New study links MJ to schitzophrenia.

[Nooby]

Anyone got any info about this one?

 

"YOUNG adults who used marijuana as teens were more likely than those who didn't to develop schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms, a seven-year Australian study found.

 

Those who used the drug for six or more years were twice as likely to develop a psychosis such as schizophrenia or to have delusional disorders than those who never used it.

 

Research involving more than 3800 young adults, released online by the Archives of General Psychiatry, found long-term users were also four times more likely to have psychotic-like experiences.

 

The findings, by the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, build on previous research and shows that marijuana use is not as harmless as some people think, lead study author John McGrath said yesterday in an email.

 

The researchers quizzed 3801 young adults who were born in Brisbane between 1981 and 1984. The participants, whose average age was about 20, were asked about marijuana use. The researchers also measured whether those in the study had psychotic symptoms.

 

The study was the first to look at sibling pairs to discount genetic or environmental influence and still find marijuana linked to later psychosis, the authors said.

 

''This is the most convincing evidence yet that the earlier you use cannabis, the more likely you are to have symptoms of a psychotic illness,'' said Dr McGrath, a professor at the institute, in a statement. ''The message for teenagers is: if they choose to use cannabis they have to understand there's a risk involved.''

 

Researchers were looking for causes of schizophrenia, Dr McGrath said.

 

Of the 1272 participants who had never used marijuana, 26 (2 per cent) were diagnosed with psychosis. Of the 322 people who had used marijuana for six or more years, 12 (3.7 per cent) were diagnosed with the illness. Overall, 65 people were diagnosed with psychosis, the study said.

 

The researchers also found those who used marijuana the longest were four times more likely than those who didn't to have the highest scores derived from a list of psychotic-like experiences.

 

Dr McGrath said even those who used marijuana for fewer than three years still had an increased risk of scoring higher than those who had not.

 

''Apart from the implications for policy makers and health planners, we hope our findings will encourage further clinical and animal-model research to unravel the mechanisms linking cannabis use and psychosis,'' the authors wrote.

 

Those in the study were interviewed at the ages of 14 and 21, so the symptoms emerged between those two study periods, Dr McGrath said.

 

The study also showed that among 228 sibling pairs, those who didn't use marijuana reported fewer psychotic-like delusions compared with those who used cannabis. That difference was statistically significant and reduces the likelihood that the psychotic problems were caused by genetics or environment, the authors said.

 

The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia."

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/wakeup-call...00227-pa3o.html

[Budstedpothead]

That's old news, theres a link yes, but Links must be PROVEN you can link everything and anything.

i can say playing video games is linked to brain damage, but thats just a claim.

 

They will never have proof that Cannabis use causes schizophrenia, because Schizophrenia itself is little understood and theres no labratory test for it, the diagnosis is also sketchy, patients have to describe as much of their problems and symptoms as they can.

[sativaindicaruderalis]

Thats the same with most mental issues as well

[Radic]

BS study

Of the 1272 participants who had never used marijuana, 26 (2 per cent)

correct

that is the same thruout most of oz

the level of mental illness is 2%

Of the 1272 participants who had never used marijuana, 26 (2 per cent) were diagnosed with psychosis. Of the 322 people who had used marijuana for six or more years, 12 (3.7 per cent) were diagnosed with the illness.

that stat is within the cannabis consuming population

it canna be compared to the rest of oz

because lotsa cannabis users are self medicating

cannabis is an anti psychotic

they know they are suffering and cannabis helps relive their burden

therefore its their medicine

how can that be included ????????????

why not compare that stat to the oz anti psychotic consumers population

if that were true

than

the stats of when cannabis first became popular in oz should line up and correlate with the level of mental illness in the genral population

show i dat

you cant

because they dont exist

infact the stats show no correlation at all

Dr McGrath you are wrong

i just proved it

 

guidance

[jabez]

Large amounts of people in western society have been smoking cannabis for a long time, which means it's very easy to find out if cannabis causes psychosis, with a scientific study that isn't politically motivated and includes a large amount of the population. Just like this study that concluded once and for all that cannabis doesn't cause psychosis!

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19560900

[Radic]

irey thanx jabez

a substantial rise in UK cannabis use from the mid-1970s and c) elevated risk of 20 years from first use of cannabis. This paper investigates whether this has occurred in the UK by examining trends in the annual prevalence and incidence of schizophrenia and psychoses, as measured by diagnosed cases from 1996 to 2005. Retrospective analysis of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) was conducted for 183 practices in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The study cohort comprised almost 600,000 patients each year, representing approximately 2.3% of the UK population aged 16 to 44. Between 1996 and 2005 the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining. Explanations other than a genuine stability or decline were considered, but appeared less plausible. In conclusion, this study did not find any evidence of increasing schizophrenia or psychoses in the general population from 1996 to 2005.

that is exactly what i said

the stats do not correlate

[bbud666]

no radic the dont correlate.. govt studies never do... and never will

[Budman2012]

Yep , Another one ...

Yesterday I got *1* alert only for this story (and checked on a few other sources) ... And Today there was *10*+ in a row from ALL types of media organizations in Australia including what appeared to be every single one of the nations major News networks ... and to be sure , many more again around he world.

Truly is Amazing how fast this type of news circulates ...

It's the same article here I think but in the interests of fairness .. this was the first one I saw :

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-2...ung-adults.html

Yep , I do believe It's the same ...

I went on to write a few notes about how stupid it was but didn't get around to posting ...

What better time than now ... Maybe you'd like to read it.

It's not actually Old News btw ()... as this is quite new news on the same old news topic ofc ...

 

Here are the 'notes' from my E-Notepad as they were:

(Un-edited as I don't feel the need to bother , the "*" marks relate to the different paragraphs of the article in rough order)

***Schizophrenia AND psychotic symptoms?

 

If your gathering statistical data shouldn't the controls be a little more specific ... It's not like the majority of Earths people AREN"T delusional in some form or another anyway.They admit they don't UNDERSTAND or KNOW what causes schizophrenia .. yet try to prove a casual link that cannabis MIGHT cause it.

Ridiculous!

 

*2wice as likely to DEVOLOP schizophrenia or delusions symptoms eh? ... Maybe they are ... or maybe the underlying condition has been brought to the forefront earlier than the same symptoms would have developed anyway.

Not even to mention that Cannabis users are going to be more likely to score on a list of "strange" things considered by the medico's to be delusional or psychotic because um ... well , Cannabis has Psycho-active properties (wow man!) ... would they answer the same if they'd stopped using for a few weeks?

If psychotic effects are so undesirable then why do so many people like to get high/stoned/drunk etc ?

Which also begs the question in these studies ... WHAT OTHER FACTORS should be accounted for , my guess is : too many to mention , but a good one would be considering other drug use aswell like alcohol or coffee consumption.

 

*It's generally accepted that ANY drug use from an early age could be problematic for an individual and that these substances should be restricted to "adults". Not everyone believes that this is the Case tho ... why does Australia have more problems than places like Italy and Greece where there are much fewer problems with booze even though It's quite normal for a young teen to have a glass of wine or something with dinner and on special occasions. And what about youngsters in Holland? ... Could it be that the more something is restricted to young people the more likely they are to want to experience it and in doing so covertly , and without the normalization and guidance ... can often run into trouble?

 

* I'm not sure this study is anything like as "convincing" they think it is.

The message for teenagers is: ... no it's not that ... the Message for scientists and politicians and Police is , Teenagers don't give a damn what Reefer Madness Machine tells them and will ultimatly make their own decisions (I think alot of people forget that there are many 12yr olds and younger that are more intelligent than your average "adult" ... such is evolution. Might argue that they don't yet have the 'wisdom' to make the right decisions but I'd say in order to make an informed decision one would have to be Intelligent enough to create their own wisdom on any given matter. This doesn't start at 18 nor does it end until death. It's a process).

 

*So , they left out the results for the other categories yet say that 65 psychotic diagnosis were made in total? ... I wonder why? ... Could it be that the other sections showed something not so supportive of their science bias?

(Maybe the prevelance was higher or the same in the under 3 years category than it was in the over 3 years?)

If my maths is right that leaves 2207 people who smoke Cannabis in 3 other categories right!? .... 27 cases were 'diagnosed' in those categories combined ... only *1* more than the entire group who didn't smoke any cannabis and an actual lesser *percentage* of cases as a whole! ...

But hang on a second!!! ... Doesn't smoking Cannabis make it more likely to develop psychosises!? ... what happened here? ... Oh , It's only after 6 years is it , not 3 to 5 etc ... and even then , from a much smaller test group than the non-Cannabis category?

 

(Edit : Does that make sense?)

 

I mean how can these 'scientists' even claim this type of crap as science? seriously.

 

*"Researchers in the study were looking for causes of schizophrenia, McGrath said." Um , no they weren't , they were trying to correlate Cannabis Use with instances of psychotic symptoms (poorly , might I add) without barely even understanding Psychosis or Schizophrenia in the first place. It IS Bias Science trying to demonize Cannabis and there are no buts about it.

 

Psychotic like experiences eh? What , Like Christianity and other religious beliefs?

""Do you ever feel as if you are possessed by someone or something else?" and "Do you ever feel as if other people can read your mind?""

Yes , The Lord's Spirit is within me and he knows all , I also talk to him sometimes and hear his voice.

Now , How many People are Religious?

Yep , and given that these cases of Psychotic symptoms are prevelant in the vast majority of religious people ...

It is fair to say that Religion is the most likely cause of Delusions and Psychotic symptoms.

(Especially if practised for more than 6 years )

 

Sibling Findings:

 

*Now , while quite interesting I'm sure ... possibly even some truth to it. This in NO WAY shows that "That difference was statistically significant and reduces the likelihood that the psychotic problems were caused by genetics or environment, the authors said."

Because which 2 siblings in the history of human existance have ever been exactly the same people??? Ludicrous!

Even identical twins it makes no difference. Might look the same , hell , even think and often feel the same , but ya don't live the same and undergo the same experiences and circumstances.

To even mention Genetics here is idiotic beyond belief ... if It was the case we'd have whole families full of Schizo's and Whackjobs and this just isn't the case.

And the Envoronment? ... gimme a break , unless these people were sealed in the same room together without any outside influences ... they will have vastly different experiences occuring in different environments. Even locked away they would still obviously experience things in their own way.

 

I wonder if the purveyors of this nonsense even have the brains to realize this is totally bunk.

 

*And for those that had smoked it for longer are probably older and have probably been through more life experience and ofc , if they are older then they are closer to the actual age where these symptoms would generally , naturally , start to present themselves (at that age) as a 'mental health' condition ,as they said.

Crazy stuff!

 

So anyway , what is it ... roughly 2 percent across the board? Less? Is it Schizophrenia or Psychosis being referred to? 2.4 million Americans? Wow , that's alot of psyche drugs to hand out.

The Mental Health Industry is one of the most corrupt scams in society today.

It's easy to see that the majority have been conned (yet again) into thinking that these massive corporations who's objective is to profit , somehow is looking out for the best interest of 'people'.

Laughable to say the least , unfortunate indeed ... but so very very true.

 

It's common knowledge that Alcohol causes psychotic symptoms but it rarely gets brought up for debate , Drink Responsibly right? They make shitloads of money from it and the laws are in place to help them do so.

Why can't I brew Beer and sell it?

Oh right , Only rich people can do that aye.

 

And what a great last sentence this article ends on ... Maybe that should have been the only sentence written ...

So yeh , Just a bunch of notes ... but along with all the other info that's freely available ... this very silly 'story' appears to be just that ... very silly.

 

As has been said (repeatedly) ... the instances of Schizophrenia have remained stable or actually decreased while Cannabis use has undoubtedly increased so THAT is a correlation or 'link' ... not any of this other regurgitated garbage.

 

Again , to be fair ... there is a little more maths here :

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/18722

And check out the Doobie this chick is smoking!!! (oh , and the little article ) :

pot-scare-of-the-week: association-found-between-heavy-smoking-delusions

Much more succinct than I put it ... but still ...

 

Anyone got the full details of the study by any chance???

Plz Link if you do.

 

Cheerz all and stay Well

 

Budman

[bbud666]

Psychotic like experiences eh? What , Like Christianity and other religious beliefs?

""Do you ever feel as if you are possessed by someone or something else?" and "Do you ever feel as if other people can read your mind?""

Yes , The Lord's Spirit is within me and he knows all , I also talk to him sometimes and hear his voice.

Now , How many People are Religious?

Yep , and given that these cases of Psychotic symptoms are prevelant in the vast majority of religious people ...

It is fair to say that Religion is the most likely cause of Delusions and Psychotic symptoms.

(Especially if practised for more than 6 years )

 

 

hahahaha yes yes yes, give the godsquaders a roasting.. a true bunch of deluded loonies the god squaders

[hobbez]

Send that in an email to Dr McGrath budman

 

john_mcgrath@qcmhr.uq.edu.au

 

Be quite interesting to see what he has to say regarding a few of the points you've made, along with jabez's Uk study link - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19560900

 

If the government won't talk sensibly about it, maybe the people doing the bias research will?