and cannabis – rapper reveals how it helped her find focus

Rapper, Stacey Holmes, discusses her ADHD diagnosis and how cannabis has helped her to find focus and calm in her career and home life.

After years of struggling with uncertainty about her mental health, Stacey was finally given a diagnosis last year, and with it came a “sense of calm” she had never felt before.

The 31-year-old from Glasgow was told that many of the difficulties she had experienced as a child and into her adult life could be put down to her having ADHD.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurological condition that often causes impulsive behaviours and unusual levels of hyperactivity and focus.

People with the condition may have trouble focusing their attention on a single task or sitting still for long periods of time. It is usually diagnosed in childhood and can last to adulthood.

A troubled childhood

Last year Stacey took part in a TV documentary, in which an investigative team used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover psychological reports from her youth which revealed that she had been a child at risk.

They said her mother had been unable to care for her properly, and numerous doctor appointments were missed.

“I had a troubled school life,” Stacey tells Cannabis Health. 

“I was a child who went around almost every school in the area and it resulted in me not being at school.”

Her learning was erratic and she didn’t pass an exam until her mid-20s.

“I couldn’t finish anything. Although everything always started with the best plan,” she adds.

She had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at an early age, but a variety of other symptoms led her to the conclusion that there was more to learn about her mental health.

However, it was not until she was undergoing treatment for a brain tumour in 2016 that medical professionals decided to delve further.

She was finally diagnosed with ADHD in July 2021. With it came closure, a sense of identity and a feeling of calm.

Stacey is now attempting to make up for years without treatment and is glad to be able to take care of her own mental health as “you’re ADHD all your life, it doesn’t just go away”.

Medical cannabis

Although she smoked cigarettes at school, Stacey didn’t try cannabis for the first time until she was 17.

She got it from a “local network” and there was a big stigma attached to using it, she said.

Cannabis became a form of escape for her – she used it to give her the focus and to sleep – and it later helped with the painful symptoms of her brain tumour.

She now vapes three times a day and it allows her to function and be more active, she explained.

“I’ve not had my ADHD meds yet, but don’t think I even want them,” she says, adding that she is not a fan of pharmaceutical drugs.

Stacey, also known as StayAce, has found success as a musician and became the first Scottish female rapper on Radio 1Xtra. 

She also has a qualification in radio production and has hosted her own shows.

Early on the ADHD had an impact on her career. 

She admits: “I have albums with features with famous people on it that never went anywhere.”

But this March after spotting the company on TikTok, she obtained a medical cannabis prescription from Sapphire Medical Clinics and is now making music again.

It was “the easiest process I ever went through in my life” and took just over a week from application to receiving the prescription.

When her nine-year-old son was diagnosed with autism, she looked into the condition herself and is currently waiting for a diagnosis. 

Advocate

Stacey wants to use her influence as a rapper to be an advocate for the use of medical cannabis for mental health conditions.

She believes that teens who suffer from ADHD should be given the option of taking medical cannabis, to save them from years of potential underachievement at school.

“I’m trying to be the person where someone would say, well if it worked for Stacey, it could work for us,” she says.

There is a stigma that comes with mental health conditions, but Stacey urges young people not to be afraid to talk to experts and get diagnosed.

Stacey wants life to be made easier for those with medical cannabis prescriptions through key rings or bracelets with QR codes that indicate public use is legal.

She also wants to see private medical cannabis clinics in the major high street pharmacies.

“It’s all about living pain free,” she adds.

“I’m not trying to fix the world, but if I can expose myself and what I’ve been through and someone else can relate, maybe they can take some inspiration from it.”

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