Marijuana research is in its infancy. Even research of the cannabinoid receptors is young. But science is fast, and much is already known about cannabis and its medicinal value. Marijuana is controversial for many reasons, but one reason is that it can cause certain genetically made up individuals to develop schizophrenia later in life, if the individual smoked marijuana at a young age. The amount of marijuana smoked during this development stage of life effects the odds directly. It is known widely in psychiatry that marijuana causes psychotic symptoms to haunt schizophrenics. Along with pregnant woman, schizophrenics are an example of someone who should probably not be smoking marijuana. However, if you think this sounds terrible, read further.
"If there is this change in cannabis use, young people are smoking more cannabis and smoking it earlier and if that cannabis use is associated with an increase risk of mental illness, wouldn't we expect to see a huge explosion in the number of people exhibiting the symptoms of psychosis becoming schizophrenic?
Well, at first I should re-iterate that in our study in New Zealand we found that cannabis accounted for 8% of schizophrenia, so if you'd abolished all cannabis consumption in New Zealand, you'd have got rid of only 8% of schizophrenia.
In Holland, Van Os found it was about 13%.
However these studies were some time ago and the proportion may be increasing.
In fact, in south London where I work, the frequency of schizophrenia has doubled since the 1960s.
Now there may be several reasons for that, but I think drug consumption is one factor."
Still that may sound bad, but consider this.
"So children, young adolescents who smoke cannabis may be permanently altered in their brain, the way they think?
It's a possibility and again I would say, this is not a couple of puffs, this is taking cannabis every day for a prolonged period."
Minors and schizophrenics shouldn't be smoking this stuff, is all any of this is really telling us. The other grown adults using marijuana for medicinal purposes are safe from schizophrenia. Anyone with a history of psychosis should be careful about taking marijuana. I am diagnosed with major depression and psychotic features. I have to be careful when I use marijuana to combat depression, but marijuana is the only thing that provides instant relief for depression, so I take that chance. An annoying voice in my head is more tolerable than suicidal thoughts. I have to say that I don't hear voices when I'm high on marijuana though, at least at the doses I take it.
The fact that these people shouldn't smoke marijuana doesn't warrant criminalizing other adult medical patients. Both problems can be avoided by restricting access to marijuana by minors, and by educating people, particularly schizophrenics, of marijuana's dangers just like you would any medication. Schizophrenics know the dangers of medication as their liver functions have to be monitored due to medication they take. Convincing them that marijuana is bad for them should be a psychiatrist's priority among many.
"Well, at first I should re-iterate that in our study in New Zealand we found that cannabis accounted for 8% of schizophrenia, so if you'd abolished all cannabis consumption in New Zealand, you'd have got rid of only 8% of schizophrenia.
In Holland, Van Os found it was about 13%. "
The prohibition on marijuana causes marijuana to be more available to youth than if it were controlled like tobacco and alcohol. Anyone can buy the potentially tainted marijuana from the black market. Isn't it time we work to end that? The notion that a black market can thrive when a legal market is competition is an exaggeration. As there are still a small amount of bootleggers, and a tobacco black market, they are hardly as powerful as the larger of the drug gangs and Mexican cartel.
I encourage you to read the entire article I have quoted here.
"And they did discover that those with schizophrenia are more likely to smoke marijuana than are other people. However, they also found that those with schizophrenia are even more likely to drink alcohol. No one's suggesting we again ban alcohol." - Op-ed: War on Drugs - The Price Tag
"Schizophrenia affects a person's ability to think clearly, manage his or her emotions, make decisions, relate to others, and distinguish fact from fiction. It affects approximately 2.2 million people in the US. The first signs of schizophrenia typically emerge in the teenage years or twenties..." - NAMI Texas
Between 198,000-286,000 Americans suffer from schizophrenia because of their overuse of the herb as a youth, possibly more. Please restrict it like alcohol and tobacco so the kids have better odds. If you eradicate marijuana, the new gateway drug could be heroin or meth. I certainly wouldn't call those medicine. Or maybe we would luck out and it would be MDMA, but that's not a drug of abuse. That's a purely therapeutic drug, among many, although excessive use of anything could cause problems. I think the idea of psychedelic psychotherapy treatment is that you have a session and it treats you for a period of time. And the sessions should be coordinated by experienced caretakers, whether that be a shaman or a clinician. So far government doesn't like the idea, but I think it will catch on eventually.
It may be that this is all a big scare, but I think kids should stay away from marijuana regardless. I don't think this warrants the radical extermination of the plant that has been going on, however.
