Marijuana may increase risk of psychosis: study

by Barry Artiste | July 31, 2009 at 05:51 am

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Barry Artiste Op/Ed

For those who have always maintained Marijuana is a safe drug, certainly shows ignorance on their part, as I have stated many of my first hand experiences on Now Public over the years on Drug Busts, Mary Jane, ain't what everyone touts it to be, notwithstanding the associated criminal aspects, drugs for guns etc. Marijuana advocates for some strange reason abhor cigarettes as death sticks, as they puff their brains out at their annual Vancouver Library Stoner Fest may now have to keep mum as it shows marijuana can be as deadly if not more deadly in the long run than cigarettes and alchohol.

Smoking pot may increase the risk for the type of psychosis commonly associated with schizophrenia, and the risk increases with each puff, a new British study reports.

Occasional smokers were 40 per cent more likely to suffer from psychosis, while dedicated tokers who used marijuana daily or weekly increased their risk by 50 to 200 per cent.

According to the findings, however, the risk of developing psychoses remains low. About five in 1,000 people have schizophrenia. Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. According to the 2007 UN World Drug Report, 16.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 through 64, approximately five million people, smoked pot or used another marijuana product in 2006. "The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think," said Dr. Stanley Zammit, one of the authors of the study, which will be published Friday in the medical journal the Lancet.

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duo

at 07:14 on July 31st, 2009

Thanks, Barry. Marijuana-related psychosis is something to consider, but it is probably no worse than alcohol-related psychosis. People need to keep a clear head. I write about the effects of mental illness on individuals, families, and society. Hallucinations and blackouts are symptoms some mentally ill people face, and it amazes me that so people who are not mentally ill regularly consume enough alcohol to experience the same symptoms that some psychiatric patients have.

See this excerpt on alcohol-induced psychosis from WebMD:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/289848-overview
Alcohol-related psychosis is a secondary psychosis with predominant hallucinations occurring in many alcohol-related conditions, including acute intoxication, withdrawal, after a major decrease in alcohol consumption, and alcohol idiosyncratic intoxication. Alcohol is a neurotoxin that affects the brain in a complex manner through prolonged exposure and repeated withdrawal, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Alcohol-related psychosis is often an indication of chronic alcoholism; thus, it is associated with medical, neurological, and psychosocial complications.

As you know, alcohol was illegal for years, just as marijuana is illegal now. The result was a huge blackmarket that gave rise to the gangster era duing prohibition. As is true today with the War on Drugs, crime was rampant, and many people lost their freedom and others lost their lives. Some people got sick and died from contaminated alcohol made in stills. Eventually, the illegal stills were destroyed and alcohol became legal again.

Marijuana prohibition is happening today. People don't know from joint to joint the strength of the marijuana they are smoking or whether it has been soaked in some strong chemical that might induce a mental or physical health crisis. Almost all marijuana is grown illegally, sold illegally, and used illegally. Therefore, there is no legal remedy for people who are harmed by it. I think that since people won't stop smoking grass, and considering the tremendous financial cost to our criminal justice system, it should be made legal just as alcohol was made legal again despite the risks associated with drinking. If marijuana is legalized, the strength of the joints could be controlled like alcohol, which comes in different proofs. The risk that the leaves were soaked in dangerous chemicals like PCP would be eliminated, and people would stop losing years of their lives behind bars at tremendous costs to taxpayers while the justice system continues to fight a war that was lost years ago.

Thanks for your article! Good information herein that most folks who love pot won't care about.

Mary Neal

mojorono

at 09:06 on July 31st, 2009

Now if only they would believe this propaganda.

kuuva

at 09:24 on July 31st, 2009

to me it is obvious that stoners have altered brain function, when was the last time you heard a stoner start a sentence with uhhhh? It is true about alcohol is a dangerous drug that has been legalized but that does not legitimize marijuana. If anything alcohol should be made illegal again. But the fact is at this time alcohol is legal and marijuana is not.

here is some more propaganda for Mojorono, there are many studies referenced in here. http://www.theantidrug.com/DRUG_INFO/drug-info-truth-about-marijuana.asp

Grace H

at 11:27 on July 31st, 2009

Most people who have studied any of the hyman sciences understand that statistics and studies are geared to achieve a certain result and as being prejudiced and bias from the start must be subject to much more stringent scrutiny. Furthermore, stats and studies are the easiest things in the world to manipulate in order to render support to the chosen stance.

QueensHart

at 13:40 on July 31st, 2009

Grace H

I agree with you 100%

Barry Artiste

at 17:43 on July 31st, 2009

Thats right Grace, Vancouver has six thousand homeless potheads who turned to stronger illegal drugs can't be wrong,. Vangroovy is full of them, with very few on alcohol, crack and weed is what they feed on/. The proof is in the pudding.

Roy C

at 09:58 on July 31st, 2009

Thanks, Barry. I will read the article as soon as the voices tell me I can. They are so fussy at times, but I know I can learn to live with them. :)

a211423

at 10:12 on July 31st, 2009

I live in California, and the legalization of marijuana is always in the news. Recently it was legalized in one city for medicinal purposes and is taxed. I consider myself to have liberal attitudes, but I am against legalization of marijuana, except for medicinal purposes. However, if it is going to be dispensed as medicine, then it should be controlled and dispensed as such. We have to go to a pharmacy for prescription drugs. Why not have the same controls for marijuana?

Alcohol and drug addiction related conditions overburden the rehabilitation resources available. Why do we need to add another potentially addictive substance? Additionally, cigarette related illnesses add billions yearly to our health care costs. Costs we all end up paying.

Amy Judd

at 10:54 on July 31st, 2009

Can't say I'm surprised...

Roy C

at 12:57 on July 31st, 2009

I have no problem with recreational use of marijuana, but., among the many I have known who smoked very regularly, some people, those with an apparent propensity to a psychosis, seem to have had more breakdowns while being users than otherwise. Not proof, but, empirically, it is consistent.

The marijuana of today is much, much stronger than the sixties, and experiences on the most potent stuff resemble what the "hashish eaters" of 19th century Paris wrote about.

Yes, the pharmaceutical companies have their major flaws, but this study was not paid for by them, to my knowledge. I will have to confirm that.

As we go broke as a nation, marijuana will be de facto legalized because no one will have the money to pay police to enforce the law and no community will have the money to pay for the imprisonment of light drug users.

I say legalize it and legalize heroin as well. Put the users' names on lists to get heroin at low-cost and then cut out the profits for the warlords of the world.

I drove a nationally recognized pain expert for three hours one night. He was an anesthesiologist. He said that heroin users who had money to buy their drugs easily were often indistinguishable from their co-workers, whereas everyone knew who the alcoholics were.

In fact, he said that if you gave 100 people alcohol for the first time, you could expect 80 to like it and 20 to get addicted to it. If you gave 100 people morphine, then only about 12 would actually like it and only 8 would get addicted.

So, we need to rethink all the drug prohibition bullm*rde that we have been using for the last hundred years.

OK, here it is: paid for by the Brits Health Dept:

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.

kuuva

at 14:23 on July 31st, 2009

Good stuff Roy. It is sad to say someone can get more time for possession than for robbery. I cannot stand when there are attacks against others that do not get punished. I believe most drugs are crimes against oneself, unless the user turns to crime to get money. But then that would come under crimes against others. And I know the costs to the US tax payers is extremely high to keep all of the criminals in prison, there has to be a better solution - legalizing it may be the best solution. I wonder what the cost is to the tax payer for housing legalized alcohol criminals in prison? In the end, the government should not dictate what is right or wrong, the people as a whole should.

Barry Artiste

at 17:46 on July 31st, 2009

Thanks everyone for your opinions, truly appreciated

Beaulieu

at 14:53 on August 1st, 2009

I wish people would just stop wasting their time using these drugs. I tend to 'get high' on 'getting an education, a good British chocolate bar, charity stuff and my cycling' or even a good rant on Now Public:-). Stuffing one self with drugs is just a pointless exercise although if one is in pain, through cancer, then the pros and cons have to be looked at. I think people should look for a buzz in a more rewarding and constructive way.

uygvui (not verified)

at 12:33 on August 5th, 2009

fag

Barry Artiste

at 19:27 on August 1st, 2009

Thanks Beaulieu, you are speaking to the Choir, though the lack of comments from Vangroovians on here, seems to upset them. In BC, BC Bud is their Holy Grail of Life.

Spydermonkey

at 09:47 on August 3rd, 2009

I know someone who use pot so that they will be able to eat, his other meds make him sick to his stomach & pot will settle it & give him an appetite. Like any drug, it isn't the governments job to decide if a given drug will be suitable for a given application, that's for doctors, medical personel & the individual to deside.

I did read the study the otherday & looked at the reference material. NOTE: Pot is not physicaly addictive, that is a well proven fact, BUT, it is phyalogicaly addictive. It does the typical media bias thing of telling the truth, & only part if the truth (that they like).

Digg a little deeper Barry :)