The mainstream media loves to spill ink hyping the allegation that marijuana causes mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. In fact, it was in March when international media outlets declared that cannabis use ‘doubled’ one’s risk of developing the disease. Yet when research appears in scientific journals rebuking just this sort of ‘reefer madness,’ it generally goes unreported. Such is the case with a pair of just-published studies slated to appear in the journal Schizophrenia Research. The first study, conducted by a team of researchers at various New York state hospitals, the Yale University School of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Mental Health assessed whether there exists a causal association between cannabis use and the age of onset of psychosis in patients hospitalized for the first time for an episode of schizophrenia. Despite previous media claims to the contrary, researchers concluded: “Although the onset of cannabis use disorder preceded the onset of illness in most patients, our findings suggest that age at onset of psychosis was not associated with cannabis use disorders. Previous studies implicating cannabis use disorders in schizophrenia may need to more comprehensively assess the relationship between cannabis use disorders and schizophrenia, and take into account the additional variables that we found associated with cannabis use disorders.” A separate study slated for publication in the same journal assessed the cognitive skills of schizophrenic patients with a history of cannabis use compared to non-users. Authors reported that patients with a history of marijuana use “demonstrated significantly better performance on measures of processing speed, verbal fluency, and verbal learning and memory” compared to abstainers. Marijuana use was also associated with better overall GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) scores compared to those of non-users. Authors concluded: “The results of the present analysis suggest that (cannabis use) in patients with SZ (schizophrenia) is associated with better performance on measures of processing speed and verbal skills. These data are consistent with prior reports indicating that SZ patients with a history of CUD (cannabis use disorders) have less severe cognitive deficits than SZ patients without comorbid CUD. … The present findings also suggest that CUD in patients with SZ may not differentially affect the severity of illness as measured by clinical symptomatology.” Both study’s findings are in line with previous (though virtually unreported) research indicating that marijuana is unlikely to instigate incidences of schizophrenia in the general population, that cannabis use among patients with the disease is associated with higher cognitive function, and that at least some schizophrenics find subjective relief from symptoms of the illness by using pot. Nonetheless, odds are the nobody from the mainstream media will be champing at the bit to report on them. Bottom line: marijuana’s complex relationship with schizophrenia is far from understood, and likely won’t be for some time. But that doesn’t give the MSM a free pass to only promote one side of the story. Story found here.
it's crazy how recently studies are finding that weed causes the opposite of what the government says. It doesn't cause cancer, it's like a shield against it; it doesn't make you slow, it makes you smarter...
Personally, I don't think it causes it. The majority of mental disorders onset are before 25. Most people start smoking marijuana in their teens.
haha it doesn't make you smarter but it may increase your open-ness to new ideas and remove creative blocks in the brain while under the influence... otherwise things like this wouldn't still exist... for the most part. But anyways the media has always been big fans of correlation implying causality and people eat it up. The media are just as greedy and will say anything to bring people to read/buy their material. Fear is the most successful motivator, ever.
Yeah I remember still to this day,me senior year in highschool we had to do a powerpoint on mental disorders in my psychology class. One group got Schizophrenia and I remember them saying if you smoke marijuana your 1000times more likely to get Schizophrenia. ID LOVE TO RUB THIS IN THEIR FACE
good news. the world can only ignore the truth for so long. the more people figure out the government is lying, the harder it will be propagate lies and fight legalization. marijuana is going to be legal eventually, at this point its inevitable. and when that day comes im gonna spark up a blunt and laugh at the nay-sayers.
it says cannabis use disorders. not cannabis use but cannabis use disorders. that in itself it fucked.
Is it true before they can diagnose you schizo you must do or say something majorly schizophrenic? Or is it just that they figure out you use to smoke MJ, and in the cause of that EVERYTHING you do or say or intend to do is absolutely schizophrenic, or even you would need medication because there are some early signs that eventually could point to upcoming schizophrenia, and the medication has the intent to prevent the outbreak? I mean if you bring a small toy eletric train installation into your office, and then play with it 5 hours a day, then you are "round the bend" or something. But what exactly is schizophrenia? There is no lab test. If you want Mc Donalds and your family insists on organic? Or the other way round? Or if you paint your walls green?
I couldnt tell you. All I can say is that once somebody calls you crazy, any denying your being crazy only proves how crazy you really are, in their eyes. Currently my situation with weed unfortunately. Anything I say to defend cannabis just proves how greatly it has fucked me up. It really angers me.
I hate to burst the happy moment, but if you read the text of the article, it says NOTHING about cannabis making an average person "smarter." What it did indicate is that among people already diagnosed with schizophrenia, those who used cannabis tended to perform better on general mental aptitude tests. The implication here is that cannabis may have a therapeutic effect on schizophrenics, rather than having an antagonistic effect (as is the popular narrative in the media). Down the road, it could mean yet another possible use for medical marijuana. You, I, and everyone without schizophrenia, however? It says nothing about that. Don't let wishful thinking run away with your mind -- pot is NOT going to make you "smarter." It may not necessarily make you "stupider," but it certainly isn't going to net you any additional IQ points. And very heavy, daily use WILL certainly have an effect on your short-term memory -- that much is established science. Still, the overall thrust of this research seems to be good news -- one less talking point for the culture warriors trying to defend an increasingly indefensible policy of prohibition, a talking point that was flimsy to begin with, but something that sounded scary to an uninformed public all the same. To boil it down to its base elements -- this study simply suggests that weed isn't any more likely to make a person already prone to going crazy take that LEAP into crazy any earlier than they would have anyway.
Accualy there are lab tests that show differences in the schizophrenic brain such as enlarged ventricles Mabye you should learn what schizophrenia is before you assert things about it.
schizophrenia has been linked to cannabis but the change is only from 2% to 3% in those already predisposed to developing it. This change also only occurs if you smoke at 16 or younger because of the important brain development during this time.