RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Marijuana May Increase Psychosis Risk

Marijuana May Increase Psychosis Risk
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
Thu Jul 26, 7:25 PM

LONDON - Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.

The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40 percent.

Doctors have long suspected a connection and say the latest findings underline the need to highlight marijuana's long-term risks. The research, paid for by the British Health Department, is being published Friday in medical journal The Lancet.

"The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think," said Dr. Stanley Zammit, one of the study's authors and a lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at Cardiff University.

The researchers said they couldn't prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.

There could be something else about marijuana users, "like their tendency to use other drugs or certain personality traits, that could be causing the psychoses," Zammit said.

Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal substance in many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. About 20 percent of young adults report using it at least once a week, according to government statistics.

Zammit and colleagues from the University of Bristol, Imperial College and Cambridge University examined 35 studies that tracked tens of thousands of people for periods ranging from one year to 27 years to examine the effect of marijuana on mental health.

They looked for psychotic illnesses as well as cognitive disorders including delusions and hallucinations, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, neuroses and suicidal tendencies.

They found that people who used marijuana had roughly a 40 percent higher chance of developing a psychotic disorder later in life. The overall risk remains very low.

For example, Zammit said the risk of developing schizophrenia for most people is less than 1 percent. The prevalence of schizophrenia is believed to be about five in 1,000 people. But because of the drug's wide popularity, the researchers estimate that about 800 new cases of psychosis could be prevented by reducing marijuana use.

The scientists found a more disturbing outlook for "heavy users" of pot, those who used it daily or weekly: Their risk for psychosis jumped to a range of 50 percent to 200 percent.

One doctor noted that people with a history of mental illness in their families could be at higher risk. For them, marijuana use "could unmask the underlying schizophrenia," said Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, who was not involved in the study.

Dr. Wilson Compton, a senior scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Washington, called the study persuasive.

"The strongest case is that there are consistencies across all of the studies," and that the link was seen only with psychoses _ not anxiety, depression or other mental health problems, he said.

Scientists cannot rule out that pre-existing conditions could have led to both marijuana use and later psychoses, he added.

Scientists think it is biologically possible that marijuana could cause psychoses because it interrupts important neurotransmitters such as dopamine. That can interfere with the brain's communication systems.

Some experts say governments should now work to dispel the misconception that marijuana is a benign drug.

"We've reached the end of the road with these kinds of studies," said Dr. Robin Murray of King's College, who had no role in the Lancet study. "Experts are now agreed on the connection between cannabis and psychoses. What we need now is for 14-year-olds to know it."

In the U.K., the government will soon reconsider how marijuana should be classified in its hierarchy of drugs. In 2004, it was downgraded and penalties for possession were reduced. Many expect marijuana will be bumped up to a class "B" category, with offenses likely to lead to arrests or longer jail sentences.

Two of the authors of the study were invited experts on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Cannabis Review in 2005. Several authors reported being paid to attend drug company-sponsored meetings related to marijuana, and one received consulting fees from companies that make antipsychotic medications.

___

Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee, Wis., contributed to this report.

Kamphausened

She's right,Jerry. Rob made a post a while back about how his Marijuana use was making him psychotic.

Leave Jerry alone. Looking at him I think we can all surmise that pot destroyed his short term memory years ago.

Eh?

marijuana has been used for hundreds of years. it's not new.

Psychosis has existed for hundreds of years also. Coincidence?

Yes.

What's with "Research reports" and the word "may"? Sounds like they may-ke up that stuff and don't want to take a stand for its truth.

It's fun for them to have an easy target. The meth labs, heroin pushers, and Columbian coke-lords are tougher to sell at election time.

That's right, G-Man! I just arbitrarily threw that out there! No quotes for support! Just full-blown observation! Take THAT, Dean Witter!!

well they're implying that it's recent increases in psychosis that have been caused by marijuana.

That's my big problem with the government's stance on drugs. When they promote ads that single out one specific drug, it's marijuana. Not heroin, not cocaine, not any of the other far more dangerous drugs, but marijuana.

Probably because it's the most often abused drug that finds its way into kids' hands easier than the others.

how is it abused exactly? or do you mean "used?"

If, in fact, there are all these side effects to the stuff (increased psychosis, cancer, addiction, etc.), then any time its used in a non-medicinal, non-prescribed, way its probably being abused...the same as when, for example, a prescription drug is abused when its not used for the purpose it was prescribed.

Isn't drinking to get a drunk an abuse?

we ignore liver damage and lung cancer because alcohol and cigarettes are legal.
however something illegal that has no proven fatalities has been theorized to maybe cause some problems that aren't proven so g-man and pariah are concerned.

Yes.

That's a common myth. I'm not exactly sure where it came from either. There have been numerous documented pot related fatalities. Nowhere near as many as those from cigarettes or alcohol, but a number than can't exactly be ignored.

The number of non-fatal injuries is much greater, by the way.

If its smoked with no medicinal precedent, then they're synonymous.




In the case of THC, there is no such thing as moderation. Alcohol consumption and nicotine have much more easily moderated alternative effects.

Furthermore, drunkeness is policed.

have you ever smoked it, pariah? because you sound a lot like someone who talks about the dangers of drinking alcohol without ever having a drink.

I didn't realize we now had to try everything once to know what is and isn't dangerous.

Is that how you first got into anal sex, Ray? You heard it caused AIDS but wanted to see for yourself?

When they don't roll the joint the right way.

notice how g-man's first thought is anal sex?
i mean he could've made a better point using heroin or cocaine. but he went right for anal sex.

No, but a bunch of my peers have, and every time they did, they made total jerks out of themselves.

Being Irish, I don't drink. Just in case.

New York Post

• The personal assistant of Linda Stein, the punk pioneer turned real-estate powerhouse, confessed to beating her boss to death with a "yoga stick," saying she snapped after Stein tormented her with racially charged taunts and blew pot smoke in her face, police said yesterday.
  
  "She claimed Ms. Stein had been verbally abusive to her and had blown marijuana smoke into her face several times over her objections," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said as he announced the arrest.
  
  "She claimed Stein used profanity and derogatory language, and she waved an object that Lowery described as a yoga stick at her. Lowery said she grabbed the yoga stick from Stein's hands and struck her with it six or seven times."
  
  Lowery, who is black, said some of that derogatory language was racially offensive.

See...even a "contact high" can cause that "reefer madness".

Reuters: Smoking a moderate amount of marijuana may relieve pain, but smoking high doses could increase it, a study suggests.

I have to admit, this IS funny!

Maybe his post is funny for several reasons?

like an eagle soaring over a garbage heap?

I dunno. Is that funny?

Wow! Marijuana increases psychosis?

That's like discovering cake makes you fat.

This may help explain tings:

What Do Conservatives Spend Time Thinking About?
One answer is provided by Conservapedia's most viewed list:



I'd like to add something witty, but really, what is there to say after that? Especially since I can barely stop laughing.

In other news a new study shows that your chance of falling down stairs increases 90% if there's something on the stairs.

Also, 9 out of 10 pregnancies are the result of sex.

BTW, the stairs thing, was a real study.

The Optimus Prime image rocks!