An expert on the health effects of cannabis says that there is growing evidence that the drug is responsible for mental health problems. Professor John Henry, a consultant in toxicology from St Mary's Hospital in London, told the BBC that studies from Sweden and elsewhere pointed to an increase in schizophrenia among regular cannabis smokers. The mental health effects of smoking cannabis are a controversial area, with any evidence of harm strongly disputed by some. However, Dr Henry is planning to tell a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine on Monday that it appears likely that some cases of schizophrenia are attributable to the consumption of cannabis, rather than the alternative explanation that patients prone to mental illness are more likely to be drawn to use the drug. Strong Warning Dr Henry says that the strength of cannabis on sale now far outstrips the strength of the drug sold during the "flower power" era of the 1960s and 1970s. He told the BBC: "There's no government health warning against cannabis but there are all kinds of warnings about tobacco. "People who want to smoke cannabis ought to be aware that it has equal effects to cigarettes on the body and worse effects on the mind. "You've got the fact that regular cannabis smokers develop mental illness. "There's a fourfold increase in schizophrenia and a fourfold increase in major depression. "That is something very very different from what smoking does to you. "There's a lot of epidemiological evidence from as far apart as Sweden and New Zealand that cannabis actually causes these problems." Debate Continues According to a review carried out by UK drugs information service Drugscope, evidence of long-term mental health effects of cannabis is far from clear-cut. It points to criticism of the Swedish study mentioned by Dr Henry - and says that while cannabis consumption is increasing, the incidence of schizophrenia is not, which would suggest that cannabis may not be to blame. It is possible, says Drugscope, that cannabis precipitates schizophrenia in people who would have developed it anyway. Currently, the number of cannabis users in the UK is estimated at more than three million. Lesley King-Lewis, chief executive of charity Action on Addiction, said: "This evidence further demonstrates that cannabis use can be dangerous. "The public should be made more aware of the risks involved with using this illicit drug. "As many as one in 10 cannabis users become addicted. Cannabis use is associated with cancers of the mouth, tongue, throat, oesophagus and lung and reductions in fertility, as well as with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. "Chronic cannabis use clearly involves significant costs to society as well as to the individual user. Many of these problems are shared with alcohol and tobacco. "Therefore more research is needed to provide effective education highlighting the relative dangers of different substances and targeting those most at risk." 'Time Bomb' Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation ( BLF ), Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, described smoking cannabis as a "health time bomb". She said: "Over 3 million regular users in the UK could end up with chronic lung failure. "It is vital that the public know the damage smoking cannabis can cause." Dame Helena said a BLF lung consultant recently gave a lung transplant to a young patient who had only ever smoked cannabis. "Unfortunately, cases like this will become more and more common if public awareness of the dangers is not raised."
This is a cunning ploy of the prohibitionists. How there may indeed be a great deal of truth here the manner in which it is presented is somewhat lacking Originally posted by weedboss An expert on the health effects of cannabis says that there is growing evidence that the drug is responsible for mental health problems. Professor John Henry, a consultant in toxicology from St Mary's Hospital in London, told the BBC that studies from Sweden and elsewhere pointed to an increase in schizophrenia among regular cannabis smokers. This i know to be true to an extent (although grosely exadurated). But straight from the of let me tell you all that this alone is no need for the continued outlawing of the herb. There are many legal substances with FAR MORE dire side effects. even alcohol for example. Some of my friends have had trouble with the effects of cannabis... however it is yet to be proven if it was truely the cannabis that caused their conditions and mental states, or if it simply alerted them to an already present condition by hightening its effects. Its no secret that the effects of canabis are considerable. It is perhaps no wonder then, that its not right for some people, that some people experience adverse side effects. The mental health effects of smoking cannabis are a controversial area, with any evidence of harm strongly disputed by some. yes... i'll dispute it. but only to teh point that we cannot fall prey to this type of tabloid scaremongering and propaganda, which is completely blind to the "bigger picture". one small part of that bigger picture is... (taking the UK alone) there are aprx 13 million cannabis smokers/users and how many of them are experiencing adverse side effects? at most i'd say about 1%, 130,000. but thats not saying that all these people are schizophrenic! 130,000 may sound alot... but when we compaire this with the comonly accepted figure, that A QUARTER of all people will experience some form of mental problems at some time in their life, it really does put things in perspective a little. and also i think cannabis' ability to calm the effects of stress should be taken into consideration when weighing up the mental effects of cannabis on the population. However, Dr Henry is planning to tell a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine on Monday that it appears likely that some cases of schizophrenia are attributable to the consumption of cannabis, rather than the alternative explanation that patients prone to mental illness are more likely to be drawn to use the drug. and i'd really like to see his evidence for such a claim. i've never subscibed to either blazae generalisation. i prefer to look at the whole picture and see that with so many people likely to suffer mental ilnesses such as the ones expresed to be "caused by cannabis" of course then with such a high percentage of cannabis smokers in the population the two categories (canabis smokers and people likely to suffer mental ilness) are bound to overlap. just because they do is no reason to blaim cannabis. this is like 'Dumb-Logic' 101 here! Strong Warning Dr Henry says that the strength of cannabis on sale now far outstrips the strength of the drug sold during the "flower power" era of the 1960s and 1970s. and this was the statement that alerted me to realise that he is a prohibitionist corruptor. there has never been any real evidence to back this up... mainly because the testing methods back then were not as refined as some of the methods these days. some of the most powerful strains today were around back then. it is ludicrous to claim that after 5000 years of cannabis breeding, that it has only been in the last 30 or so years that these great advances in streagth have been acheived. maybe he just couldnt get anything good when he was young with long hair and a VW van He told the BBC: "There's no government health warning against cannabis but there are all kinds of warnings about tobacco. well duh! has this guy been paying attention to what has been happening about cannabis? "People who want to smoke cannabis ought to be aware that it has equal effects to cigarettes on the body and worse effects on the mind. ah yes... modern prohibitionists favourite scare tactic of the moment. I thought since i realised he was a prohibitionist that we might get this line again. some moron (possably a primate not even human - either that or he worked for a tobacco company) put on a white lab coat one day... compaired the levels of tar in tobacco smoke to cannabis smoke. upon seeing that there are higher levels of tar in the cannabis smoke he declared right there and then that it was far worse than tobacco smoke. Hardly scientific now was it? completely disregarding that no one has ever got cancer from cannabis, nor has anyone died from it. completely disregarding the thousands of dangerous additives ranging from polyester to potassium and to hundreds more comples substances all designed to help give you the niccotine hit you crave of your tobacco products. completely disrearding the (under known) discovery in the 60's that cannabis (more acurately, THC) destroys cancerous cells! and as it has since been discovered, the tests that discovered such claims were done on cannabis leaf, and not cannabis bud! had the tests been done appropriately on the correct part of the plant (the part we stoners like to smoke) it would have been discovered that there is actually less than 10% the tar in cannabis as in tobacco. It is a very dangerous claim he makes ... perhaps worse(?) than the destructive, counter productive bullshit we were all fed in school. claims such as this will drive those "not-in-the-know" towards dangerous substances such as tobacco. Very dangerous indeed! "You've got the fact that regular cannabis smokers develop mental illness. hey hot shot.. i got news for you.... non-cannabis smokers develope mental ilness too. its not a new thing related to just cannabis. "There's a fourfold increase in schizophrenia and a fourfold increase in major depression. has anone else done the maths on this? im not sure but... since theres a 1 in 4 chance of developing mental ilness... doesnt this mean that if you smoke cannabis you'll be at a 4 in 4 chance of developing mental ilness!? cripes... we better be careful... we're all skitzo! haha :-/ "That is something very very different from what smoking does to you. im asuming he means smoking tobacco. well as someone suffering the effects of tobacoo addiction let me just say in all frankness... fuck you Professor John Henry. pull your head outta your ass and look away from your books for just one second to look at the state of my health (and thousands more like me), both physical and mental.... this shit was caused by tobacco... and you shoulda seen me two months ago... or a year ago.... this is me on the recovery. "There's a lot of epidemiological evidence from as far apart as Sweden and New Zealand that cannabis actually causes these problems." yep... there's propagandists and prohibitionists everywhere. congradulations on this remarkable discovery... i think i might just start seeing things the way you have been paid to make us see.......... :-/ Debate Continues According to a review carried out by UK drugs information service Drugscope, evidence of long-term mental health effects of cannabis is far from clear-cut. because there are too many with motives against cannabis in the debate. It points to criticism of the Swedish study mentioned by Dr Henry - and says that while cannabis consumption is increasing, the incidence of schizophrenia is not, which would suggest that cannabis may not be to blame. TADA! It is possible, says Drugscope, that cannabis precipitates schizophrenia in people who would have developed it anyway. they make it sound as if cannabis is a conition or disease in itself! should they not say 'cannabis use' here instead? Currently, the number of cannabis users in the UK is estimated at more than three million. who the fudge did that figure come from!? thats just rediculous.... there's no way that 3 million cannabis smokers can manage to get through all the weed that we import... i think this would mean that the average cannabis consumption (based on imports of low grade morocan alone) would be an ounce per week! and even though i and many of my friends can (and have) smoked that much... it certainly isnt the average! try adding another 10 million to that figure and you'd get a better picture. Lesley King-Lewis, chief executive of charity Action on Addiction, said: "This evidence further demonstrates that cannabis use can be dangerous. it might.... if the evidence were true and un-corrupt. "The public should be made more aware of the risks involved with using this illicit drug. the public should be made aware of all risks, nd done so in a non tabloid scaremongering manner. Will they hear about the risks of trusting big business backed politicians and government. "As many as one in 10 cannabis users become addicted. Cannabis use is associated with cancers of the mouth, tongue, throat, oesophagus and lung and reductions in fertility, as well as with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. 1 in 10 huh? thats pretty good. especially considering that the addiction rate for tobacco is 90%... thats 9 in 10! and that shit is legal.... and will kill you. and it's pretty well known that cannabis addiction (if it can even be called that) is a fairly easy thing to break out of, even easier to stop than coffee or chocolate. "Chronic cannabis use clearly involves significant costs to society as well as to the individual user. Many of these problems are shared with alcohol and tobacco. uhh.... how can anyone argue a point so vague. it's amusing to see how prohibitionists are now having to claim that cannabis is as bad as the legal substances. are these significant costs due to the fact that people may become more self aware, harder to control and supress, more freethinking... oh lordy lordy.... we wouldnt want that now would we. :-/ "Therefore more research is needed to provide effective education highlighting the relative dangers of different substances and targeting those most at risk." at last something the prohibitionist has right. although im sure his idea of "effective education highlighting the relative dangers of different substances and targeting those most at risk" is far, far different to mine. 'Time Bomb' Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation ( BLF ), Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, described smoking cannabis as a "health time bomb". She said: "Over 3 million regular users in the UK could end up with chronic lung failure. "It is vital that the public know the damage smoking cannabis can cause." Dame Helena said a BLF lung consultant recently gave a lung transplant to a young patient who had only ever smoked cannabis. "Unfortunately, cases like this will become more and more common if public awareness of the dangers is not raised." something else i agree with... people must smoke cannabis inteligently and be well informed. ice bongs can be dangerous... you can collapse your lung if you are susceptable to such a condition. but i should point out... there was not even any suggestion that it was the cannabis use that caused this person to need a lung transplant... people who dont smoke anything could need a lung transplant too... becarefull how you smoke, people. and be carefull who you listen to. now if only i could get the prohibitionists to read all that.
Same here, and good job. I've showed this to friends to try and dispel the myths on marijuana. Plus, it must have taken you a long time to do that.
i forgot to point out there is no evidence at all that supports the claim that intelligent use of cannabis causes any cancer whatsoever. why do cancer patients get given cannabis? could it be they want to excasperate the tumours? or could it be that THC destorys cancer?
thnx guys. glad to hear the word is spreading far. its my life to be a gaurdian of the herb, and to dispute all those who wish to put it back down in to prohibitionism. just cause back in the 20s and 30s when all this prohibiting of substances was kicking off, all the people who smoked weed, (which back then were predominantly black or mexican, in america anyways) were typical stoners... they couldnt really be bothered starting a fight... the alcoholics however kicked up so much fuss that they got to keep their drug of preference. is that fair?
Yeah, I feel the same way. My mom was complaining that i'm not doing anything with my life and I said that verbatim. She seemed to understand.