Do

[Jess Stone]

Do “Skunk” Stats Stink?

Trevor Butterworth, March 27, 2007

British newspapers clash over drug war: is super-cannabis turning users schizo?

 

Britain is in the middle of a newspaper war about whether some newspapers went too far in advocating liberalization of the nation’s drug laws. On Monday, the Daily Telegraph ran a front-page headline “Skunk killed my beloved son,” wherein a mother recounted the suicide of her teenage son, after a descent into “cannabis induced psychosis.”

 

“I was stunned to learn that cannabis could be so harmful - it bore no resemblance to the drug I had puffed once or twice at university. And although it has been around for years, I had never heard of skunk, the superstrength variety that is now increasingly available. It bears almost no relation to the resin sold 10 years ago, containing 25 times the amount of tetrahydrocannabidinol, the main psychoactive ingredient.”

 

She then criticized another newspaper, the Independent on Sunday (IOS), for taking “so long” to reverse its call for the decriminalization of cannabis, which it had done in a dramatic front-page announcement the previous week:

 

“Record numbers of teenagers are requiring drug treatment as a result of smoking skunk, the highly potent cannabis strain that is 25 times stronger than resin sold a decade ago.

 

More than 22,000 people were treated last year for cannabis addiction - and almost half of those affected were under 18. With doctors and drugs experts warning that skunk can be as damaging as cocaine and heroin, leading to mental health problems and psychosis for thousands of teenagers, The Independent on Sunday has today reversed its landmark campaign for cannabis use to be decriminalised.”

 

The IOS also noted in the same edition, and then again the following week after it was published, a study that appeared to back up the link between psychosis and the increased cannabis consumption.

 

“Research published yesterday predicts that cannabis may account for a quarter of all new cases of schizophrenia in three years' time.

 

The study, published in the journal Addiction, also says that rates of schizophrenia will increase substantially by the end of the decade, particularly among young men. The use of cannabis among under-18s rose 18-fold in the 30 years to 2002, according to the researchers from Bristol University.”

First off, focus on the word “may.” Here’s what the press release on the journal’s website actually says about the study:

 

“If cannabis causes schizophrenia - and that remains the question - then by 2010 up to 25% of new cases of schizophrenia in the UK may be due to cannabis….”

 

“John Macleod, co-author and academic GP, says “We need to remember that our study does not address the question whether cannabis causes schizophrenia, this remains unclear.” Matthew Hickman, lead author of the study, comments, “The challenge now is to improve our data on schizophrenia occurrence, an undoubtedly important disease, to see whether the projected increase occurs – which will tell us more about how important cannabis is as a cause of schizophrenia.”

 

And one of the key problems in trying to determine whether pot is a trigger for schizophrenia is, as STATS Maia Szalavitz pointed out in Salon, is that experts say

 

“…it's very difficult to determine whether pot smoking predisposes people to schizophrenia or whether early symptoms of schizophrenia predispose people to smoking pot -- or whether some third factor causes some people to be more vulnerable to both.”

 

In a campaign to warn American parents about the connection between pot and schizophrenia, a study of almost 50,000 Swedish soldiers between the ages of 18 and 20 “found that those who had smoked pot more than 50 times had a rate of schizophrenia nearly seven times as high as those who did not use marijuana at all.” But as Szalavitz noted,

 

“…when factors already known to increase risk for schizophrenia were removed, such as a childhood history of disturbed behavior, the connection between marijuana use and risk for the disease was substantially reduced. Just one or two additional unknown influences could potentially wipe out the apparent marijuana-schizophrenia link, according to Dr. William Carpenter, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Maryland. Carpenter noted in a letter published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in October 2004 that the same genes that predispose someone to schizophrenia might also predispose them to substance abuse, but that drug use might start earlier simply because many people start using drugs in their teen years, while schizophrenia most commonly begins in the early 20s.”

 

There are also other specific factors to teenage life in Britain that need to be considered in looking at rising rates of schizophrenia. As psychologist Oliver James notes in his recent book Affluenza, studies have shown that the rate of emotional distress in girls that can require hospitalization rose from 6 to 18% from 1987 and 1999. This coincided with girls outperforming boys academically in almost every subject according to national examination statistics; a number of studies have shown a startling correlation between superior academic performance and schizophrenia.

 

By the same token as the warning about cannabis, Britain’s newspapers (and the American government) ought to be warning parents about letting their daughters study too hard. Or is it that incipient schizophrenia predisposes girls to higher levels of academic performance?

 

This is not to say that pot or cannabis with high levels of THC is harmless – chronic drug usage is often a proxy medication for emotional and mental problems, and should be seen as a warning sign rather than a symbol of being hip. But fixing the blame on pot or cannabis for condition X is just as much a misdiagnosis as using either drug is mistreatment for condition Y.

 

The issue of whether “skunk” is cracked up to be, well, almost as potent as crack was taken on by the Guardian’s “Bad Science” column, which is written by Dr. Ben Goldacre:

 

“There is exceptionally strong cannabis to be found in some parts of the UK market today: but there always has been. The UN Drug Control Programme has detailed vintage data for the UK online. In 1975 the LGC analysed 50 seized samples of herbal cannabis: 10 were from Thailand, with an average potency of 7.8%, the highest 17% . In 1975 they analysed 11 samples of seized resin, six from Morocco, average strength 9%, with a range from 4% to 16% ( absolute proof dope is not stronger by 25 times and we got just as wacked back in the "good 'ol days" and for $30 Oz as you youngsters do today for $400 Oz...Jess).

 

To get their scare figure, the Independent compared the worst cannabis from the past with the best cannabis of today. But you could have cooked the books the same way 30 years ago: in 1975 the weakest herbal cannabis analysed was 0.2%.... (HaHa, 0.2 isn't smoko its ROPE or more commonly known as hemp and it wouldn't do squat to you...Jess); in 1978 the strongest was 12%. Oh my god: in just three years herbal cannabis has become 60 times stronger.”

In claiming that super-duper cannabis is as or more dangerous than drugs like heroin or ecstasy, the Independent seems to be making the argument that because a relatively harmless drug used by a large number of people will lead to greater numbers of people seeking treatment for side effects, such as schizophrenia, it is more dangerous than a more harmful drug used by fewer people but which kills. Now that’s a message about drugs that the Independent should apologize for.

article from STATS

 

A great critique of some of the "reefer madness" junk science going the rounds at the moment .Check out the Stats web site its got some great articles ,they "check out the facts and figures behind the news" ,its run by the George Mason University USA .... Jess

Edited April 1, 2007 by Jess Stone

[jimbojones5678]

“…it's very difficult to determine whether pot smoking predisposes people to schizophrenia or whether early symptoms of schizophrenia predispose people to smoking pot -- or whether some third factor causes some people to be more vulnerable to both.”

 

I think the third factor is that they all must have soft heads...weak ass bastards.

 

Jimbo

[freddie]

There's a couple of myths that have crept into the cannabis debate over the last decade or so that are really disturbing. The first is the potency /schizophrenia myth and almost everyone believes it from judges to stoners. The argument is that over the years of prohibition breeders have somehow developed super pot that is infinitely more potent than the pot of previous generations.. I don't buy it. In the 70's and 80's there was very potent weed available like thai and buddha sticks as well as hash of various sorts and very potent hash oil from as early as 1980. It has always been possible to concentrate the THC. This has been done for hundreds of years. As for skunk; it is merely a few good varieties combined. If there was going to be an explosion in mental health problems associated with cannabis it should already have happened, if not here then certainly in countries with a long history of use. I am not saying there are no problems with cannabis but i believe it is possible to abuse any drug. There are certainly severe mental health problems with alcohol (suicide and depression feature prominently) but they dont make good headlines especially if alcohol companies are also advertisers in papers and on TV.

 

The second myth (and this is off the subject but i'm on a roll) is that hydroponics produces more potent pot. It doesn't and can't. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants efficiently. It uses the same fertilizer that has been used for generations of food production, just in a more efficient way. It aint "chemicals" it is fertilizer. Many vegetables now eaten are grown hydroponically (lettuces and tomatoes) and these are not more potent than thos of years gone by. I have grown clones from the same plant (genetically identical) using hydro and organically and i can detect no difference in the stone. There is a difference in yield though. Yet i constantly hear that hydro is dangerous. How?. This kind of stuff can be proved by doing high school type experiments but is for some reason never done. I choose and to grow organically only because of the public perception of "evil" hydro and the fact that it tastes better organic. If i ever end up in court i think i will have better time being organic because everyone believes this shit coz there is little research into these simple questions. I guess at least they're debating it in England. More than is happening here.

 

We suffer from "bad" science and also non existent science. Too many people jump to conclusions and believe what others tell them.

[torture]

what else can ya say but "god damn these sheep"

[stonedstump]

The UK media is 100x times worse than any other media, even the US.

 

But yeah it's a shame there are so many stupid sheeple out there.

[Jess Stone]

I had a guest on Friday the 30th March and they asked could they watch Home and Away ? I was busy and said I didn't mind,well at some point in the show I was walking past the TV and FUCK ME ,they have a guy in a hospital bed and guess what he's in the hospital for? And getting a lecture about? To "save his life" !

Edited April 3, 2007 by Jess Stone