High risks: cannabis and psychosis

[brick]

"particularly those with a family history of mental illness, are being seduced down a path to the destruction of their mental health."

 

History of mental illness in my family brought on by alcohol. A legal drug.

 

That is why it should be lagalised you dumb fuck doctors and bureaucrats.

[fingabang]

True, it may cause this if you have family history and could be predisposed to mental illness but i do not think this is the case for most people.

 

 

Weed make you lazy, weed makes you sit on the couch and dream of all the great things you want to do with your life but in reality you never do them. It makes you less likely to socialize with straight folks. All this can effect your life in a bad way and straight folk will think you are psychotic - there is half the problem!

 

Most substances are bad for you in some way... Anything in moderation is fine but if you abuse it it will abuse you back eventually.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Some people shouildn't eat penuts coz itr makes em sick.. some people sjouldn't smoke pot coz it makes em sick

[SpunOutStoner]

Are you serious or just taking the piss?

 

Peace MongyMan

 

Just felt like taking the piss

[SpunOutStoner]

Some people shouildn't eat penuts coz itr makes em sick.. some people sjouldn't smoke pot coz it makes em sick

 

Marijuana doesn't make anybody sick that was not sick in the first place...

 

The only problem Marijuana can really cause is panic attacks, but then again in susceptible people, so can coffee.. BAN COFFEE!!! OUTLAW IT!!! ITS SIMILAR IN EFFECTS TO METH!!!

[Ford Fairlane]

Marijuana doesn't make anybody sick that was not sick in the first place...

 

The only problem Marijuana can really cause is panic attacks, but then again in susceptible people, so can coffee.. BAN COFFEE!!! OUTLAW IT!!! ITS SIMILAR IN EFFECTS TO METH!!!

 

 

I agree with you spunoutstoner, I was just trying to point out that there are lots of things on the market that are not suitable for everybody to use.. like coffee and penuts.. BAN PEANUTS.. pot might assist a persons predisposition to psycosis but peanuts can kill someone with a predisposition to anaphalatxis after eating peanuts

[SpunOutStoner]

I agree with you spunoutstoner, I was just trying to point out that there are lots of things on the market that are not suitable for everybody to use.. like coffee and penuts.. BAN PEANUTS.. pot might assist a persons predisposition to psycosis but peanuts can kill someone with a predisposition to anaphalatxis after eating peanuts

 

About 15 years ago I was in hospital for depression, shit they had me on various medications that didn't do shit... But me and a few other patients smoked a bit of weed in there, shit the weed made me feel better than the medication, thats probably why they thought I had improved and discharged me eventually, cause I was happy from being stoned all the time... I used to have some spunout conversations with the doctor that was treating me (yes I was usually stoned towards the end)... He laughed once when I said that I worried about the other patients easily being able to deposit their medications in the cordial dispenser if they wanted to

 

Anyway, I made friends with this interesting guy who nonetheless was suffering from certain grandiose delusions about having "secretly discovered the formula which created the universe and that him revealing it to society will cause the end of the universe" etc... Well he wasn't smoking any marijuana in the beginning, but we had some together and I can't say it seemed to make him worst at all.. its not like he started smoking it and went totally nuts. He may have got a bit interested in his ideas, you know that kind of deep reflection stuff you can get when stoned, and so he talked a bit more about his delusions, but I can't see how it messed him up in any way. His mood seem improved. The guy was amazingly talented at playing the piano BTW, I used to get hell stoned and sit there tripping out while he played it.

 

On one night the whole bloody ward full of psychiatric patients (myself included) were all smoking weed out in the courtyard. Various of these patients were in hospital for psychosis.. Its not like the staff ever found out we were all smoking pot, its not like the patients started going mental and bouncing off the walls.. Everyone was fine..

 

Maybe pot is not ideal for people suffering certain types of psychotic illnesses, but to be honest I am skeptical that in general it is especially bad... Its when psyche patients start getting into meth or cocaine, alcohol etc, and perhaps LSD, that they start to have problems...

 

I truly believe that marijuana in society has a pretty minimal destructive effect on peoples mental health, nothing compared to alcohol and yes tobacco.. Withdrawal from nicotine, which is frequent in financially disadvantaged mentally ill people, well the withdrawal often tips mentally ill people over the edge.. Shit they know this (the psyches), that's why in locked wards they let them out hourly to have a smoke... They know all the patients would go BALLISTIC without their cigarettes, schizophrenics tend to be very heavy smokers. I've ended up in locked wards when I used to have a problem with alcohol, thank goodness I only smoke weed now and don't have any problems.

 

I think people with schizophrenia are simply very prone to drug abuse (including before the illness fully expresses itself), I mean they are known to have very high levels of dopamine in their brain, and the dopamine system has absolutely been associated with drug addiction.

 

I think there is actually a bit of an overlap drug seeking behavior in people like me with a very addictive personality who is not a psychotic, and people with schizophrenia. The only people I ever met that smoked as much as me were people with schizophrenia.

 

So sick of the media portraying Marijuana as being much more harmful than it actually is.. None of us stoners think its a good idea for 12-13 year olds to be smoking it, neither for people who believe they are jesus christ, but meh its better than them inhaling butane and sniffing glue, or doing meth or drinking alcohol. Marijuana is a useful tool to stop chronically substance abusing prone personalities from abusing more dangerous drugs, no doubt weed has saved many lives as an alternative to more dangerous drugs.

Edited May 29, 2011 by SpunOutStoner

[andrewb]

I work at a psyciatric hospital for a year as a gardner and my gosh I was overwhelmed by the amout of ciggerettes some of the patients would smoke. I think from it would have been about 95% of these people were heavy smokers. A few of them were allowed to do some garding (minus the tools) and i got to know them better. Day in day out always with a cigerette in the mouth he said he smoked about 80-100 ciggis per day and i honestly dont doubt him. Therefore i gained the opinion these people at the hospital indeed seemed to be the type that would be really prone to drug use which was clearly evident in their charater.

 

I also have some friends who work in a mental ward as doctors and we happily share joints on occasions (at home), they are not afraid they are going to become pyscotic from weed because they see it every day that its a broard mixture of experiences and chemical reactions in the brain which come together and not pot smoking alone. They said that their patients all respond individually when they smoke pot and for some weed smoking can enhance or induse delusional expieriences but the pot is just a trigger, bigger issues lie within the person.

[pisspotgrower]

PPl who end up with this condition is usually because there predetermined to it anyways, but as a heavy smoker im the last 1 to say that there r not some side affects, When i have no weed i get abit depressed, cant sleep, n cause of thoes problems usually leads to bit of anger or sadness. This is not what happens to everyone just me but being on a few sides of the scale ( heavy drinking, smoking, meth n few other bits n pieces ) weed is the best option for me to treat these things, but i do still love a beer smoke n a line or 2 now n then

 

What im trying get at is i dont think any one thing causes this but weed is like any drug or food for that matter for example just cause its good for 1 person doesnt mean its good for another bad things can happen but its certainly not the causes of these problems directly ......

[fingabang]

There is no doubt in my mind that pot has long term side effects.

 

I have to say that it has effected my life in many bad ways. If you are a heavy smoker and can not grow, it will cost a pretty penny to keep your habit going. That alone has a huge effect

 

It does not matter if you are predisposed to mental illness or psychosis, weed is still going to change your moods etc.

 

I have been smoking for 25+ years now. I Was hooked on a few other bad drugs about 15 years ago but gave them all away and stuck with my weed only. I find it hard to go without for more than a few hours and i get agitated and depressed when i don't have any. It does get quite bad. I start my day with a cone and end it with one, during the day its like a top-up every hour or so.. I have not been able to work for the last 6 years due to serious injuries and really don't know if ill work for anyone again. I do run a small online business but can hardly pay the rent let alone smoke <- or eat for that matter.

 

I plan to move in the next few months and start growing again. I know that when i was growing life was better because of less money pressures.. If i can grow i can afford a better place, have more money, do more things, improve my lifestyle etc etc etc.

 

Quitting is very hard and TBH i don't really want to. I am not a quitter! i just want to grow my own! It can depend on your situation really but most heavy long term smokers will tell you its had a bad effect on their life in some way.

 

Really though, If i did not give up those other substances i would not be writing this now and without weed i may not have done so. They say weed leads young people to harder drugs, That is so untrue!!!!!!! other People lead to harder drugs.

 

 

The moral of my story is that weed is very safe in moderation but try not to make it a lifestyle. Like i said, everything is bad for you if you abuse it,, even weed. If you take too much Panadeine forte you might not be able to shit for 2 days.

 

There is also varying degree's of addiction. I know 10 years ago 7 grams could last me up to 10 days. Now i am lucky to make it last 4 days.. Another problem is the age young kids start smoking pot, they are addicted by the time they are adults.

 

It really is amazing how MJ gets its reputation though. Sure it can have a few side effects in the long term but this is so insignificant to what legal drugs like alcohol do the the population. Long term alcohol abuse KILLS, Simple as that. Anyone know someone who died smoking weed? Possible help contribute to lung cancer but thats about it.

 

Sorry to ramble on... Just my $.02 worth

Edited May 31, 2011 by fingabang