Do you believe Cannabis 'raises psychosis risk' ?

[DolaMight]

Cannabis users are 40% more likely than non-users to suffer a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, say UK experts. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6917003.stm)

Y'now that dude/chick growin up who just got weird/parrynoid when you were smokin who would tend to kill the mood. They'd suddenly clam up, stare for hours at random inanimate objects for hours, or just the basic irrational paranoia that happens just about every time they smoke with you.

Then you hear they end up on medication or worse... I've known a couple of those types.

Like this study, do you think that weed can cause skitzo-ism or do you think that skitzo-prone people tend to be more likely to smoke weed and they would have developed into skitzo's eventually either way?

[IMSlacker]

Well, it clearly made Fred from Brooklyn turn on the McKenzie brothers, and you've got to be psychotic not to like the McKenzie brothers. So, I'll vote "Yah".

[underdog]

Like this study, do you think that weed can cause skitzo-ism or do you think that skitzo-prone people tend to be more likely to smoke weed and they would have developed into skitzo's eventually either way?

I think it's a little bit of both. More than likely someone with a severe personality disorder is going to try to self-medicate, but drugs alter you. And if you do it constantly, your self is being constantly altered. It makes sense to me.

But I bet this study could show that a lot of other drugs (legal or illegal) have the similar results.

[PapaBear]

Yes. And it was worth it.

[JPMNICK]

You should ask Hippie about this

[MadBiker]

I think people who have a tendency towards depression and/or mania, or schizophrenia, will attempt to self-medicate. They might not know they have an issue with mental health and just know that weed makes them "feel better."

My best friend of 26 years is a manic-depressive and has been on more drugs than I can recall over the years. She experienced great relief from her symptoms when she was smoking weed, but now the demands of her life and job mean she has to be clean and take prescription meds instead. She started smoking recreationally and realized she was able to sleep better and function without the sense of hopelessness and fear she usually had, so recreational became regular for her for a long time.

For people without mental illness who smoke long term, and I mean in an abusive, daily-habit kind of way, I think it will cause damage to a person's mental state. You can use alcohol or painkillers in the same kind of abusive way and experience breaks from reality as well.

[Death Metal Moe]

I find it far to convenient that some government study demonizing pot came out around the time a decision was made to dowgrade pot to a class C category which the story says is the least serious drug category in England.

More bullshit. If 1 in 7 people we knew had a mental disorder we'd be surrounded with crazies.

[IMSlacker]

More bullshit. If 1 in 7 people we knew had a mental disorder we'd be surrounded with crazies.

We're not?

[MadMatt]

I find it far to convenient that some government study demonizing pot came out around the time a decision was made to dowgrade pot to a class C category which the story says is the least serious drug category in England.

More bullshit. If 1 in 7 people we knew had a mental disorder we'd be surrounded with crazies.

There are varying degrees of mental disorder. Not everybody has to be a raving loon like myself; there are a lot of "quiet sufferers" that go undetected.

Hell, I have struggled for years with some serious medical problems but the majority of people I know (people at work, casual friends, etc.), are not aware of it. It's a combo of being able to "fake it" in public and people generally not being too perceptive/interested in casual situations.

LSS - I don't see that figure being out of the realm of possibility.

[MadBiker]

More bullshit. If 1 in 7 people we knew had a mental disorder we'd be surrounded with crazies.

There are some people who argue that we are all, in some way, mentally ill. I think its more a case of having a poor response to stress than a verifiable mental illness.

Moe, one reason why it is difficult to quantify the percentage of mentally ill people in the population is that they fear coming forward for help, precisely because they do not want to be labeled a "crazie." Mental illness is poorly understood by many people, and because it is still stigmatized, it is often difficult to come forward and get the necessary treatment (drugs, talk therapy, or both) to cope with it.

Personally I advocate the use of any means of self-medication you choose to care for yourself, whether it be drinking herbal tea for a sore throat or smoking weed for pain or mental illness, and even using opiates to deaden pain. I starting writing a paper about drug legalization years ago but abandoned the research in frustration. Some briliant scholars at the Cato Institute (http://www.cato.org) are carrying the torch, though, if you want to read more.

[sailor]

I find it far to convenient that some government study demonizing pot came out around the time a decision was made to dowgrade pot to a class C category which the story says is the least serious drug category in England.

More bullshit. If 1 in 7 people we knew had a mental disorder we'd be surrounded with crazies.

40% more likely to suffer psychotic illness. if 5 out of 1000 non-smokers suffer mental disease, the corresponding number of smokers would be 7 out of 1000 (i have no clue the actual percent, but want to point out what they're actually saying in the study). also that 14% or 1 in 7, that was jsut saying the percent of those actually suffering who had it caused by pot. no one's saying 14% of smokers will go crazy.

also, they're talking about moving it up to class b. i was moved down to class c 3 years ago.