Blast from the past? Nope.........Marijuana Use Can Up Psychosis Risk

[babsbunny]

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/636476.html

SATURDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term use of marijuana can lead to increased risk of developing hallucinations, delusions and psychosis, a new study shows.

Australian researchers asked nearly 3,100 young adults averaging about 20 years of age about marijuana use. They found that almost 18 percent reported using the drug for three or fewer years, about 16 percent for four to five years, and just over 14 percent for six or more years.

Among the participants, 65 had been diagnosed with a "non-affective psychosis" such as schizophrenia, and 233 had at least one positive item for hallucination on a diagnostic interview conducted for the study.

[ixion]

1. a dupe... and BS to boot

[formercia]

2. Don't smoke so much.

Over the long term, the potency has increased significantly, so unless this is taken into account.....

[baldguy]

3. Heck, any decent bourbon will do that too.

[Chemisse]

4. My question would be

Were they smoking pure cannabis? Or was it laced with other substances?

[Fumesucker]

7. Or were they drinking alcohol or popping pills or snorting meth?

Or drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages?

[Chemisse]

8. True, that.

But I ask because I had to quit smoking pot because of it inducing some very unpleasant paranoia. What I don't know is if pure pot would do the same thing, or if it because of substances added to make the weed more valuable/potent.

I'd like to know, personally, because if pure marijuana did not cause that effect, then I would like to smoke some occasionally. I miss it a bit.

[Mugweed]

9. I've always questioned pot being the cause of paranoia.

It is my opinion that paranoia is not a side effect of the THC in marijuana. I firmly believe that the negative connotations about marijuana use and possession (the possible loss of employment and subsequent blacklisting, the possible incarceration, the association with use being "anti-social" behavior and the worry about what effect the knowledge of your use will have on your image by peers and colleagues, the financial and social implications of all the previous instances) is what directly causes the paranoia. I have a suspicion that if the national characterization of marijuana was that it is a harmless herb that is more useful than harmful and if it was perfectly legal to use and possess, the paranoia associated with the substance would disappear.

[GeorgeGist]

5. ...

"But the association between psychosis and marijuana use is not simple, the researchers noted. They found that people who'd experienced hallucinations earlier in life were also more likely to have used marijuana longer and to use it more frequently.

"This demonstrates the complexity of the relationship: those individuals who were vulnerable to psychosis were more likely to commence cannabis use, which could then subsequently contribute to an increased risk of conversion to a non-affective psychotic disorder," wrote the study authors.

[Fumesucker]

6. Yawn.. And alcohol abuse is four times more likely to predict schizophrenia than cannabis abuse..

But that doesn't make onto DU, let alone the M$M..

I wonder why that could be?

http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/streetdrugs.html

Experts estimate that between 8% and 13% of all schizophrenia cases are linked to marijuna / cannabis use during teen years. It is also notable that some research suggests that alcohol abuse is a stronger predictor of psychotic symptoms than regular cannabis use (by a factor of four).