Marijuana linked to Psychosis?

madanthonywayne said:
Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood, Australian investigators reported.
Click to expand...
Well duh! Children are still growing; that's why we don't call them adults. The circuits in their brains have a lot of development left, as does the regulation of their endocrine system. Their judgment is being formed from their experiences, so the distorted experience of being high will distort their judgment.

Yet we pump them full of a psychoactive drug--caffeine--in some cases daily.
In sum, a growing body of clinical and epidemiologic research suggests significant but complex links between cannabis use and psychosis.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed, almost everything in life comes with risks. Each of us has to do his own risk analysis to decide whether the positive result of the experience is worth the risk, and then do his own risk management. The results are not the same for everyone, and so neither is the proper course of risk management. Of course the government--the people who told us Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and who pay subsidies to corporate tobacco farms--is clearly not qualified to do risk analysis for us. Especially its trademark WalMart-style "one size fits all" risk management.

Nonetheless, children are not qualified to perform risk analysis or management for themselves or anyone else, which is why they are supposed to have parents who actively participate in their upbringing.
spidergoat said:
And I don't know anyone in the movement that says it's totally benign, with no side effects whatsoever.
Click to expand...
No. But based on centuries of empirical observation, it is more benign than alcohol or nicotine, roughly on a par with caffeine. Caffeine is a major mental health problem for me, and I'm hardly alone.
Psychosis is also linked to creativity.
Click to expand...
I didn't find that assertion in your link. Is the point that psychotic people are more creative than the rest of us? That would be easy to believe. I've known many people who were more creative when stoned, and were easily able to retain their revelations and exploit them later. That's one of the reasons pot is so popular among musicians.
 
I'm sorry, I could find a link to an article about the connection between psychosis and creativity, but the link was actually about something slightly different.
 
madanthonywayne said:
There is growing evidence of a link between the use of marijuana and mental disease.

Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood, Australian investigators reported.

Young adults who reported a longer duration since first exposure to marijuana had a two- to fourfold greater prevalence of three different psychosis-related outcomes, John McGrath, MD, PhD, of the Queensland Center for Mental Health Research in Wacol, and colleagues concluded in an article published online in Archives of General Psychiatry.

Several prospective-cohort studies have demonstrated an association between early marijuana use and an increased risk of psychosis. On the basis of such studies, reviews of the issue have generally concluded that early use of marijuana, or cannabis, is a modifiable risk factor for psychosis-related outcomes, the authors wrote.​
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Addictions/18722
More info from another article:
Several lines of evidence support the potential biologic plausibility of these links between cannabis use and psychosis. First, exogenous (eg, Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and endogenous cannabinoids (eg, anandamide) exert their effects (such as modulating the release of neurotransmitters including dopamine and glutamate) by interactions with specific cannabinoid (CB1) receptors that are distributed in brain regions implicated in schizophrenia. Second, several studies have shown an increased CB1 receptor density in brain regions of interest in schizophrenia, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex.[17,18] Third, other studies report elevated levels of endogenous cannabinoids in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with schizophrenia.[19-21] Fourth, acute, controlled administration of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol causes both patients and controls to experience transient increases in cognitive impairments and schizophrenia-like positive and negative symptoms.[22] In summarizing these and many other findings, Fernandez-Espejo and colleagues[23] have suggested that the endocannabinoid system is altered in schizophrenia and that dysregulation of this system, perhaps induced by exogenous cannabis, can interact with neurotransmitter systems in a way so that a "cannabinoid hypothesis" can be integrated with other neurobiologic hypotheses (eg, those involving dopamine and glutamate).
Conclusion

In sum, a growing body of clinical and epidemiologic research suggests significant but complex links between cannabis use and psychosis. Concurrently, ongoing neurobiologic research is revealing findings in the endocannabinoid system that appear to support the biologic plausibility of such links. It should be noted that much of the research conducted to date does not allow for causal determinations. Ongoing research of varying designs will undoubtedly enlighten the field.​
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/719139
Click to expand...

Ive only read the title and I can tell you for a fact that pot ussage is not linked to psychosis
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood, Australian investigators reported.
Click to expand...
Well duh! Children are still growing; that's why we don't call them adults. The circuits in their brains have a lot of development left, as does the regulation of their endocrine system. Their judgment is being formed from their experiences, so the distorted experience of being high will distort their judgment.
Click to expand...

except that's NOT what australian investigators reported--see post #17--and neither is the contention supported by any of the other work cited.

no one seems to be contesting that marijuana may exacerbate psychosis in those with an existing condition, but to suggest that marijuana use increases the risk in young adulthood is unsupported (and you will note, if you review the study itself, that the researchers agree).

as i noted, the writer of the article--and a few members here--seem to be conflating schizotypal attributes and psychosis, which is sheer nonsense! some with schizotypal attributes may experience psychotic episodes--either as consequence of bipolar, schizophrenia, epilepsy, or some other factor--but most do not; IOW schizotypy is "psychosis related," but it absolutely does not suggest or cause psychosis--see post #14.

did anyone here actually read the articles cited?
 
and finally, an observation--though perhaps this might belong in "open government" or "site feedback": within a single thread, three moderators have either reiterated an unsubstantiated claim made by a popular science writer, but not the researchers themselves, and/or confused/conflated personality attributes for an "abnormal" state of "mind" and/or echoed a claim for which there is some substantiation, but this claim bears only a trifling resemblance to the claim in the OP. is that "scientific"?
 
There is a link between living and dying
a link between light and darkness
a link between religion and science
a link between two pieces of chain
where that link between them breaks.

But the etiology of dementia does not have much
to do with marijuana, other than the link.
 
parmalee said:
no one seems to be contesting that marijuana may exacerbate psychosis in those with an existing condition, but to suggest that marijuana use increases the risk in young adulthood is unsupported (and you will note, if you review the study itself, that the researchers agree).
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I agree with that contention. My point is that there are already more than enough reasons not to let kids have drugs, yet people let kids have drugs anyway. The accretion of one more reason is not going to win this argument. There is quite a bit of irrationality on both sides.
 
... appear to support the biologic plausibility of such links. It should be noted that much of the research conducted to date does not allow for causal determinations.
Click to expand...

This really doesn't say much other than somebody figures there is a possibility of something being there that is not totally incredulous.

I think that much of the cynicism directed at such studies is this: a few years ago several politically motivated, very flawed "studies" were announced originating in New Zealand and Australia. These 'studies purported to show a causal link between cannabis usage and the development of schizophrenia. These studies were shown to be flawed and were dismissed by serious scientists.

A few years later, these flawed studies were gathered together, re - summed and re - presented by a group of conservative UK politicians looking to re - re - classify cannabis in Great Briton.

Now, any such study - especially one done down under - is going to be taken with much more than a grain of salt by anyone with a nodding familiarity with the topic.

Yes, schizophrenics and bipolar persons often self - medicate with cannabis, often before they are diagnosed.
 
alright, i actually have little interest in this particular subject matter--i am more interested in the matter of moderators on a science forum being held accountable for the nonsense they spew.

fraggle has had the decency to clarify his position in the matter, but Hercules and Madant, well...

so Madant, which is it? were you in fact being willfully misleading here? or are you simply incapable of reading through a simple, mainstream news story and recognizing that what is stated initially does NOT follow from the study, or studies, linked?

and Hercules, what does the substantiated claim that you made have to do with the unsubstantiated claim made in the OP? i'm assuming there must be some relation, as you went on about how folks on the internet like to question such things, when in fact NO ONE was questioning the claim you made, but rather the unrelated claim of the OP? or are you too incapable of reading?

oh, and i am not so certain that "all" scientists/doctors are "very much aware of cause and effect."
 
Last edited:
parmalee said:
alright, i actually have little interest in this particular subject matter--i am more interested in the matter of moderators on a science forum being held accountable for the nonsense they spew.

fraggle has had the decency to clarify his position in the matter, but Hercules and Madant, well...

so Madant, which is it? were you in fact being willfully misleading here? or are you simply incapable of reading through a simple, mainstream news story and recognizing that what is stated initially does NOT follow from the study, or studies, linked?
Click to expand...
Nothing I said is not supported by the studies linked.
oh, and apparently "all" scientists/doctors are NOT "very much aware of cause and effect"--well, i guess optometrists aren't really doctors. :p
Click to expand...
I made no claim of a causal relationship between marijuana and psychosis. I simply pointed out the growing evidence of a link and some information regarding a plausible mechanism that might suggest that said link is not mere coincidence. However, as clearly stated in the information quoted in the OP:
It should be noted that much of the research conducted to date does not allow for causal determinations. Ongoing research of varying designs will undoubtedly enlighten the field

​
So I don't know what the hell you're all worked up about.

And please refrain from personal attacks in future posts.
 
madanthonywayne said:
Nothing I said is not supported by the studies linked.
I made no claim of a causal relationship between marijuana and psychosis. I simply pointed out the growing evidence of a link and some information regarding a plausible mechanism that might suggest that said link is not mere coincidence. However, as clearly stated in the information quoted in the OP:
It should be noted that much of the research conducted to date does not allow for causal determinations. Ongoing research of varying designs will undoubtedly enlighten the field

​
So I don't know what the hell you're all worked up about.

And please refrain from personal attacks in future posts.
Click to expand...

uhh, have you read through the thread? sorry, but this:

Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood, Australian investigators reported.
Click to expand...

is not supported by the study. IOW the australian investigators did NOT claim this. and neither do any of the other studies.

did you not claim, in post #12?

There is nothing in the OP not supported by science .
Click to expand...

sorry, but the preceding is NOT supported. hence, it is "information."

likewise, "psychosis related" is NOT psychosis--and schizotypy is NOT schizophrenia nor psychosis.

is this really that hard to follow? have you read your own words?


p.s. i removed the "personal attack" from the preceding post. my apologies.
 
Last edited:
parmalee said:
uhh, have you read through the thread? sorry, but this:
Marijuana use at a young age significantly increased the risk of psychosis in young adulthood,​
Australian investigators reported.
is not supported by the study. IOW the australian investigators did NOT claim this. and neither do any of the other studies..
Click to expand...
I said nothing I said was not supported by the linked material. The above quote is from one of the articles I linked to. I didn't write it. Go bitch to Charles Bankhead if you like.

I don't recall us setting the standard that one must vouch for the accuracy of every statement made in any article one quotes. The linked articles are a starting point for a discussion and are representative of how the subject is being presented in the general press.
 
Honestly marijuana use is so common you could probably do a study and link it to every damn problem in the freakin world. This shit is getting old.

Marijuana is about as harmfull as the air we breathe today. If these scientists tried hard enough I bet they could find a link between breathing California air and road rage.....:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top