Jul 27, 2007 07:42PM GMT
Question
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Lifestyle - Health
Do you agree with the Cannabis study commissioned by the U.K. Department of Health?
A single joint of cannabis raises the risk of schizophrenia by more than 40 per cent, a disturbing study warns.The Government-commissioned report has also found that taking the drug regularly more than doubles the risk of serious mental illness.
Overall, cannabis could be to blame for one in seven cases of schizophrenia and other life-shattering mental illness, the Lancet reports.
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raves posted Nov 04, 2008 09:46AM GMT (edited)
Answered Undecided
I have my medical marijuana license in California. It's great. I can handle it. I can't speak for everyone, but I want to be able to access it if I need to. That's why it needs to be regulated so a doctor can examine your medical records before getting a prescription. I don't have any mental illness in my background- just arthritis- and therefore I qualified. I don't know about the validity of, or the funding behind the study, which could affect the results. -
raves posted Nov 04, 2008 07:52AM GMT (edited)
Answered No
40 per cent seems like an exaggeration. I think that the study was biased for some reason. That is really hard to believe. How do they know that these people wouldn't have developed schizophrenia anyway?
Medical marijuana has a lot of legitimate uses and I think the media and the medical establishment need to quit trying to demonize it. Marijuana is not as bad for your health as some of the drugs that the FDA has approved lately. They're all playing political games. -
raves +1 posted Oct 25, 2007 02:59AM GMT
Answered No
Ive had schizophrenia since i was five years old and cannabus didnt touch my lungs until the age of 15 but dont get me wrong, what they dont realize is that when you have schizophrenia and you smoke pot it makes symptoms worse, but doesnt cause it i assure you, note to schizophrenics stay away from pot if you dont want a relapse. Cannabus free for 3 years! woo -
raves +2 posted Aug 03, 2007 01:39AM GMT (edited)
Answered No
I'm certainly no expert on marijuana, but I just don't think it's that dangerous, and I don't believe that it is a "gateway" drug. From what I have seen, it just makes one mellow, get the munchies, and helps relieve the pain and side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. -
raves Jul 31, 2007 06:22PM GMTTo add to the poll I found this article:
Never trust the media on pot. -
raves +2 posted Jul 28, 2007 04:22PM GMT
Answered No
It might give you schizophrenic-like symptoms, but it does not raise your risk of it. Schizophrenia is due to many factors, but drugs do not trigger the disorder. You might feel schizophrenic, but it will wear off after a little while. Real schizophrenia never goes away without physically altering the brain.
As someone who's been studying psychology extensively over the past few years, I can assure you that this study is flawed. I don't pretend to be an expert, but I can tell when a study might have confounding variables that aren't being considered. This one probably has a few. -
raves Jul 28, 2007 08:12PM GMTYou perspective is insightful and to the point.
I appreciate the analysis.
I don't know what to think of this study. I am against drugs on principle but I am skeptical of government-funded studies that seek to justify their policies.
I don't want to agree with a study just because it makes my point. -
raves +2 posted Jul 28, 2007 02:46PM GMT
Answered No
Here's a quote from the L.A. Times article about the study: "It's not as if you smoke a joint and you're going to go crazy," said Richard Rawson, who directs the Integrated Substance Abuse Program at UCLA and was not involved in the study. But he cautioned: "It's definitely not a good idea to use heavy amounts of marijuana."
A quote from another source: Dr. Victor Reus, a psychiatrist at UC San Francisco who was not involved in this study, said he was unconvinced by Zammit's conclusions for both psychotic and mood disorders. Too many outside factors contribute to the disorders, and the studies Zammit used were too vague to draw hard conclusions, he said. "There's a limit to what you can do with the data that's in these studies," he said. -
raves +9 posted Jul 28, 2007 06:01AM GMT
Answered No
That's the biggest crock of crap I've ever read since the last time the government came out with one of these studies that said it was going to do whatever they say every time they come out with these studies. I'm on the backside of 50 with way over an average college education as do 90% of my friends and many of them have smoked grass their entire lives and function fine. Many are professionals with families. Doctors, Lawyers, Judges, Police-persons, teachers, bankers, candle stick makers. Gee they haven't gone nutso. BUT the guys who have never smoked chronic doing these studies have in my humble opinion!
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raves Jul 30, 2007 09:20AM GMT"She was living in a single room with three other individuals. One of
them was a male and the other two, well, the other two were females.
God only know what they were up to in there. and furthermore Susan, I
wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that all four of them
hibitually smoked marijuana cigarettes... reefers" hahahah, smoke two
joints baby. -
raves +2 posted Jul 28, 2007 12:41AM GMT
Answered No
My brother paraniod schitzophrenic and he abused alcohol, pot, and a variety of other illegal drugs. We're told it was drug and alcohol induced. He started drinking before he smoked pot. I researched it a bit when my brother got sick and found out if it's a recessive gene in our family and that both drugs and alcohol can bring it out. That would be something I'd be interested in knowing about their research, if the subjects had the recessive gene. -
raves +1 posted Jul 28, 2007 12:23AM GMT (edited)
Answered Undecided
Im not a scientist so I can neither endorse or negate the study but I happen to know a few people that went off the deep end. ( They were pot heads in school) Other than that I have no other empiracle data and I dont know how anyone could get true data. Maybe people who are schizophrenic tend to smoke pot for relief. All though I have seen it cause paranoia -
raves +1 posted Jul 27, 2007 10:10PM GMT
Answered Undecided
I wouldn't commit to believing the report, but I can certainly reference a few people that I know who can fall into the categories described. So it is certainly possible. I can also point to those that have had little if any detriment, so 40% seems high. My point is, breathing any kind of smoke in that quantity can't be good for you. -
raves Jul 29, 2007 10:32PM GMT (edited)Cathy this is a more shall we say "RICHER" explanation with lots of facts for you to mull over and even a picture or so- Cat
–noun 1. the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.
2. the flowering tops of the plant.
3. any of the various parts of the plant from which hashish, marijuana, bhang, and similar mildly euphorogenic and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared. .
4. a genus of annual herbs (family Moraceae) that have leaves with three to seven elongate leaflets and pistillate flowers in spikes along the leafy erect stems and that include the hemp which is a natural fiber used in many counties for making ropes, mats, clothing etc.
5. Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for over 4,800 years.Surviving texts from Ancient India confirm that its psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia, headaches and as a pain reliever, frequently used in childbirth.
Cannabis as a medicine was common throughout most of the world in the 1800s. It was used as the primary pain reliever until the invention of aspirin. Modern medical and scientific inquiry began with doctors like O'Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, who used it to treat melancholia, migraine...Cathy this is a more shall we say "RICHER" explanation with lots of facts for you to mull over and even a picture or so- Cat
–noun 1. the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.
2. the flowering tops of the plant.
3. any of the various parts of the plant from which hashish, marijuana, bhang, and similar mildly euphorogenic and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared. .
4. a genus of annual herbs (family Moraceae) that have leaves with three to seven elongate leaflets and pistillate flowers in spikes along the leafy erect stems and that include the hemp which is a natural fiber used in many counties for making ropes, mats, clothing etc.
5. Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for over 4,800 years.Surviving texts from Ancient India confirm that its psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia, headaches and as a pain reliever, frequently used in childbirth.
Cannabis as a medicine was common throughout most of the world in the 1800s. It was used as the primary pain reliever until the invention of aspirin. Modern medical and scientific inquiry began with doctors like O'Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, who used it to treat melancholia, migraines, and as a sleeping aid, analgesic and anticonvulsant.
By the time the United States banned cannabis (the third country to do so) with the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, the plant was no longer extremely popular. One of the main opponents to the bill was the representative of the American Medical Association.
Later in the century, researchers investigating methods of detecting cannabis intoxication discovered that smoking the drug reduced intraocular pressure. High intraocular pressur
Answered No
That's the biggest crock of crap I've ever read since the last time the government came out with one of these studies that said it was going to do whatever they say every time they come out with these studies. I'm on the backside of 50 with way over an average college education as do 90% of my friends and many of them have smoked grass their entire lives and function fine. Many are professionals with families. Doctors, Lawyers, Judges, Police-persons, teachers, bankers, candle stick makers. Gee they haven't gone nutso. BUT the guys who have never smoked chronic doing these studies have in my humble opinion!