Marijuana may increase risk of psychosis Drug makes some users more vulnerable to mental problems Updated: 2:29 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2004 Teenagers and young adults who frequently use cannabis are increasing their risk of suffering from psychotic symptoms such as bizarre behavior and delusions later in life, Dutch scientists said on Wednesday. Young people with a family history, or pre-existing susceptibility to mental instability, are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the drug. “Cannabis does not act in the same fashion on psychosis risk for everybody. There is a group that is particularly susceptible,†Professor Jim van Os, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, told a news conference. <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">He and his colleagues studied 2,437 young people aged 14-24 and identified those with a predisposition for psychosis. They also questioned them about their cannabis use and followed them up for four years. “The results show that in the group without vulnerability to psychosis, there was a small effect of cannabis on the onset of psychotic symptoms four years later,†Van Os said. “But this risk was four times bigger in individuals who had a personal vulnerability to psychosis.†Van Os said the study also showed the odds of experiencing symptoms of psychosis were higher for people who smoked cannabis more frequently. The findings, which are reported online by the British Medical Journal, are consistent with the results of other studies. Doctors do not understand how cannabis increases the risk of mental illness but they suspect it affects the dopamine system in the brain which is associated with pleasure. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
lol thats an old article, but yes cnnabis psychosis is getting bigger especially in the UK. go to dopefiend.co.uk, he talks a lot about it. interesting stuff it supposedly only affects 1/10 of 1% of the population...
thats funny.. they dont know how its affecting them but they are positive its the weed... it could be anything... its something that can naturally occur. just more government propaganda bullshit.
weed can send a tiny minority (2%) into psychosis... its those people with the chink's in their mental armour that makes mj fuck them up... for 98% (including all gc members) its just magic
To me it's like saying exercise is bad because it could cause heart failure in individuals that have a genetic history of heart failure. It does not make exercise bad, just bad for people with heart problems. Same with weed, not bad unless your predetermined to be mental.
That's it! Blame it on the dopamine receptors in the brain! Then we can call it an addiction... justifying its placement on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances listings! Hog-fuckin'-wash!
if you have a psychological problem that is not positively controlled and/or treated by the use of cannabis, then you SHOULD NOT smoke ganja! It's as simple as that, ganja is an inebriant, depressant, stimulant, hallucinatory drug! Despite this, I feel like the articles that play up this whole "cannabis causes psychotic tendencies" articles to be a bit overplayed, as 9 out of every 10 Americans have used cannabis at least once, and 1/3 of those people will become regular recreational users for a time period of their lives! Most of these people turn out just fine and most of them end up quitting use by the time they reach their thirties to late forties! It's overplayed in order to make recreational cannabis use look psychologically harmful. ANY substance can be psychologically harmful given the right type of psychological profile! Those articles are important, but I'm sick of seeing them around as they have little relevance to whether or not cannabis prohibition should remain intact.
About what? About you being schizophrenic? Are you hearing voices? Do they tell you to do things? If so, I'd be worried. If not, don't worry. Just because you may be genetically predisposed toward schizophrenia doesn't mean you'll become schizophrenic. Then again, it doesn't mean you'll be immune to it, either. I have a cousin who's got acne... should I be worried?
very good example! my friend tends to freak out when he smokes, and it makes no sense to me because i am always very calm and happy. I think the kid is just a little fucked up to begin with and that's the problem...
its all based off an AUSTRALIAN STUDY, and its not known if MJ increased the risk of psychosis, triggered it, or just made it finally boil over and spill out into the personality.. the Aussies, as we all know, are the descendents of VIOLENT AND MENTALLY DISTURBED english prisoners, from the 1800's, whos to say the gene pool of austrailians isnt predisposed to psychosis due to its hereditary background.... point blank, the studay was done on the descendents of fucking wackos, so its not surprising there are still a lot of fuckin wackos in australia.... Sorry Oz, I love you but your great great grandpa's were whack jobs! There's a lot of "wackos" everywhere...no need to discriminate against one group of people. *RMJL
There are a lot of people in this thread who don't seem to believe this. The fact is, plenty of research has been done that show a positive correlation to pre-disposition to mental disorders and marijuana use. It's a well known fact among the research and medical community, get used to it.
What the fuck? Fuckin wacko's in Australia? You need to go out, think before you post, and have another can of fail mate. I never -Rep people, but sir, you just struck a chord. And ps my great grandpa was too busy on the HMS Hood taking on the Bismarck you rat.
Well, would you agree that someone who is predisposed to schizophrenia could bring it out by eating acid and mushrooms? Then you should believe this, weed is technically a hallucinogen.
That's so true man. Every time I see an anti-marijuana commercial it makes my blood boil. Listen, if it had any ounce of truth to it, it wouldn't make me so angry... but it's complete lies. It is infuriating that they actually get away with telling people that smoking Marijuana will give you strait D's in school and make you call your girlfriend and act like a prick. Whatever. Their advertisements, number one, are targeting youth. How about changing the slogans to reflect the notion that Marijuana is not ok for adolescents, but can be used responsibly and appropriately in adulthood.
yeah, the truth is tough to take sometimes.. its ok buddy, I dont begrudge you.. or your nut job relatives... go have a tinny, you will feel better! just dont smoke, your pre-disposed and come from a small gene pool of criminals and violent maniacs... oh, and I could give a rats tail about rep... I dont need to feel validated by strangers on the internet. Disrespect doesn't float here. *RMJL