marijuana encourages schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia Society of Canada postition on cannabis:

The role and impact of drugs and alcohol on schizophrenia and other mental illnesses is an area of great interest and concern. The medical consensus has been that drugs such as cannabis do not actually cause the illness, however they can contribute to psychoses and symptoms in individuals who are vulnerable to schizophrenia due to a personal or family history of the illness.

We do have some basic information about drug abuse in our reference manual Rays of Hope. The section states: "Drugs (including alcohol and street drugs) themselves do not cause schizophrenia. However, street drugs and alcohol can make psychotic symptoms worse if a person already has schizophrenia. Some drugs (amphetamines or phencyclidine/angel dust) can temporarily create schizophrenia-like symptoms in well persons."

Our Society does not have a formal position on cannabis use. We encourage all individuals with schizophrenia to talk to their psychiatrists about any products they may be taking, whether it is other prescription medications, alternative products, alcohol or street drugs. The individual's psychiatrist should know what products the person is taking in order to be aware of potential effects.

This past June, the Canadian Psychiatric Association published an issue devoted to the topic of Cannabis and Psychosis. This may be of interest if you are looking for additional information. The link is: http://ww1.cpa-apc.org:8080/Publications/Archives/CJP/2006/august/aug2006.asp

The issue of concurrent disorders -- that is the presence of both a mental illness and a substance use/abuse problem -- is a significant concern for those living with mental illness because it seriously impacts diagnosis, treatment, functioning and quality of life. If you would like additional information on concurrent disorders, please let us know.

 

Hey, you who started the thread, what kind of changes did you see in your brother?

Please explain in detail. I'm studying Psychiatry and believe I can help; I spent my first two years writing essays about schizophrenia and have retained a lot of knowledge.


Here's the part where they talk about weed and schizophrenia from that schizophrenia dot com link.

An example of this theory with regard to schizophrenia is a recent research study that indicated that people who had multiple copies of a version of the COMT gene and who smoked marijuana had a 1,000% increase in their risk of developing schizophrenia. (source: Biol Psychiatry. 2005 May). This research may partly explain the increased risk of developing schizophrenia for people who smoke cannabis / marijuana.

 

id like to know all of the symtoms that they have and what do they treat... do you know by any chance.. i take abilify and they say it helps with moods/dope/anxiety but i still experience anxiety... headaches fevers chills shakes.. not all the time mind ya but i get em...

 

Contact*High: The first thing you ought to learn with regard to modern psychiatry is:

SCHIZOPHRENIA DOES NOT EXIST!

Personality disorders, do, as do mood swings, dissociation, phycotic behaviour, delusions, hallucinations etc etc; these are all treatable in their own right, and not indicative of one big problem. They are all now recognised as conditions in their own right, or attributable to some other condition.

Any or all of these may be triggered by drug use, but nome of them, alone or comorbid equate to what people think of as 'schizophrenia', thanks to the tons of doctors that still continue to write rubbish about it as though it means something.

Schizophrenia is simply an umbrella term, and is useful to nobody; least of all the patient. Doctors that still offer this vague and misunderstood word as a diagnosis should be struck off, IMO.

 

In my experience (55 in May) modern psychiatry is a joke.

After several shrinks and numerous medications 1 and 1/2 years in domiciliary rehab they have been able to do nothing.

Alot of bullshit for alot of dollars at the patients expense.

This is my personal opinion ,and is not intended to piss on anyones wheaties.
To me this is not a theory ,but a hard earned fact that deserves and shall entertain no debate.

 

i just picked up some buds here... tastes like sweet and sour... but its very narcotic like.. very good.. and i only take abilify like 2 time a week... and valum.. and i experience no skitzophrenic symtoms whatso ever...

i should probably say if you take valum dont take more than 100 pills in like 5 mos... you can take the whole 100 in 3 mos or less but you have to wait atleast 1 to 2 mos before it will even effect you again but also very bad for some chemical in the brain i cant recall but it makes the mental experience even worse if you keeep taking them for prolonged periods of time without breaks... and stop... skitzophrenic symtoms are comparable to valum withdrawl.. in disableness...

but to address the fact that is does not exist. i sort of agree... because skitzo.... is merely a term to describe the symtoms of the malfunction. these other illness as they are called.... can be a result of just 1 thing going wrong..
but keep in mind skitzo symtoms is 50% outside influence.. ok... eg: someone starts reaming at you about personal matters...
and it sticks in mind becuase theres no wishywashy going around.... so these people sit on this thought (which this other person has just got of thier chest) for days... stress adds up and one starts halucinating and it is likely that halucinations will be related... so...

herb is a positive thing.. its helps people in uncalculable ways...

btw.. little spek glowing tin foil goes right through tissue.. and hallucinations will accur... when lots of oxegen hits fire it gets hot as hell.... ok... so thats why those real old buds burn up in like 1-2 tokes....
if you are a victum of tinfoil... you prolly get higer than before and get high with deep breaths even.. hehe just a little tid bit...
wow what a long thread... i hope everybody is ok...

laterz

 

concisely:

the more immature the cannabinoid (CBD, CBN) the safer (even therapuetically useful). the more over-mature the cannabinoid (the stuff THC breaks down to), the more excasserbating.


so:


Look after your cannabis well, for poor storage conditions will see it degrade to the more "crazy" stuff.

may well being be with you all.

 

you know what trips me out the most about his brother being told hes a skitzo is that its just someones opinion and it may or may not be influenced by him being a stoner or not, i wonder if they told your brother that he wasnt skitzophrenic then he wouldnt act skitzophrenic...

really high and starting to ponder things....

 

Hmmm I dunno according to Barbie's past posts she's either:

1. A propoganda person trying to scare us. Notice how she's from England, and notice how 90% of her posts have negative connotations about cannabis. Currently in England there is new widespread persecution towards cannabis in the form of the "cannabis leads to psychosis" argument. I mean she never even posted once in this entire thread, and she was also very vague about her brother's schizo. What kind of symptoms was he having? Is it type I or type II schizophrenia? Is he displaying more positive or more negative symptoms? Is he catatonic most of the time? Does he have delusions, auditory hallucinations? She barely gave us any details.

or,


2. She's just paranoid. Most of her posts have been really negative, centering around the paranoia part. Just because your brother got schizophrenia and he smoked for 3 years doesn't mean that cannabis caused it. I'm sure your brother did many other things that could have been potential triggers for schizophrenia. Notice how I said trigger. Nothing causes schizophrenia, that we know of. People are born with the predisposition to it, and the world rate is 1%. So your brother was apart of that 1%, if what you are telling us is true anyways.

 

^^
I agree.