Here We Go Again

[pipeman]

The review found that 14 per cent of psychosis cases could have been prevented if the patient had not smoked marijuana.

 

So how many people that smoke MJ suffer from psychosis. 1%? This study suggests that 14% of this 1% was caused by cannabis. Thats a pretty small number.

 

Secondly I'd like to know how the Doctors/researches came to the conclusion that 14% of the cases would not have happened without cannabis. I reckon the assumptions required to reach that conclusion would be very subjective.

 

Lastly if the AMA are calling for tougher drug laws, I assume they have some evidence that drug laws result in better health outcomes for drug users????

 

The real story is the AMA represents Doctors and lobbies the governments on issues of grants, licensing, rebates, and medicare fees. They are not going to rock the boat for drug law reform.

[mull]

Ok whose fudging the figures again?

 

Causes of Schizophrenia

 

Although a lot of research has been done on schizophrenia, and doctors are learning more about the disease every year, there are still many unanswered questions. While doctors and others who study schizophrenia don't understand exactly what causes the disease, research has shown that schizophrenia is a brain disease. It is likely that it is a result of a lot of different factors in combination. Doctors know that schizophrenia has a genetic component, or that it can run in families and be passed down from one generation to the next. When a person's parent or sibling has schizophrenia, their chances of having the disease are 10 times higher than normal. That means that the child or sibling of a person with schizophrenia has a 10% chance of getting the disease or a related disorder.

 

Sometimes people think that schizophrenia is caused by family dynamics, or by something that parents did or didn't do while they were raising their child who later developed schizophrenia. This is not the case: families do not cause schizophrenia.

 

Drug use or alcohol abuse also doesn't cause schizophrenia. People with the disease frequently abuse drugs or alcohol, but their use of these substances didn't cause the disease. In fact, some doctors think that the same changes in the brain that cause schizophrenia also make those who suffer from this disorder more likely to abuse drugs (including nicotine) than other people. Drug or alcohol abuse can make the symptoms of the disease worse, though, and it can make coping with the illness harder. For these reasons, doctors recommend that people with schizophrenia limit the amounts of alcohol that they drink, and avoid using illegal drugs altogether.

 

http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/sc...ntroduction.cfm

 

for ref - uni of cincinnati runs the SRP which is dedicated to -

 

The Schizophrenia Research Program (SRP) is a Division within the UC Department of Psychiatry dedicated to generating new knowledge in the neurobiology and psychopharmacology of schizophrenia and related psychoses.

 

http://www.psychiatry.uc.edu/index.php?q=node/562

 

Didn't take very long to find that info, unfortunately unlikely to affect this latest political cannabashery ..

 

[brick]

Well the AMA has to keep MJ illegal. If they didn't then all the GP's etc would not be getting their kick backs from the drug companies.

[grace]

WA cannabis laws must be toughened, say doctors

 

24th May 2008, 10:45 WST

 

 

The Australian Medical Association has called for the State Government to introduce tougher cannabis laws following the release of a study which found cannabis users have a 40 per cent increased risk of developing schizophrenia.

 

AMA president Dr Rosanna Capolingua called on Health Minister Jim McGinty to introduce promised cannabis law changes so adults who grew it or possessed more than 15g faced criminal charges. Current WA laws stipulate possession, use and cultivation of any amount of cannabis is illegal.

 

However, the 2004 Cannabis Control Act let adults found with 30g of cannabis or less, a smoking implement or up to two non-hydroponic cannabis plants avoid a criminal conviction if they paid a fine or attended drug education.

 

“The soft marijuana laws certainly do not help support the message that marijuana is not a soft drug,” Dr Capolingua said. “Even though punitive measures are not always smiled upon as far as drug abuse goes, it really gets down to when do we start protecting people from substances such as marijuana and when do we need laws to protect people?”

 

 

Dr Rosanna Capolingua should look at the AMA's position on criminalisation and health before calling for changes to cannabis laws. Her comments on mental illness also contradict the AMA's position. What hypocrisy.

 

 

AMA Cannabis Position Statement 2006

 

http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-6WP6MH for full document

 

9.1 Criminalisation and Health

 

"It is often cited that criminal penalties will act as a deterrent to use. There is no evidence to support this. In A Public Health Perspective on Cannabis and Other Illegal Drugs,15 the Canadian Medical Association highlights the profound impact on heath status associated with having a criminal record. The presence of a criminal record can severely limit employment prospects leading to poor health.

 

Evidence indicates that strict drug laws in general encourage people to take more potent drugs and to consume them in unsafe ways. Prohibition also makes users less likely to seek treatment when they get into difficulty16. “Prohibition is the cause of a significant proportion of the health costs associated with illicit drug use and it hinders the achievement of the objective of harm minimisation” (pgviii 16). Research indicates that the introduction of liberal drug laws may result in a slight increase in temporary drug use but that it is unlikely to increase, and may even decrease, drug related health costs16."

 

 

7. Cannabis and Mental Health

 

Any use of cannabis by people who have had previous psychotic symptoms/illness is detrimental. When people are ‘stoned’ they can forget to take their medications. Cannabis can also worsen delusions, mood swings, hallucinations and especially feelings of paranoia. Cannabis can both trigger further episodes of psychosis and other psychiatric illnesses, and complicate treatment.

 

Cannabis use is associated with poor outcomes in existing schizophrenia and may precipitate psychosis in those with a predisposition11. It appears that using larger amounts of cannabis, at an earlier age and having a genetic predisposition increases the risk of developing schizophrenia4.

 

There has been a meta analysis of several landmark prospective cohort studies examining the causal link between cannabis use and psychosis11. These have used a variety of cohorts from Sweden, the Netherlands and New Zealand that have individually demonstrated a causal link. However there are limitations in drawing a united conclusion from these studies due to methodological differences and limitations such as the:

 

heterogeneous measure of psychosis/schizophrenia used;

measures of cannabis use were based on self reporting rather than clinical data;

variable information on other concurrent drug use that may have a confounding effect on results; and

studies not being able to rule out the possibility that cannabis use was a result of emerging schizophrenia rather than a cause of it (based on the fact that schizophrenia is usually preceded by psychological and behavioural changes in the years before diagnosis7 ).

The meta-analysis of prospective studies of cannabis was used to determine the that the pooled odds ratio was 2.1 and that cannabis was a component cause in the development and prognosis of psychosis11.

 

Other researchers7, 12, 13 have reviewed these studies and concur that there is a causal relationship between cannabis use and psychotic conditions. This association does not prove that cannabis causes schizophrenia but that it is a component cause forming part of a causal constellation7. They contend that cannabis is not a necessary cause for the development of psychosis, i.e. not all adults with schizophrenia used cannabis in adolescence 7. Likewise it is not a sufficient cause, i.e. not all people who use cannabis in adolescence go on to develop psychosis7.

[DownUnderDoper]

http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-72K4R5

 

AMA Mission Statement

 

The Australian Medical Association is an organisation whose members are registered medical practitioners and medical students.

 

The AMA exists to:

 

* Promote and advance ethical behaviour by the medical profession and protect the integrity and independence of the doctor-patient relationship

* Promote and advance the public health

* Protect the academic, professional and economic independence and the well-being of medical practitioners

* Preserve and protect the political, legal and industrial interests of medical practitioners

 

The AMA will achieve these aims by:

 

* Fostering and sustaining consultation, co-operation and communication within the medical profession

* Acting as the principal coordinating and lobbying body for the medical profession

* Fostering unity among medical practitioners by providing a forum for their opinions

* Promoting the achievement and maintenance of high clinical and ethical standards in medical practice

* Fostering communication between the medical profession and the community

 

I always wondered how the AMA could be so outspoken against Cannabis, whilst being so quiet about Alcohol, especially where Mental Health is concerned, as while there are probable links between cannabis and psychosis, there is no doubt whatsoever about the role that alcohol plays in mental health.

 

Then I found that little gem.. tow the government line and don't do anything to piss off the Pharmaceutical companies is how I read that.

 

How calling for tougher penalties that she admits don't work and that will actually increase the burden on the health system (it seems that being prosecuted is actually about the worse thing about Cannabis for your health) is considered "ethical" and "in the interest of public health" is still beyond me.

 

DUD

[DownUnderDoper]

In a review of new international research, Australian psychiatrists discovered a direct link between cannabis use and mental illness with the risk 200 per cent higher for those who smoked daily and over long periods of time.

 

200% wow, sounds scarey, but lets put it in perspective.. all these quotes are from the "Cause and Prevention" section of

 

http://www.schizophrenia.com/hypo.php

 

Research suggests that children from unwanted pregnancies have a 250% to 300% higher than average risk of schizophrenia, when compared to children that are planned and desired by its parents

 

Oops.. sorry if you're a 'Love Child'

 

Recent studies have indicated that children who born to mothers who are exposed to toxic agents (such as the lead in gasoline and paint, or (independently) alcohol) during the pregnancy are up to 300% more likely to develop schizophrenia.

 

Or if your mum had a drink or two before she knew she was pregnant, or if you were born before unleaded petrol.

 

The study indicated that Flu during the first trimester of pregnancy increased risk of developing schizophrenia in the child by approx. 700%, while flu during the third trimester increased schizophrenia risk for the child by 300%.

 

Hope mum didn't catch a cold while you were in there.

 

It was revealed in a study published in November 2004, in the British Journal of Psychiatry, that prenatal exposure to painkillers (the medical term is "analgesics" - such as Aspirin) is linked to as much as a 500% greater probability of the children developing schizophrenia in later life.

 

And if she did get sick, hope she didn't take anything for it

 

Excess body weight (which is typically linked to poor dietary habits) in a pregnant mother has been linked with increased likelihood of the child developing schizophrenia. In a recent research report, scientists found a 24% increase in the risk of the child developing schizophrenia for every a one-unit increase of BMI (Body Mass Index measurement) during early pregnancy, and a 19% increase during late pregnancy. These factors were found to contribute, in part, to an excess of obstetric complications (baby delivery complications) in individuals with schizophrenia.

 

Wow.. did your mum overeat?

 

"It's not clear if it is birth in cities, or upbringing in cities, but there is something about city living that increases risk," he said. Where you are born and brought up is a larger contributing factor to risk than genetic predisposition. Indeed, 34.6% of schizophrenia cases would be prevented if people were not born and brought up in cities, compared to 5.4% of cases that would be prevented if people did not have parents or siblings who suffered from the illness, Susser told participants at the New York conference (2004).

 

Ahhh.. here's why I haven't caught schizophrenia.. I was born in the sticks

 

My prize for favourite quote from that website has to go to

 

It is also notable that alcohol abuse is a stronger predictor of psychotic symptoms than regular cannabis use (by a factor of four)

 

Go take a look at the list, it's almost funny.

 

DUD