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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

#271

Post by jborichevskiy »

samatman wrote: post #186
jborichevskiy wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, there's also popcorn lung to worry about. Think the research is still out on this one.

Popcorn lung is called that because of a specific adulterant which is no longer used in nicotine vapes, and was never prevalent in cannabis vapes. There is also the risk of getting an illegal cannabis cartridge tainted with Vitamin E, which can be avoided completely if one is lucky enough to live under a medicinal or recreational regime. It can't be said that vaping is completely harmless, but it's safe to say that r…

I stand corrected - thanks!

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

#272

Post by trutannus »

_jjkk wrote: post #203
Barrin92 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well apathetic individuals still rely on the society they are in, most of the time anyway. I think this is where the narcissism perception comes in. Most stoners in particular people who smoke a lot and for a long time at least in my experience become apathetic and to a degree dependent on their environment. They rely on others to organize their lives, even get simple chores done, they become sort of lethargic. And w…

Be careful not to over-generalize from personal experience... Maybe you've just met a few examples of lethargic, dependent narcissists who smoke a lot of weed? There is selection bias at play, as someone with an admitted negative perception of stoners you probably haven't put yourself in many situations where you might meet counterexamples. In my experience, I've met many stoners whose driving force is empathy and co…

Most of the lethargic narcists I met were weed (and other drug) users. Most weed users I know are not lethargic narcists. People who swing in the direction of personality disorders already have a predisposition to "anti-social" behavioral patterns, and frequent risk-taking. It's just as likely that they get into drugs on account of existing personality constructs as they develop personality constructs on account of using drugs.

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

#273

Post by techrat »

theshadowknows wrote: post #265

I smoked weed the first time when I was 15 or so. A buddy of mine bought some from a friend of a friend. And we continued to smoke mostly on weekends for years. I stopped right around college in 2007 or so. Then a year or so ago I smoked some legal weed from a dispensary. And that shit almost killed me. I was nauseated and sweating and I vomited repeatedly for like two hours. And I couldn’t control my thoughts. They…

>I don’t know what the difference is between “modern” weed and the grown-in-the-ditch North Carolina weed I smoked in my youth.

Several differences.

You know if the street stuff was an indica, sativa or hybrid? Some people react much, much worse to specific strain types than others. I'm one of those. I can't smoke strong indicas or I basically have panic attacks.

Modern strains can have upwards of FOUR+ TIMES the thc content... I've seen cheap strains in dispensaries that were above 30%. Old cheap street skunk was maybe 6 to 8% if you were lucky.

You smoked like you smoked before, ignoring the differences in potency, so you gave yourself a much higher dose right off the bat... with no tolerance from being a regular smoker.

Someone who isn't an alcoholic isn't going to be able to drink a bottle of Jack like a habitual drinker is.

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

#275

Post by mikem170 »

babyblueblanket wrote: post #48
Ccecil wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is entirely possible that this is a misunderstanding of their true feelings or intents. To quote Kat Williams "Weed has a chemical in it called F*k it..." Maybe when they use they are not having the same anxious feeling that the general public feels and they do not react to others who otherwise might be perceived as "more important" than them. This would appear to the person who typically views themselves as "more…

I have a co-worker who I would described as mildly happy at all times and doesn't care about societal norms/ranking, but I never interpreted them to consider themselves superior to me. This doesn't jive with my understanding of mildly happy people.

That makes sense. But it also makes sense that someone else might look at that same person you know and think to themselves "look at them, doing their own thing, they must think they are special, how arrogant!"

Guessing what's going on in someone elses head can be pretty subjective. Sometimes it's the person looking who jumps to conclusions.

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

#276

Post by samatman »

eyelovewe wrote: post #235
samatman wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes indeed. I used to think cannabis was relaxing. Then I started wearing a watch which doubles as a heart-rate monitor.

Since we are in anecdotal territory, let me state that I’ve been a heavy smoker since I was 13, and I’m 46 now. I find it difficult to concentrate on coding without weed. I have a very low resting heart rate and enjoy hill climbs on my bicycle and am quite fit, motivated, and not lazy, etc. I generally suffer exclusively the singular negative effect of others finger wagging and disapproval of a rather pleasurable fun…

I would be astonished if, in tracking your first tokes of the day on a heart rate monitor, you didn't get around 20bpm faster. While feeling great, I'm sure! I'm not saying for an instant that it's dangerous or bad, but "relaxing", well not in any straightforward way.

A practical application of this is to suggest that those who want to use cannabis for a good night;s sleep, get started two or three hours before bedtime.

I got twenty excellent years out of regular cannabis use. Tradeoffs there were, but worth it.

I'm a lot more sensitive now and sometimes it gives me panic attacks. But even when it doesn't, cannabis consistently raises heart rate and lowers blood pressure, that's just how it works.

I still employ it, carefully, from time to time.

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

#277

Post by Loic »

dmos62 wrote: post #250
Loic wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 programme…

You can drink a bit too much with 18 during a year and nicely recover. With marijuana, you smoke a bit too much during a year and you are good for life.

This is why I totally understand the point of view of the therapists having to deal with the long term effects on these unlucky people. Both sides have good arguments, one cannot ignore them, only trade-offs to accept one way or another.

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

#278

Post by samatman »

effingwewt wrote: post #230
samatman wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes indeed. I used to think cannabis was relaxing. Then I started wearing a watch which doubles as a heart-rate monitor.

To be fair, that could be just normal paranoia from smoking too much, or perhaps your body doesn't agree with that strain. I have what's called a paradoxical reaction to whatever they use to put you under anesthesia. I wake up in a rage, they have to take me out very slowly. I have a friend like this with marijuana. She finds indicas make her euphoric and energized and creative, when she should be couch-locked with a…

Well, no. So there are the occasional 140-160 BPM panic attacks now, so I approach the substance with caution and respect. But that's quite distinct from going from a resting rate of, say, 80 (about my serum maximum of caffeine rate) to a nice 100, while feeling great and getting a bunch of stuff done around the house.

Euphoria and relaxation aren't identical concepts...

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

#279

Post by ipnon »

johnnyApplePRNG wrote: post #140

I have enjoyed smoking Cannabis for decades, but a recent bought of financial difficulty coupled with a desire to get programming last week has shown some teeth on the cute little bubbly image of Cannabis in my mind. I started smoking more (due to stress) and trying to complete a new project (financial difficulty) and it was just a nightmare. It's noticeably more difficult to concentrate and retain new information wh…

Math problems become more difficult after smoking cannabis. This has been replicated in many psychological studies. It seems we cannot smoke joints and program well all night in the same way we can smoke cigarettes and program well all night.

That being said it is much easier to program in the morning after a night of smoking cannabis than a night of drinking.

My quest to find the best combination of drugs for programming has been long. Just vaping nicotine and drinking strong tea seems to be near the pinnacle. Sometimes we miss the simple solutions right in front of our eyes.

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

#280

Post by trutannus »

gwern wrote: post #176
kvathupo wrote: post #16

As usual, a sensational headline averring a research article's causal hypothesis, of which the PI even calls for reproducibility. Reading such paltry science articles makes me really appreciate papers like Quanta, whose reporters seem to actually have a semblance of domain knowledge. Indeed, no discussion of the existing link between schizophrenia and tobacco smoking, in conjunction with the increased availability of…

The population level prevalence is where we should see this. If cannabis really did cause SCZ, as opposed to merely being self-medication, general drug use dysfunctionality, or possibly just accelerating SCZ onset but not increasing total cases, we should see incredibly high rates in recreational legalizing jurisdictions where prevalence is now a large fraction of the population. Instead, buried at the end, we get "T…

> If cannabis really did cause SCZ, as opposed to merely being self-medication, general drug use dysfunctionality, or possibly just accelerating SCZ onset but not increasing total cases, we should see incredibly high rates in recreational legalizing jurisdictions where prevalence is now a large fraction of the population

So basically, let's keep watching Canada's national legalization and Switzerland's targeted trials to see what the population level impact is.

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