Doulble the chances of going skitzo?

[grace]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5-12377,00.html

 

DOPE smokers have a 40 per cent increased risk of developing schizophrenia, and taking it regularly drives the risk up two-fold, Australian research shows.

 

A new study by psychiatrists has reviewed the latest evidence of links between cannabis use and mental illness, concluding the association is "stronger and clearer than ever".

 

A pot smoker is 40 per cent more likely to suffer a psychotic episode than a non-smoker, according to the review of major published international research.

 

The review, published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, calculates that about 14 per cent of all cases of psychosis would never have occurred had the patient not picked up a joint.

 

CAn anyone tell me why this is BS?

 

Cheers

 

It's a bit misleading saying this is a new study - it's a review of a review of another review etc of soemthing which was probably flawed research in the beginning.

 

I think there should be some research undertaken into the credibility and ethics of some these researchers.

 

This research from overseas released in 2006 came up with the same stats.

 

Cannabis Could Increase Risks Of Psychotic Illness By 40 Percent

ScienceDaily (Aug. 1, 2007) — Cannabis could increase risk of psychotic illness later in life by 40 per cent.

 

<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070731125526.htm>

 

There is now enough evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life, a collaborative Cardiff University study has found.

 

Cannabis, or marijuana, is the most commonly used illegal substance in most countries, including the UK and USA. In studies over the last decade up to 20 per cent of young people (aged 14-21) in different parts of the world have used cannabis regularly (at least once per week) or used heavily (on more than 100 occasions in total).

 

Dr Stanley Zammit in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychological Medicine and colleagues at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Imperial College, London analysed 35 studies dated up to the end of 2006. The researchers assessed the strength of evidence for a causal relationship between cannabis use and the occurrence of psychotic or other mental health disorders.

 

The study, funded by the Department of Health, found that individuals who had used cannabis were 41 per cent more likely than those who had never used the drug to have any psychosis (presence of delusions or hallucinations). The risk increased relative to dose, with the most frequent cannabis users more than twice as likely to have a psychotic outcome. Depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety outcomes were examined separately, and findings for these outcomes were less consistent, with fewer attempts made to address non-causal explanations than for psychosis.

 

Dr Zammit, School of Medicine said: “The studies we looked at showed a consistent association between cannabis use and psychotic symptoms, including disabling psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.”

 

“Despite the inevitable uncertainty, policymakers need to provide the public with advice about this widely used drug. We believe that there is now enough evidence to inform people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life.”

 

If having ever used cannabis increases the risk of a psychotic outcome by 41 per cent as indicated by the results of the study, about 14 per cent of psychotic outcomes in young adults in the UK would not occur if cannabis were not consumed.

[jonx]

While I agree that this is mostly BS, no one seems to have mentioned the most important bit:

"On the world stage, Australians excel in smoking cannabis, so there are very many people who fit into this category," said lead researcher Dr Martin Cohen, a psychiatrist at the Hunter New England Mental Health Service.

 

"In fact we're number one in the world.

Number one in the world!!

 

Seriously though, people in the pro-dromal phase of schizophrenia often use cannabis and / or alcohol to cope with their symptoms. This is not a good idea obviously, and usually leads to a faster progression to full-blown schizophrenia.

 

That's what the results of their study *really* show and it seems like (yet again) some tools have twisted the results to their own agenda. It's shit like this that makes me even more jaded about the media. Seriously, if I hear another "scientists have found that [insert random item here] can cause cancer" story I'm going to throttle the next journalist I meet!

[Al B. Fuct]

We're number one? Um, no...

 

The 2007 UNODC World Drug Report (page 244) says the highest per capita users of cannabis in the world are in PNG- 29.5% of those between 18-64 smoke up. NZ (still) beats Aus with 13.4% against our 13.3% of adult smokers. A paltry 10.7% of Jamaicans are said to smoke (yeaaaaah right! )

 

See also the UNODC list via Wikipedia.

 

Why do these folks lie when the correct (or closest to correct available) figures are so easily available?

 

Why do news ops not question the pap fed to them by governments- again, when it's so easily cross-checkable?

 

Propaganda. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

[MongyMan]

They do check it Al.........to make sure it has enough shock, hype or at it's worst (artificial concern) value......facts get in the way of this all to often so it's best not to check them

[gouger]

I was going to start a new topic but I believe what info i have fits into this thread.

Cannabis use linked to high Indigenous suicide rate

Posted 29 minutes ago

The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre says new strategies are needed to deal with drug abuse in Aboriginal communities.

A study published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia shows a strong link between marijuana use and depression.

The study says Indigenous suicide rates for people under 24 are up to five times higher than those in non-Indigenous populations, and cites heavy substance abuse as a contributing factor.

The centre's Professor Jan Copeland says it is an issue that has not been well recognised.

"We're just finding out now some of the harms associated with cannabis, a bit like how we found out about tobacco harms in the 60s and 70s.

"Now we've had a very strong impact on preventing people taking up tobacco smoking. I think as the information's coming through (on cannabis), resources will flow."

Tags: community-and-society, drugs-and-substance-abuse, indigenous, suicide, health, drug-use, cannabis, mental-health, australia, nt

source ABC news. Today.

 

Hands up anyone who is indigenous. Hands up if it has driven you to suicide.

what a load of tommyrot.

Anyone knows that it is the situation of the Aboriginal person that causes the problems the drug use is only a symptom .. not the cause.

[WantDaChronic]

i dont see how the news and for that matter most of the general public think depression comes after a person starts using drugs. in reality most of the depressed drug takers were depressed long before they tried any drug and its the side effects of that drug taking that gets the attention of the medical community. naturally one can assume the drugs and depression are linked, but if you sit down and think about it logically for a minute you should see that the person in question probably wouldnt have tried drugs in the first place if everything was a-ok in their life

 

there are exceptions to the rule like when a person goes from smoking a joint every few months at parties or what ever and then spirals down to smoking 24/7, but from what i have seen the person was generally depressed to begin with

[gouger]

Personally I don't link depression with the need to use maryjane.

 

Yes obviously there is that.. mj helps keep the blues at bay.

 

However I don't see the reason for wanting to try mj nor continually using it to be related to depression per se.

 

My personal reasons for having used it so long are:

•expansiveness of consciousness

•painkiller.. helps me to actually get to work each day.

 

The doctors accidentally discovered that I had a rare form of TB which usually kills people rather quickly if they get it.

What blew them out was that the TB had obviously been there for decades and when they did normal listening to my lungs, they stated.. "if we didn't know it was there we never would be able to hear it!?" Thing is.. it should be audible as heavy wheezing but it isn't. My lungs are otherwise fighting fit.. obviously.. or I would be dead. I should be dead and should have been dead twenty years ago at the very least. Point is.. That the doctors are quietly amazed that my admittance of having been a mj user for so long means that I am a unique test case.

 

I actually do have the chance of disproving all of the negatives re: mj use.

 

Depression still strikes me on occasion but mj doesn't help with that unless I enter discussion with a friend or psychiatrist and mostly that is because they are probing for it.

Depression strikes us all at some or any time in our lives.

I don't believe that any drug causes nor removes depression. Depression is a state of mind.. numbing that will not help .. maybe a chemical rebalance could.

I do accept that mj may well have chemicals that do help the equilibrium of some brains but this definitely is not a blanket statement.

Edited May 23, 2008 by gouger

[Al B. Fuct]

[...] the general public think depression comes after a person starts using drugs. in reality most of the depressed drug takers were depressed long before they tried any drug

 

Bingo, WDC. This is one of the nuances that anti-drug wowsers would like you to overlook. Can't you be a bit more cooperative and just ignore reality? ::

 

there are exceptions to the rule like when a person goes from smoking a joint every few months at parties or what ever and then spirals down to smoking 24/7, but from what i have seen the person was generally depressed to begin with

 

I don't know if smoking 24/7 is always and necessarily a downward spiral! I've worked very, very hard to keep myself (and a few others) stoned 24/7. :: None of us have been found outside a bar by police, retching in a gutter after beating up a spouse...

 

Every smoker has a different reason for their cannabis use. Lots of folks self-medicate for psychological trauma- and every one of those smokers is a lot better off than chronic alcoholics. Others find cannabis is the best relief for chronic pain, with the fewest side effects. I'd have needed a replacement liver years ago if I had to treat my orthopaedic woes with meds from the GP.

 

I'm working on going schizo myself but the voices in my head all seem to agree that I should just have another cone and ignore the twits. ::

[tomm01]

I'm working on going schizo myself but the voices in my head all seem to agree that I should just have another cone and ignore the twits. ::

ROFLMAO

 

Another reason it's bullshit is because at first they say doubles the risk of schizophrenia then it states "A pot smoker is 40 per cent more likely to suffer a psychotic episode than a non-smoker"

So they clearly are not scientists/psychologists in any way, shape or form. They can't tell the difference between a 'psychotic episode' and actual schizophrenia which you suffer your whole life.

Psychotic episode COULD theoretically mean anxiety attack, but according to www.thefreedictionary.com psychosis means "A severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning."

OR "a severe mental disorder in which the sufferer's contact with reality becomes highly distorted"

So being high is technically a psychotic episode

 

I haven't witnessed a single person destroy their lives from ganja. It gave me a couple panic attacks but I've had OCD since I can remember which naturally comes with anxiety in the first place. One of these panic attacks happened at school and if it was legal I would have been more then content to lie right in the same spot on the love of my life's lap until the next day

It's paranoia of being caught that makes people paranoid, not the Cannabis.

A cop I spoke to who I said "most people can smoke their whole lives and be fine" said "I've only witnessed one person who smoked for 40 years everyday and was fine but one day just slid off the rails" All I could think was, why the fuck, after 40 years would it suddenly obliterate your brain? There's no logic in that. People just look at the socially-unacceptable thing to blame instead of obvious things like wife/husband leaving, your loved one dying etc etc.

 

Oh yeh and that COMT shit? Just doesn't stand up at all. There is SOOOO many things that increase Dopamine it's just not worth debating how unscientific that claim is.

Edited September 5, 2008 by tomm01

[grace]

CAn anyone tell me why this is BS?

 

It costs $35.00 ....

 

That's BS enough for me

 

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~c...=all~order=page