cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Link To Mental Illness Strengthened Cannabis Link To Mental Illness Strengthened Posted by CN Staff on November 21, 2002 at 15:31:48 PT By Emma Young Source: New Scientist The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.The studies provide "little support" for an alternative explanation - that people with mental illnesses self-medicate with marijuana - according to Joseph Rey and Christopher Tennant of the University of Sydney, who have written an editorial on the papers in the British Medical Journal. One of the key conclusions of the research is that people who start smoking cannabis as adolescents are at the greatest risk of later developing mental health problems. Another team calculates that eliminating cannabis use in the UK population could reduce cases of schizophrenia by 13 per cent.Until now, say Rey and Tennant, there was "a dearth of reliable evidence" to support the idea that cannabis use could cause schizophrenia or depression. That lack of good evidence "has handicapped the development of rational public health policies," according to one of the research groups, led by George Patton at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. The works also highlights potential risks associated with using cannabis as a medicine to ease the symptoms of muscular sclerosis, for example. Pharmacological effect Patton's team followed over 1600 Australian school pupils aged 14 to 15 for seven years. Daily cannabis use was associated with a five-fold increased risk of depression at the age of 20. Weekly use was linked to a two-fold increase. The regular users were no more likely to have suffered from depression or anxiety at the start of the study.The reason for the link is unclear. Social consequences of frequent cannabis use include educational failure and unemployment, which could increase the risk of depression. "However, because the risk seems confined largely to daily users, the question about a direct pharmacological effect remains," says Patton. In separate research, a team led by Stanley Zammit at the University of Cardiff, UK, evaluated data on over 50,000 men who had been Swedish military conscripts in 1969 and1970. This group represents 97 per cent of men aged 18 to 20 in the population at that time.The new analysis revealed a dose-dependant relationship between the frequency of cannabis use and schizophrenia. This held true in men with no psychotic symptoms before they started using cannabis, suggesting they were not self-medicating. Genetic factors Finally, researchers led by Terrie Moffitt at King's College London, UK, analysed comprehensive data on over 1000 people born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1972 and 1973. They found that people who used cannabis by age 15 were four times as likely to have a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder (a milder version of schizophrenia) at age 26 than non-users.But when the number of psychotic symptoms at age 11 was controlled for, this increased risk dropped to become non-significant. This suggests that people already at greater risk of later developing mental health problems are also more likely to smoke cannabis. The total number of high quality studies on cannabis use and mental health disorders remains small, stress Rey and Tennant. And it is still not clear whether cannabis can cause these conditions in people not predisposed by genetic factors, for example, to develop them."The overall weight of evidence is that occasional use of cannabis has few harmful effects overall," Zammit's team writes. "Nevertheless, our results indicate a potentially serious risk to the mental health of people who use cannabis. Such risks need to be considered in the current move to liberalise and possibly legalise the use of cannabis in the UK and other countries."Journal references: British Medical Journal (vol 325, p1195, p1199, p1212, p1183) Source: New Scientist (UK)Author: Emma YoungPublished: November 21, 2002 Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2002Contact: letters newscientist.comWebsite: http://www.newscientist.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmStudy Links Marijuana Use to Schizophreniahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13350.shtmlCannabis Could Cure - Wall Street Journal http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11398.shtmlCannabis a Medical Miracle - It's Official http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11254.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo MD on November 22, 2002 at 09:37:29 PT: Reprise Here are the links to the PDF's of the 3 articles and the editorial from the BMJ. It is possible that you will not be able to access them without a subscription. http://bmj.com/cgi/reprint/325/7374/1212.pdfhttp://bmj.com/cgi/reprint/325/7374/1199.pdfhttp://bmj.com/cgi/reprint/325/7374/1195.pdfhttp://bmj.com/cgi/reprint/325/7374/1183.pdfAs usual, this stuff hits the press before we've had a chance to read the original articles. Some of the data was generated via self-reports of drug use, which are notoriously inaccurate.At most, such data can indicate an association, or even what we call "comorbidity," meaning that two "problems" occur in the same patient. However, none of this proves that cannabis produces psychosis.Generically, I can say the following. The issue of cannabis as causing mental illness has been debated for at least 1000 years, usually on the basis of hysteria and myths, such as that of the hashish-crazed assassins. There is no substantiation of the whole story according to the thesis of Michael Aldrich. It is apocryphal. The first serious survey of cannabis in schizophrenia was the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1893-1894. They scoured the country's asylums for cases of cannabis psychosis and came up with a mere handful of cases where there was not some alternative explanation. Their conclusion was that cannabis did not cause permanent harm of this nature. Everyone knows that a rare patient may have a temporary psychosis that seems to be triggered by cannabis overuse. Virtually all recover. This does not require the caging of human beings, especially those who are ill, to protect our society from a rare sequela. In contrast, alcohol clearly rots one's brain in overuse.The same conclusion that cannabis did not "cause permanent psychosis"was reached in the Panama Canal Zone studies in the 1920's and the LaGuardia Commision report of 1944. The IOM in 1999 and the Canadian Senate Report in 2002 came to the same conclusion with lots of other studies inbetween.Some people will have schizophrenia and depression, and in some cases, cannabis will not help, or may even contribute to the problem. However, there is just as much high quality evidence that cannabis ameliorates symptoms for afflicted people. See study by Leweke et al.:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10501554&dopt=Abstract I also address this topic in the cannabis chapter in Handbook of Psychotripic Herbs. Thus the truth on this issue is a shade of gray that is much closer to white than it is to the black that the BMJ, ONDCP and other acronyms espouse. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freddybigbee on November 22, 2002 at 09:32:47 PT: Wow! "Another team calculates that eliminating cannabis use in the UK population could reduce cases of schizophrenia by 13 per cent."Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Focusin reduced sass-mouth by 40%.But seriously, the pharmaceutical industry is THE cash-cow of the medical research industry. It is inevitable that medical research will promote synthetic drugs and denounce herbal medicine. It's all in the incentives.Medicine has always labored under perverse incentives, like the fact that doctors got more business (prior to HMOs) by keeping people ill than by helping them to be well. With HMOs doctors make money by signing up large numbers of patients and making it difficult for the patients to get an appointment, and by cutting the appointments very short.Do you think researchers who want to get more research grants have an incentive to magnify problems with cannabis? Heck, if any popular legal drug were studied as much as cannabis with hypotheses of harmful effects, they'd all succomb to findings as drastic as this.There is relationship between cannabis and depression, however. Cannabis both relieves depression, and can seemingly cause it (when cannabis use is discontinued). This is observable in the small sample of people with whom I've discussed the issue. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by DdC on November 21, 2002 at 16:51:55 PT The Blame Game Preventing Lost Profits... The total number of high quality studies on cannabis use and mental health disorders remains small, stress Rey and Tennant."The overall weight of evidence is that occasional use of cannabis has few harmful effects overall," Zammit's team writes. "Nevertheless, our results indicate a potentially serious risk to be considered in the current move to liberalise...Extracting medical symptoms from racist fascism 101 There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Philipino's and Entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others." Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics testifying to Congress on why marijuana should be made illegal, 1937.Marijuana" used in treating Parkinson's WASHINGTON, March 24 A marijuana-like chemical in the brain that helps regulate body movement and coordination might be used to treat diseases that produce tics and shaking, such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, researchers said. Uncontrolled production of dopamine has been blamed for some of the symptoms of schizophrenia and the nervous tics and outbursts associated with Tourette's syndrome."Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that marijuana appears to relieve some of their symptoms, but scientists have never found a physiological reason why. By understanding how the anandamide system works similarly to marijuana, we can explore new ways to treat these diseases more effectively." Schizophrenia is caused by over exposure to religious fanaticism. Ganja relieves the symptoms.mhoIsn't this child abuse or stalking? Feeding 14 year old kids pot everyday for 7 years?Patton's team followed over 1600 Australian school pupils aged 14 to 15 for seven years. Daily cannabis use was associated with a five-fold increased risk of depression at the age of 20.New Zealand Police Sexually Molest Female Pot Activists From: restore crrh.org Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 Volume 1 : #30New Zealand: Marijuana Has The Health Risks Of Tobacco... http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1758.a05.htmlMarijuanaNews.Com http://www.marijuananews.com "Marijuana may be shown to be more dangerous than speed, heroin, alcohol and tobacco," - Says Australian Psychologist See Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, The International Prohibitionist Counterattack, and How We Can Use The Internet [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 21, 2002 at 15:56:31 PT Cannabis and Mental Health Hi Everyone,Here is the British Medical Journal Report on Cannabis and mental health.http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7374/1183 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment