NEWS: Daily Telegraph - 01/05/07 'Marijuana makes you potty'

[lil angel15]

Marijuana makes you potty
May 01, 2007 12:00

Demon weed ... scientists have discovered physical evidence of the drug's damaging influence on the brain / The Daily Telegraph

IT'S the news sure to strike fear in the hearts of ageing Kombi owners everywhere - smoking marijuana really can wreck your brain.

New findings on the drug's damaging effects show it can trigger hallucinations and paranoid delusions in some people.

British doctors took brain scans of 15 healthy volunteers who had been given small doses of two of the active ingredients of cannabis as well as a placebo.

One compound called cannabidiol, or CBD, made people more relaxed. But even small doses of the component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produced temporary psychotic symptoms.

The results, to be presented at an international mental health conference in London this week, provide physical evidence of the drug's destructive influence.

"We've long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works," said Dr Philip McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King's College, London.

In analysing MRI scans of the study's subjects, Dr McGuire and his colleagues found THC interfered with activity in the inferior frontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with paranoia.

"THC is switching off that regulator," Dr McGuire said, adding it effectively unleashed the paranoia usually kept under control by the frontal cortex.

In another study being presented at the conference, a two-day gathering of mental health experts discussing the connections between cannabis and mental health, scientists found that marijuana worsened psychotic symptoms of schizophrenics.

Doctors at Yale University in the US tested the impact of THC on 150 healthy volunteers and 13 people with stable schizophrenia. Nearly half of the healthy subjects experienced psychotic symptoms when given the drug.

While the experts expected to see marijuana improve the conditions of their schizophrenic subjects - since their patients reported the drug calmed them - they found the reverse was true.

"I was surprised by the results," Yale's Dr Deepak Cyril D'Souza said. "In practice we found that cannabis is very bad for people with schizophrenia."

While Dr D'Souza had intended to study marijuana's impact on schizophrenics in more patients, the research was stopped prematurely because the impact was so pronounced it would have been unethical to test it on more people with schizophrenia.

"One of the great puzzles is why people with schizophrenia keep taking the stuff when it makes the paranoia worse," King's College professor Dr Robin Murray said.

Experts believe schizophrenics may mistakenly judge the drug's pleasurable effects to outweigh any negatives.

Understanding how marijuana affects the brain may ultimately lead experts to a better understanding of mental health in general.

"We don't know the basis of paranoia or anxiety," Dr McGuire said. "It is possible that we could use cannabis in controlled studies to understand psychoses better."

Daily Telegraph

 

[lil angel15]

Heavy use of cannabis triggers psychotic illnesses
Medical Studies/Trials
Published: Monday, 30-Apr-2007

Scientists in the UK say the heavy consumption of the drug cannabis may trigger psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.

The revelation is particularly relevant as there is increasing concern amongst experts about the mental health impact of smoking large amounts of modern super-strength cannabis, or skunk, particularly among young people.

Professor Philip McGuire and Zerrin Atakan of London's Institute of Psychiatry used magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, to record the activity in the inferior frontal cortex brain region which is responsible for controlling inappropriate emotional and behavioural responses to situations.

The researchers gave Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), anti-psychotic medicine, Amisulpride (CBD) or placebo capsules to healthy adult male volunteers who had not abused cannabis and then carried out the brain scans along with a battery of tests.

Professor McGuire says the THC appeared to switch off the part of the brain that is associated with how paranoid people become.

Although the effects were short-lived, some people appeared more vulnerable than others.

How cannabis reacts with the brain has until now been a puzzle but the use of MRI scanning techniques means that experts can now glean a clearer picture of the drugs' impact on brain activity.

Experts say in recent years, the THC levels in cannabis available in Britain has doubled to 12 percent from around 6 percent, while in the Netherlands it is about 18 percent; while the majority of users do not have a problem with the drug, for a minority there exists the possibly of long-term damage from modern skunk.

The research, due to be presented this week at a two-day International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference at the Institute of Psychiatry, will echo similar findings from other teams who have also seen the link between THC dose and the risk of schizophrenia-like symptoms.

Conference organiser Professor Robin Murray says experts on the whole accept that cannabis contributes to the onset of psychotic symptoms in general and schizophrenia, and it is no longer a contentious issue.

Murray says if something has an active effect in inducing the symptoms of psychosis after one dose, then it would not be at all surprising if repeated use induced a chronic condition.

Researchers estimate that as many as 500,000 people in the UK may be dependent on cannabis and they say increasing numbers of people are seeking help for cannabis problems at specialist clinics and were only superceded by heroin users in 2005.

Another study by a team from Yale University administered THC intravenously and found that even at relatively low doses, 50% of healthy volunteers began to show symptoms of psychosis; while volunteers with a history of psychotic symptoms appeared to be particularly vulnerable.

Professor Murray who is a consultant psychiatrist at the Institute, says the research provides the strongest evidence that cannabis had a significant impact on the brain and warns that the high potency cannabis now widely available was likely to pose a much bigger risk to health than the significantly weaker formulations of previous years.

News-Medical.net

 

[ayjay]

Nothing new really - cannabis just doesn't suit some people. I think the interesting research angle at this point is to explore why some people who get an adverse reaction from pot continue to smoke it ("one of the great puzzles" in the first article above). The fact is, lotsa people try pot, most give it away after a few years, a few persist indefinitely, and a very few actually get fucked up on it.

It's interesting to note that cannabis is the primary drug of concern for the majority of people attending youth detoxes in Australia, and second after alcohol in adult detoxes. That still kinda freaks me out (or, as Greg Fleet puts it - "lightweights"). I'd really like to see some analysis of set/setting in these learned discussions of cannabis induced psychosis - what part does the culture of use impact on these findings?

 

[Klue]

Marijuana has damaging effect on brain

New findings on marijuana's damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, British doctors say.

British doctors took brain scans of 15 healthy volunteers given small doses of two of the active ingredients of cannabis, as well as a placebo.

One compound, cannabidiol, or CBD, made people more relaxed. But even small doses of another component, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produced temporary psychotic symptoms in people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors said.

The results, to be presented at an international mental health conference in London tomorrow and on Wednesday, provides physical evidence of the drug's damaging influence on the human brain.

"We've long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works," said Philip McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King's College, London.

In analysing MRI scans of the study's subjects, Dr McGuire and his colleagues found THC interfered with activity in the inferior frontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with paranoia.

"THC is switching off that regulator," Dr McGuire said, effectively unleashing the paranoia usually kept under control by the frontal cortex.

In another study being presented at the conference, a two-day gathering of mental health experts discussing the connections between cannabis and mental health, scientists found that marijuana worsens psychotic symptoms of schizophrenics.

Doctors at Yale University in the US tested the impact of THC on 150 healthy volunteers and 13 people with stable schizophrenia. Nearly half of the healthy subjects experienced psychotic symptoms when given the drug.

While the doctors expected to see marijuana improve the conditions of their schizophrenic subjects - since their patients reported that the drug calmed them - they found that the reverse was true.

"I was surprised by the results," said Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University's School of Medicine. "In practice, we found that cannabis is very bad for people with schizophrenia," he said.

While Dr D'Souza had intended to study marijuana's impact on schizophrenics in more patients, the study was stopped prematurely because the impact was so pronounced that it would have been unethical to test it on more people with schizophrenia.

"One of the great puzzles is why people with schizophrenia keep taking the stuff when it makes the paranoia worse," said Dr Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at King's College.

Experts theorised that schizophrenics may mistakenly judge the drug's pleasurable effects to outweigh any negatives.

Understanding how marijuana affects the brain may ultimately lead experts to a better understanding of mental health in general.

"We don't know the basis of paranoia or anxiety," said Dr McGuire.

"It is possible that we could use cannabis in controlled studies to understand psychoses better," he said. Dr McGuire theorised that could one day lead to specific drugs targeting the responsible regions of the brain.

SMH

 

[JoeBloggs]

yer this is just the same recycled garbage