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ivi


Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,089
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Cannabis 'doubles mental health risk'
#3850965 - 03/01/05 07:26 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Drug 'doubles mental health risk' Smoking cannabis virtually doubles the risk of developing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, researchers say
The New Zealand scientists said their study suggested this was probably due to chemical changes in the brain which resulted from smoking the drug.
The study, published in the journal Addiction, followed over 1,000 people born in 1977 for 25 years.
UK mental health campaigners said it was more evidence of a "drug-induced mental health crisis".
The researchers, from the University of Otago, interviewed people taking part in the Christchurch Health and Development Study about their cannabis use at the ages of 18, 21 and 25.
They were also interviewed about various aspects of their mental health.
The scientists found psychotic symptoms were more common among cannabis users.
They analysed their findings to take into account the possibility illness encouraged people to use more cannabis, rather than the drug contributing to their condition.
But the researchers said the link was not likely to be due to people with mental illness having a greater wish to smoke cannabis.
Instead, they said cannabis may increase the chances of a person suffering psychosis by causing chemical changes to the brain.
The researchers also took into account factors such as family history, current mental disorders, and illicit substance abuse.
'Growing evidence'
The scientists, led by Professor David Fergusson, said it was likely cannabis use increased the chances of a person suffering psychosis by causing chemical changes to the brain.
Writing in Addiction, he added: "Even when all factors were taken into account, there was a clear increase in rates of psychotic symptoms after the start of regular use.
"These findings add to the growing body of evidence from different sources, all of which suggest that heavy use of cannabis may lead to increased risk of psychotic symptoms and disease in susceptible individuals."
Paul Corry, of the mental health charity Rethink, said: "This is the latest in long line of international research over the last 12 months that shows we are facing a drug-induced mental health crisis.
"Rethink is renewing its call to the Health Select Committee to investigate the latest research into the link between cannabis use and severe mental illness.
"We need action from the Department of Health and we need it now if we are to avoid the risk of tens of thousands of young people developing a severe mental illness in the future."
Marjorie Wallace, of the mental health charity SANE, said: "At last there is a convincing study supporting what we have been saying for many years, that there is a direct link between cannabis and psychosis.
"We urge the government to reconsider its decision on classification, backing that with a multi-million pound education and awareness campaign on the dangers of cannabis for young people whose brains are developing."
The Department of Health has said it will review all academic and clinical studies linking cannabis use to mental health problems.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4305783.stm
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero


Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 19 days
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Re: Cannabis 'doubles mental health risk' [Re: ivi]
#3851069 - 03/01/05 08:24 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hmmmm... when you double zero the result is still zero... not saying this is so with Cannabis, but the claim of doubling something isn't always what it seems....
> said it was likely cannabis use increased the chances of a person suffering psychosis by causing chemical changes to the brain.
So by interviewing 1000 people they have concluded that:
1) cannabis increases the chances of psychosis 2) cannabis causes psychosis by changing brain chemisty
A few points...
They never claim the sample was random. A sample size of 1000 has a huge margin for error. The age range of their sample was extremly small.
Quote:
These findings add to the growing body of evidence from different sources, all of which suggest that heavy use of cannabis may lead to increased risk of psychotic symptoms and disease in susceptible individuals.
Yep... "We suggest that cannabis may increase the risk of psychotic symptoms for some people." They could say the same thing about water, salt, or small furry rodents and they would still be correct using all those loopholes in their wording.
Let me see some non-government sponsored peer reviews before I buy into this...
Quote:
We need action from the Department of Health and we need it now if we are to avoid the risk of tens of thousands of young people developing a severe mental illness in the future
People have been smoking cannabis longer than people have been recording what they have been smoking... considering that there has not been a huge influx of tens of thousands of young people developing a severe mental illness due to cannabis smoke for the last 20,000 years, I would tend to suspect we are over reacting a bit here...
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Hardly Love


Registered: 02/05/15
Posts: 4
Last seen: 8 years, 10 months
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Re: Cannabis 'doubles mental health risk' [Re: ivi]
#21367860 - 03/05/15 07:24 PM (8 years, 10 months ago) |
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Interesting...
I read this article already, and in the article that was much longer it was stated that this study was entirely INCONCLUSIVE due to errors with the test group, but that it was an early study that may prove something in the future....sounds scientific huh?
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QT3BFLEE
ส้


Registered: 02/17/13
Posts: 744
Loc: Murica
Last seen: 5 years, 5 months
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Re: Cannabis 'doubles mental health risk' [Re: Hardly Love]
#21371677 - 03/06/15 05:13 PM (8 years, 10 months ago) |
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I'm not too sure about this study.
All I know is that if my girlfriend, my coworker or myself didn't have cannabis for our mental health issues, we would be royally fucked. No med has quite matched what mother nature provides. Now if only my insurance would cover it...
-------------------- My Public Key
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Toadstool5
A Registered Mycophile



Registered: 01/22/15
Posts: 1,359
Loc: The Golden State
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Re: Cannabis 'doubles mental health risk' [Re: QT3BFLEE]
#21374611 - 03/07/15 01:42 PM (8 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
We urge the government to reconsider its decision on classification, backing that with a multi-million pound...
Bingo! A multi-million pound fundraising campaign designed to "save the kids" from complete insanity. 
Everyone i know with mild to moderate mental illness is normally less psychotic on cannabis, especially well-cured CBD-enriched, indica varieties.
I think people will continue to use this argument for decades, it's simply a twist on the old "refer madness" campaign. They secure millions in funding by creating propaganda for lobbyists to cite as serious causes of disease. I believe this should be policed as corruption or fraud seeing as how they are intentionally lying to gain government funds, and as a political center of influence, abusing your position for personal gain, is corruption.
I really gotta meet their lawyer 
In some countries that shit carries the death penalty!
-------------------- If you do not know where the mushroom products you are consuming are grown, think twice before eating them. - Paul Stamets AMU Teks Stro's Write Ups
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