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Cannabis link to schizophrenia

Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky

Frumious Bandersnatch
Joined
Nov 3, 1999
Messages
84,998
Psychiatrists are calling for caution in the move towards licensing cannabis-based medicines. It follows research into a possible link between cannabis use and schizophrenia. Two recent studies have shown that heavy use of cannabis is associated with a fourfold increased risk of developing the mental illness.
"There are some dangers to using high doses of cannabis that people need to know about," said Dr Deepak Cyril D'Souza, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.
He said there was concern in the medical profession that people who smoke large amounts of cannabis for a long period of time are at higher risk of developing schizophrenia.
This needs to be kept in mind in the testing of new cannabis-based medicines, he added.
He told BBC News Online: "We need to do some kind of study to establish the psychiatric safety profile of these drugs."
Dr D'Souza presented new evidence on the link between cannabis and schizophrenia at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London.
His research suggests cannabis may induce psychosis by its action on cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
He was speaking at the launch of the European Foundation for Psychiatry at the Maudsley.
Secret crop
Cannabis-based medicines could be available in the UK within a year following promising results in clinical trials.
GW Pharmaceuticals, the company granted a government licence to carry out tests on cannabis compounds, announced on Tuesday that advanced phase III trials had been successfully completed.
The tests, the last stage of drug evaluation before approval, showed that cannabis-based medicines can help to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
GW, which cultivates some 40,000 cannabis plants a year at a secret location in the English countryside, plans to seek marketing approval from Britain's Medicines Control Agency early next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2407027.stm
[ 06 November 2002: Message edited by: Banquo ]
 
Intersting... So maybe I am crazy after all? :|
If this turns out to be 100% suptertrue, this is going to have bad reprocussions on trying to get it legalized..
 
...may induce psychosis by its action...
Some interesting reads:
http://www.bcss.org/schizophrenia/alcohol.html
http://alcoholresearch.lsuhsc.edu/effects/effects.asp
http://www.womensheartfoundation.org/content/HeartDisease/alcohol_and_heart_disease.asp
http://www.stalban.pta.school.za/tecsas/std7/biology/nutritio/nuwos8.htm
Most of this information pertains to the legal drug alcohol.
It seems that the abuse of any drug in large quantities is not a good idea and can be detrimental to a person's health.
What a revelation! 8)
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Well see, one time I was in this bar or something. I think it was downtown, but who knows for sure really? At any rate, I was trying to piss in the urinal while reading the writing on the walls which said, "Cocaine & Speed cures shizophrenia. HEMP is the Red Herring."
I mean, WTF?
 
Cannabinoid receptors, anandamide, illusion and schizophrenia
Illusion is the basic phenomenon involved in schizophrenia. Delta 9-THC is the main illusiogenic component of cannabis and an agonist at central cannabinoid receptors. This means that cannabinoid receptors could play a pivotal role in the induction of schizophrenia. The natural ligand of cannabinoid receptors, anandamide, is also an agonist at those receptors. Moreover, recently, it has been found that anandamide and Delta 9-THC decrease glutamate neurotransmission through a presynaptic mechanism. This could, conceivably, give rise to the same phenomena observed with typical NMDA receptors antagonists such as ketamine and phencyclidine, namely hallucinations and especially illusions. The action of anandamide on glutamate seems to be an ideal underlying phenomenon which could give rise to illusions such as those observed with cannabinoids and NMDA antagonists. Anandamidic neurotransmission should be disturbed in schizophrenics, especially in the hippocampus which is the link between real memory and its transfer to exoreality. In fact, as far as illusions are concerned, anandamidic disturbance should be the main primary cause of schizoprenia. Increased anandamidic function could decrease glutamate neurotransmission at NMDA receptors which, in turn, would increase metabolic activity through dopaminergic stimulation. Dopaminergic stimulation would then be the final end-result of anandamidic dysfunction, leading to both hallucinations and illusions through metabolic activation of memory zones.
__________________________________________________
This was taken from here http://www.dog.net.uk/claude/dreams.html
??????????????????????????????????????????????????
Peace
 
Yeah well,
I heard that if you give a black person LSD, then they will start trippin'. I mean, it could be just a rumor, but I somehow doubt it.
 
Yeah, well it could be totally crazy this article is shit for explaining anything to us. Where is the science, where's the facts and the studies? It's of course hard to believe when doctors/researchers just say hey this could cause schizophrenia, wow! Schizophrenia can be a whole bunch of disorders all lumped into one, nobody even knows exactly what it is or how to treat it but it is true that the main symptom is illusion and so how is it that people are caused to go into a state of illusion? There are many questions and like Ann Shulgin once said a lot of what the doctors and people of authority say could be true don't dismiss it just because you don't like the idea. But I mean you look at people like Peter Tosh who smoked maybe a pound of marijuana a day and he wasn't schizo so it can't be based on the amount you smoke there has to be underlying problems with that theory.
Peace
 
I often use more than one username on bulletin boards. Does that count?
 
Some people have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia I'm sure.
Plus I would like to see some hard data to back up this supposition.
You know like ummm... control groups and all that jazz.
:\
 
Originally posted by craig420:
I often use more than one username on bulletin boards. Does that count?
No, because schizophrenia is not the same as Multiple Personality Disorder, schizophrenia is sometimes confused with "split personality" because the Greek root word schizo means to split, but the implication in the case of schizophrenia is a split from consensual reality, not a division of the personality.
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Does'nt this study imply that if you have a predisposition to have schizophrenia, marijuana may trigger it? If that's what it's getting at... Big fucking deal. Schizphrenia is a mental disease that ussually appears between 16-24, and can be triggered by anything. So "linking" marijuana to schizophrenia is dumb, why don't they report the "link" between alchohol and schizphrenia?
Basically if your going to develop schizophrenia, it's gonna happen one way or another, from my understanding. Whether it's a traumatic event, a big fat joint or it just happends. From what i read a schizophrenic has it in their genetic code that they will be effected by this mental illness. So I think all this "linking" is bullshit.
I mite be wrong tho i'm no doctor (mabye some day..). I'm just a pothead standing up for the plant I love.
 
Originally posted by Marijuana Matt:
Does'nt this study imply that if you have a predisposition to have schizophrenia, marijuana may trigger it? ......
From what i read a schizophrenic has it in their genetic code that they will be effected by this mental illness. So I think all this "linking" is bullshit.

Nobody really knows for absolute certain what causes schizophrenia, but it isn't reasonable to assume that genetic disposition is the sole factor. We do know there is a definite genetic component as schizophrenia runs in families. However, not everyone in the family of a schizophrenic is schizophrenic.
I found a table for the rates of the diagnosis based on genetic distance from a relative with it. Here it is:
Spouse ----- 1% (this would be the control, not genetically related, but shares an environment)
Grandchildren ---- 2.84 %
Nieces/Nephews ---- 2.65 %
Children ----- 9.35%
Siblings ------ 7.30%
Dizygotic Twins (fraternal) ---- 12.08
Monozygotic Twins (identical) ----- 44.30%
("Abnormal Psychology" Davison + Neale, 2001)
So, I guess you could say roughly half of the tendency for schizophrenia is genetic. However, in cases where the schizophrenia was more severe the tendency for similar diagnoses among relatives increases. The rest of the tendency must be accounted for in some environmental or psycho-social variable.
Some people think of schizophrenia and some dissociative disorders are "spiritual crises" and that the suffering involved is a result of the ego being realigned to a more spiritually fulfilling path, but that the major tranquilizers used to control the symptoms can arrest this process.
All that said I think it would be unfair to say cannabis, reefer, bud, pot, whatever you want to call it, that beautiful herb is really resposible for an increased risk for schizophrenia. More like those already predisposed should perhaps watch themselves on the drugs, including alcohol.
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Honestly when im high around a large crowd of people I tend to be slightly schizophrenic, depending on the situation, current state of health, etc. I hear voices say clear and disctint things that are not there, see flashes or blurbs or people walk past who are not there, hear someone's words twisted inside my head to make a different sentence, have a strange sense of fear and forboding, and often feel as though everyone around me is watching me, staring at me in a negative fashion.
This goes beyond normal marijuana paranoia. I have smoked for about 6 years straight, often high quality strains and such. For about 2 years I was blazing 3 grams a day, personally. I have stopped smoking and havent smoked in about 2 months. The above symptoms are not pleasant, and ended up preventing me from partying while high (it diddnt start till about a year ago, slight at first, and more noticeable towards the end of the year). It hasnt really gotten in the way of my life or anything, nor is it noticeable to others around me. Still, whenever I get really really blazed, those symptoms occur. Ruins my high.
Im thinking a good 10-12 months completely abstinant from marijuana will do the job (of removing it that is).
 
He told BBC News Online: "We need to do some kind of study to establish the psychiatric safety profile of these drugs."
Haven't we have about 3000 years or more to do this???
 
I know two people, one with pre-disposed (long-time childhood friend) and the other pot-induced and from it I conclude that there are probably a small number of people who just weren't genetically made to smoke large amounts of pot for extended periods of their life.
I doubt that heavy consumption of marijuana can cause schizophrenia in just anyone.
But in saying that, I have experienced much of what THE WOOD described (living in Adelaide, all we smoked were high quality strains :) ). But I've quit now anyway.
[ 07 November 2002: Message edited by: RevHead ]
 
I'm not even suprised about this article. I used to smoke alot of herb and totally share the same symptoms as ^^^THE WOOD or even worst. It's has effected me alittle bit in everyday life, but not to the point that people see it.
 
At one stage a few years back I was diagnosed with a cannabis - induced psychosis. Wasn't very pleasant. At its peak I witnessed satan in my television telling me in some distorted voice to "Kill your family and kill yourself!" This small hallucination was nothing compared to some of my paranoid delusions around the time.
Despite what has been said, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders can be effectively treated in a vast majority of cases with the use of the "new" atypical anti-psychotic medications, such as Risperidone, Seroquel and Zyprexa. In some rare, severe cases a psychotic may not respond completely to the drugs, however they usually elicit some signs of improvement.
I think the word you're trying to find to describe the symptoms of schizophrenia and psychosis is not "illusion", rather delusions (false beliefs, generally of a paranoid nature) and hallucinations (generally auditory - hearing voices, sometimes visual).
And yes it is true, cannabis has a well known scientific link with psychotic disorders, and in some cases chronic schitzophrenia. I've met 4 people so far who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia triggered from cannabis use, 2 of them were regular smokers, the other 2 it was their first smoke! Whether their illness would have developed otherwise is unknown, and will never really be known. However, it's a known fact that some people just don't mix well with marijuana, and others can smoke cones til the cows come home every day for the rest of their couch ridden nacho chewin jerry springer watchin sorry assed lives.
[ 07 November 2002: Message edited by: psijuannn ]
[ 07 November 2002: Message edited by: psijuannn ]
 
ive smoked an awful of cannabis for 3 years... some periods all day everyday.. some periods just on the weekends.. the last 6 months of my cannabis use i smoked 2.5-5g really potent hash a day and i started getting totally freaked, loosing my sense of reality, paranoid and anxious thoughts, i was always thinking what people meant when they said something, did he mean that, does she think that, etc... now ive been on a neuroleptic for a period of time.. (used to threat the symptoms of extreme supisciousness, scizophrenia etc..) and now im starting to feel better... it's 3 motnhs since the last time ive smoked, if i will smoke again i will use cannabis like i use other drugs, in the weekenends or just to relax, not like its cigarettes... one of my best friends have also had the same problems as me cause of cannabis use, he also got a neuroleptic to threat his psychotic behaviour.
[ 07 November 2002: Message edited by: dpuff ]
 
Originally posted by psijuannn:
[QB]Despite what has been said, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders can be effectively treated in a vast majority of cases with the use of the "new" atypical anti-psychotic medications, such as Risperidone, Seroquel and Zyprexa. In some rare, severe cases a psychotic may not respond completely to the drugs, however they usually elicit some signs of improvement.
.....
And yes it is true, cannabis has a well known scientific link with psychotic disorders, and in some cases chronic schitzophrenia. I've met 4 people so far who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia triggered from cannabis use, 2 of them were regular smokers, the other 2 it was their first smoke! Whether their illness would have developed otherwise is unknown, and will never really be known.
Schizophrenic symptoms can be suppressed with antipsychotics like Risperidone, but I wouldn't say schizophrenia can be effectively treated. Management of symptoms and total mental health are two very different things.
I have no doubt that people have had schizophrenic breaks after smoking marijuana, but like I said I doubt it is anything inherent to marijuana, more like all drugs and really all powerful stressors are things that can set off the episode.
In terms of cannabis related psychosis or delusions, overuse of the drug can certainly mess with your head, luckily it appears to (for most people) recover over time with abstinence from use.
All people are going to have higher or lower tolerance to the effects and greater or smaller likelihood of mental distress.
I guess the best idea to take from this would be moderation in all things, and to know one's limits.
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i smoke pot everyday and i have severe depression and i honestly dont care if i get schizophrenic. it works for me now and helps with my depression so it sounds like i'll be smokin till i wanna quit.
 
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