Smoking Dope Makes You Crazy

[Bill Mattocks]

Well, that's what they're saying...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/marijuana-precedes-psychosis/story?id=13031478

Marijuana Use Precedes Psychosis


Study Links Pot Use to Psychotic Experiences Later in Life

Not a huge surprise to me, actually. I've kind of noticed it in some.

 

[granfire]

Well, that's what they're saying...

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/marijuana-precedes-psychosis/story?id=13031478



Not a huge surprise to me, actually. I've kind of noticed it in some.

lol

There should be a lot more psychotic people out there in the world if that was true. This is of course an observation only based on personal observation ^_^

(not to mention a lot of people started smoking because of their psychotic tendencies...self medication)

 

[Xue Sheng]

No it doesn’t…. just what are you saying… everything is fine in my world…the sky is pink the trees are don’t cry and they all tell me you’re just plain wrong guy…

Now if you’ll excuse me I must go…I’m having tea with Godzilla this afternoon

 

[granfire]

Is Alice gonna be there?

 

[crushing]

Anybody that has seen Reefer Madness knows this!

Smoking a j is something I've never done, but is on my bucket list. I think I'll wait until psychosis sounds better than real life. I hope that isn't for quite some time!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Oh you just think I’m crazy DON’T YOU!!!

WELL I'M NOT!!!

Alice can’t be there…she’s with the Madhatter.

Besides…Godzilla doesn’t trust here…. :uhoh: She sees invisible cats you know

 

[Steve]

If you smoke enough of it, or perhaps if you have a predisposition to it, I can believe it. Any mind altering substance, whether it's alcohol, weed or sniffing glue, affects the brain somehow.

But it's hard for me, having seen ample evidence that use of marijuana is pervasive in spite of its legal status, to believe that it's more dangerous than anything else we do to ourselves for fun.

 

[shesulsa]

You guys tell the Red Queen she jumps me twenty parsecs.

 

[granfire]

Anybody that has seen Reefer Madness knows this!

Smoking a j is something I've never done, but is on my bucket list. I think I'll wait until psychosis sounds better than real life. I hope that isn't for quite some time!

I would have to find some people who smoke so I can inhale...I don't smoke....so no, not even on the bucket list.

But I have the theory in an unscientific way that those who do smoke do prefer the psychosis over real life.

(also I am wondering about the use of 'psychosis'. I am not a healthcare professional, but my Mom was. When she mentioned 'psychosis' that was usually somebody going batpoop crazy, dangling from the chandelier...so 'mild' does not figure into this for me)


I think the biggest stumbling point though is that they are not able to provide a solid foundation in terms of test subjects: I am not sure if the smoking age in Germany is still 16 for tobacco, and given that pot is illegal...researching a population group from age 14 on is difficult I'd say. It's not like they can get 10.000 kids and stuff a bong in half their mouths....

 

[Empty Hands]

(not to mention a lot of people started smoking because of their psychotic tendencies...self medication)

This is a critical point. Correlation does not equal causation. Here's another: cigarette use is heavily correlated with drug addiction. See that in the media, and everyone assumes cigarette smoking will cause you to use other drugs (another "gateway" theory). However, cigarettes hit the same dopaminergic reward circuits that other drugs hit, and thus addicts are drawn to smoking to help maintain dopaminergic tone when they aren't using. Considering what we know about psychosis, self-medication is almost certainly the reason here. I have seen no studies in the literature or even a plausible mechanism from the cannabinoid brain circuitry for marijuana use to directly cause psychosis.

 

[granfire]

This is a critical point. Correlation does not equal causation. Here's another: cigarette use is heavily correlated with drug addiction. See that in the media, and everyone assumes cigarette smoking will cause you to use other drugs (another "gateway" theory). However, cigarettes hit the same dopaminergic reward circuits that other drugs hit, and thus addicts are drawn to smoking to help maintain dopaminergic tone when they aren't using. Considering what we know about psychosis, self-medication is almost certainly the reason here. I have seen no studies in the literature or even a plausible mechanism from the cannabinoid brain circuitry for marijuana use to directly cause psychosis.

In a couple of 'recovering' addicts I have noticed that they either substitute alcohol and/or cigarettes for their primary drug, yes. There is this addictive personality I believe. It really does not matter what they get high on: It can be working, working out, drinking or what have you....

 

[Bill Mattocks]

This is a critical point. Correlation does not equal causation. Here's another: cigarette use is heavily correlated with drug addiction. See that in the media, and everyone assumes cigarette smoking will cause you to use other drugs (another "gateway" theory). However, cigarettes hit the same dopaminergic reward circuits that other drugs hit, and thus addicts are drawn to smoking to help maintain dopaminergic tone when they aren't using. Considering what we know about psychosis, self-medication is almost certainly the reason here. I have seen no studies in the literature or even a plausible mechanism from the cannabinoid brain circuitry for marijuana use to directly cause psychosis.

Right you are; correlation does not equal causation. However, the inverse is always true; if there is causation, then there is correlation. From another news source on this topic:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/2005555/link_between_cannabis_use_psychosis_established/

While Reuters reporter Kate Kelland points out that experts are still not sure whether or not the link between the drug and the psychotic symptoms is causal, Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatric research at the King's College London Institute of Psychiatry who was not involved with the study, told the AFP that the results did, in fact, back-up such claims.
"This study adds incremental information to the already fairly solid evidence that continued use of cannabis increases risk of psychotic symptoms and psychotic illness," he said. "In short, this study adds a further brick to the wall of evidence showing that use of traditional cannabis is a contributory cause of psychoses like schizophrenia."

Here is the BMJ info:

http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d738

Conclusion Cannabis use is a risk factor for the development of incident psychotic symptoms. Continued cannabis use might increase the risk for psychotic disorder by impacting on the persistence of symptoms.

 

[MA-Caver]

22 years ago before I quit I smoked pot for a long time. Am I psychotic?
There may be a link, coincidental at best that psychotics had smoked pot at one time in their lives either heavily or briefly.
Being a psychotropic drug the specific effects will vary from person to person. General effects such as euphoria, giddyness, loss of inhibitions, etc. have largely been known to be harmless... unless they get behind the wheel of a car or are in a dangerous or volatile situation.
If any long range potential psychosis would be evident perhaps they're beginning to show up now. Question is since marijuana is usually a (potential) gateway drug (c'mon lets not get into it ... it is and ya'll know it is, potentially) who to say that the other stuff the psycho has taken in his/her lifetime isn't the cause of the psychosis?
To blame it on ONE drug is stretching it I believe.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

22 years ago before I quit I smoked pot for a long time. Am I psychotic?

My mother-in-law just passed away at age 83, having been a smoker all her life. She did not die of any smoking-related illness. Shall we then say that smoking cigarettes are not actually dangerous?

I believe the study said it increased the risk - it does not guarantee that it will happen. That you are not psychotic (so you say

) doesn't mean the study results are wrong.

However, it is human nature to minimize the risks when justifying their own past, present, or future behavior so that they don't have to feel bad about it. I do it too, just about different things.

 

[Cryozombie]

However, it is human nature to minimize the risks when justifying their own past, present, or future behavior so that they don't have to feel bad about it. I do it too, just about different things.

Me too. About Playing with Legos.

 

[Xue Sheng]

First for the record, I don't smoke anything, I'm crazy enough already, but I did find this here

Myth: Marijuana Can Cause Permanent Mental Illness. Among adolescents, even occasional marijuana use may cause psychological damage. During intoxication, marijuana users become irrational and often behave erratically.
Fact: There is no convincing scientific evidence that marijuana causes psychological damage or mental illness in either teenagers or adults. Some marijuana users experience psychological distress following marijuana ingestion, which may include feelings of panic, anxiety, and paranoia. Such experiences can be frightening, but the effects are temporary. With very large doses, marijuana can cause temporary toxic psychosis. This occurs rarely, and almost always when marijuana is eaten rather than smoked. Marijuana does not cause profound changes in people's behavior.

• Iverson, Leslie. “Long-term effects of exposure to cannabis.” Current Opinion in Pharmacology 5(2005): 69-72.

• Weiser and Noy. “Interpreting the association between cannabis use and increased risk of schizophrenia.” Dialogues in Clincal Neuroscience 1(2005): 81-85.
• "Cannabis use will impair but not damage mental health." London Telegraph. 23 January 2006.

• Andreasson, S. et al. “Cannabis and Schizophrenia: A Longitudinal study of Swedish Conscripts,” The Lancet 2 (1987): 1483-86.

• Degenhardt, Louisa, Wayne Hall and Michael Lynskey. “Testing hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 71 (2003): 42-4.

• Weil, A. “Adverse Reactions to Marijuana: Classification and Suggested Treatment.” New England Journal of Medicine 282 (1970): 997-1000.

 

[Twin Fist]

I dont know if it makes you crazy, but i knwo that daily use eventually makes you stupid

 

[Steve]

I dont know if it makes you crazy, but i knwo that daily use eventually makes you stupid

Is this your testimonial?

Best bumper sticker I've seen: "It's too bad stupidity doesn't hurt."

 

[Empty Hands]

Best bumper sticker I've seen: "It's too bad stupidity doesn't hurt."

Sometimes it does.

 

[Twin Fist]

I have drug addicts in my family, and no i am not kidding.