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Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

cnn.com

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Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#241
post #201
post #47

>> In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. Worded that way, causation isn't the first thing this suggests to me. If percentage of cases associated with marijuana rise, it could also be that a larger percentage of the population is smoking and admitting to smoking mari…

Anecdote: My half-sister is a diagnosed schizophrenic and life-long weed smoker. It seems to me (and her doctors agree) that the two are absolutely related. She was likely predisposed to schizophrenia (because of her father - which we don't share) but I often wonder if it would have progressed the way it did absent the heavy smoking. I say this also as a pot smoker myself (but only lightly in the past decade or so).…

When you think about it, it's bizzarre to expect weed to be benign in the long-term, when it's not benign in the short-term (as in, perceptibly alters many biological and psychological processes).

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#242
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, there's just too many variables here. The drug itself also changed over the years with current breeds having way more active ingredients than the ones used decades ago.

This part is easy to overstate. It's mostly true for the United States, although even back in the day there were strains (Maui was famous for this) which had nice crystals and were grown without males around to spoil the product. In Europe, hashish was the normal form of cannabis, and it's hard to make hash more potent than it already is. It varies in quality and strength like any natural product, but over a range th…

I don’t think it’s overstating it.

You explain it well enough yourself. The was a wide gap of difference hash in Europe in the 90’s vs your average weed in the US. All too often the stuff in the US would barely get you high whereas a few tokes of hash would be pretty intense.

Sure, you always had special strains, but they were the exception. Now the strains and derived products is competitive with hash and you have to be careful.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#243

I think it's too common a sentiment that psychoactive substances like cannabis and psilocybin are harmless and in fact are good for mental health. I've had adverse mental reactions to both and I would caution people with family history of anxiety.

A lot of marijuana smokers like to pretend weed smoke is somehow less harmful than any other smoke. It's still CO whether it comes from the tobacco or hemp plant. It's still bad and creates a tar residue in your lungs. Any time I bring that up, somehow I become anti-pot even though it's a genuine concern. Edit: Carbon Monoxide, not Carbon Dioxide. And some additions since this is a tad controversial. Here is one sour…

[deleted]

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#244
post #168
post #47

>> In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. Worded that way, causation isn't the first thing this suggests to me. If percentage of cases associated with marijuana rise, it could also be that a larger percentage of the population is smoking and admitting to smoking mari…

Could you go into detail about "paranoid and narcissistic personality" specifically the narcissistic personality - I have not heard of that.

I would imagine this is not a medical assessment but a more liberal, laymen use of the words paranoid and narcissistic.

After all, MJ does alter the mind and broadens the worldview so to say, which could be called paranoid through a certain lens, and also dulls the senses and makes more tolerant for micro signs and non-verbal communication, which could be called, with some exaggeration, more narcisstic.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#245
post #201
post #47

>> In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. Worded that way, causation isn't the first thing this suggests to me. If percentage of cases associated with marijuana rise, it could also be that a larger percentage of the population is smoking and admitting to smoking mari…

Anecdote: My half-sister is a diagnosed schizophrenic and life-long weed smoker. It seems to me (and her doctors agree) that the two are absolutely related. She was likely predisposed to schizophrenia (because of her father - which we don't share) but I often wonder if it would have progressed the way it did absent the heavy smoking. I say this also as a pot smoker myself (but only lightly in the past decade or so).…

> Now... I'm absolutely convinced that marijuana use can have absolutely catastrophic mental health implications for some people. I'm also convinced it can help people with certain conditions.

Absolutely. I am cutting down on weed after seeing it wreck a friend. They were really bright and down to Earth, but they use weed to deal with anxiety and now need to smoke before hanging out with friends. Now they are fully dependent on weed.

It has turned them into an unbearable person with no motivation. My friend is now totally unaware of how much of an asshole they are and no one wants to deal with them.

Weed can be an awesome relatively safe drug but please look for the warning signs of dependence and know that r/leaves exists.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#246
post #47

>> In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found. Worded that way, causation isn't the first thing this suggests to me. If percentage of cases associated with marijuana rise, it could also be that a larger percentage of the population is smoking and admitting to smoking mari…

When this kind of thing has come up before ("pot causes mental illness"), IIRC it turns out more that people with schizoid disorders are self-medicating with pot before getting diagnosed, rather than having taken harder drugs, alcohol, etc. The classic reversed-arrow of causation.

This is the correct answer here in the same way that the prevalence of ADHD is about 2x as likely in the population of meth addicts as the general population.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#247
post #13

I can only speak from personal experience, which is of course limited. I smoked occasionally in my 20s, but not since (I'm middle-aged now). I've been friends and acquaintances with many people that smoke a lot. I see a trend among these people - not necessarily schizophrenia (I'm not a psychologist and probably wouldn't even notice a mild case) - but instead a consistent arrogance and self-importance. It's peculiar…

I've had my weed phase between 16 and 19 and I dont know. There is a sort of arrogance that comes with ignorance in general that subsides as you learn the vastness of what you'll never know. I suppose the intersection of ignorance, criminality and drug consumption may make you think that because they smoke, they exhibit the other traits, but it could be the contrary. You need a bit of arrogance to think cannabis is o…

> You need a bit of arrogance to think cannabis is on your side and you can dominate it, as I witnessed myself when I started stumbling as a teenager.

I have had similar experiences. Without your mind you are not you, a drug which changes the minds substrate (in some ways permanently) is going to be outside the control of the effected mind. Beware the Snoop Dogg pool party.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#248
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could certainly be accused of haughtiness when someone made a snide remark about me using marijuana. This is because I got fed up with arrogant people shitting on me when they found out I use it. In my experience it is those who love to flout their sense of superiority by shitting on users who are arrogant. But shit can flow both ways and when I'd point out that they too use "drugs" they'd get very defensive. Back…

> "It makes you dumb" was one of their favorite cut downs. Well, it does measurably decrease IQ. And at least in teens, this reduction seems like it may be permanent.

After more than 30 years of daily cannabis use with occasional tolerance breaks I recently took an IQ test along with a series of mental evaluations and was in the 99th percentile. So maybe cannabis took me down just enough to avoid being one of those Mensa jerks?

It might be interesting and revealing to see the correlation between casual cannabis dismissal and low or reduced IQ, but of course that goes against the popular narrative and looking for potential errors isn't where most scientists focus since that isn't super glamorous or likely to get citations from publication.

Re: Schizophrenia linked to marijuana use disorder is on the rise, study finds

#250
post #239
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote: My half-sister is a diagnosed schizophrenic and life-long weed smoker. It seems to me (and her doctors agree) that the two are absolutely related. She was likely predisposed to schizophrenia (because of her father - which we don't share) but I often wonder if it would have progressed the way it did absent the heavy smoking. I say this also as a pot smoker myself (but only lightly in the past decade or so).…

I am sorry to say that you are most likely right. My father is[0] a psychiatrist in big psychiatric hospital in France (1500 beds, only psychiatry, nothing else) and he told me again and again that he was against the legalisation of marijuana because of this. The problem is that once you trigger schizophrenia you need to live with it, all your life... Note that he told me so, even if his work during the last 15 years…

Same experience with a (art) therapist in a mental hospital (less than 1500 beds). Very persistent in asserting that weed causes some people to end up there. I don't think it's a good argument against legalization. We don't ban alcohol, because there are alcoholics. I think it would be smarter to regulate the recreational drug industry and use its taxes to fund relevant education, research and mental health programmes.
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