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

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

#351
No discussion on this thread yet of the role of AKT1 gene, which I find surprising after 300 comments.

If you have a C/C pair at AKT1, your risk of developing schizophrenia jumps from slightly-below-average if you don't smoke marijuana, to over 7x average if you smoke every day [0].

If you've done 23andMe, you can check your own genotype for this risk.

[0]: https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/mari...

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

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"One became extremely paranoid to the point he was unable to maintain relationships with the people around him" I would bet you anything that this person was using a high-potency grade of cannabis and/or smoking a lot of it. If they just used a little bit of a low-potency strain it's unlikely they would have suffered from paranoia. "several others became extremely unpleasant and irritable when they weren't high on th…

The reality is that many people in legal weed states consume cannabis via edibles these days. Manufacturing techniques have greatly improved in the past couple of years and they aren't nearly as gross tasting as they used to be, often they have almost no weed taste at all. Edibles are usually highly opaque in terms of the strains used and tend to contain at least 5mg THC per dose, sometimes 10, and that's if you trus…

When consumed as high-potency edibles, cannabis has the effects of a psychedelic.

We know when using a psychedelic dose, set, and setting become critical.

People taking a strong dose of a psychedelic and expecting it to be no more than a regular pot high might be in for a rude awakening, especially if they treat it casually instead of with great respect, take it in inappropriate circumstances (like at parties or clubs full of people they don't know or trust), etc.

It's no wonder that many people suffer from paranoia and other adverse effects from casual use of edibles. They should really be treating a strong dose of edible cannabis like they do a strong dose of LSD.

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

#353
Whatever underlying mental state you have running in the background will come to surface when you use psychedelics. Marijuana is a mild psychedelic. Many people seem to be under the impression we should live free from scary thoughts, dark thoughts, things that make us worry or anxious. This is all part of the human condition though and as long as these states are transitory and lead to positive change they're not "bad". Recognize there's a time and place for everything. If bringing these things to the surface helps you grow and deal with things in your life, even if it's scary, good. If not, then stop ingesting / smoking it. Really simple. People seem to want things to be good or bad when in fact the state of isness really just is. It's not good or bad. It just is. What you make of it, how you live your life is what matters. If you smoke weed and it helps your back pain, or if it helps you think about your feelings and deal with something you've been putting off, that can be "good". If you smoke it and have heart palpitations and freak out about taxes that can be "bad" but the weed hasn't changed, it's just brought something to the surface. Our minds are complicated. Especially now, in a culture where we're overloaded with information, entertainment, manufactured outrage, and expectations about what we should or shouldn't be, all compared to thousands of other things. How can anyone, smoking weed or not, expect to be sane or live a simple life that doesn't lead to mental health problems?

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

#354
post #281
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the increase in cases is more likely to be explained by a number of factors: 1. THC concentrations have increased which usually means there is less CBD. 2. Legalization probably increased casual use. 3. People who suffer from schizophrenia are simply more likely to be diagnosed for whatever reason. The sum of these three things could easily account for a significant increase in diagnosis. Sometimes increases…

The high THC and lack of CBD in today's strains is concerning (to me) honestly. I'm worried that a lot of the data we've seen in the past about chronic cannabis use being relatively safe may not apply when THC/CBD ratios approach 50:1, since CBD and other cannabinoids counter act some of THCs effects.

Criminalizing is a big part of this problem. With "medical" weed you can carefully chose a fitting strain just to your liking and condition, like indica for calming and sativa for inspiring effect, in hundreds of nuances even. But no. Too much money to be made for some groups from this prohibition. Can't have that, denied.

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

#355
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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…

Islam bans alcohol, but it also requires praying 5 times a day and usually a lot of going to Mosque with other Muslims and a general belief of unity and being in a common struggle against enemy types. I wonder if all that cultural stuff protects people from common psychological problems which they might otherwise try to stifle with alcohol. I think alcoholism is often a coping mechanism for some other psychological problem. If you just ban alcohol but don't have the culture to help with people's problems, maybe you make things worse. Mental health care is kind of an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff and doesn't seem very efficient or effective either.

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

#357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weed actually contains anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic components, that's why people say it is healthier then other plants when inhaled. I'm not making this up, please look for it yourself if you care for the full picture and are genuinely interested as to why people say that.

This literally reads like a stoner in denial

So you don't want to check some facts, you want to stick to your personal opinion, is that what you're saying?

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

#358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of sounds like me a decade ago. If you find yourself still doing the same job in a decade, I think you'll know why. Tech jobs are very compatible with weed. The sort of tactical, short term thinking you need to apply current knowledge to problems works well. It's great for crafting clever, short-term solutions and hacking your way through things. If that's all you ever want to be, smoke weed everyday man, why no…

I am not a grower and have moved up consistently in my career over the last decade from IT helpdesk to devops lead, with a company that’s profitable, and currently many rounds of demos deep with two very big businesses I can’t even tell you what industry we’re in that’s how new and weird this tech is. Sounds like you made being high your identity. To me it’s like coffee (which I drink sparingly as caffeine messes me…

Anecdotal, but caffeine is the drug that has messed my life up the worst.

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

#359
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to studies, cannabis potency has indeed increasedi n Europe in the last few decades. See An overview of cannabis potency in Europe ( https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/insights/cannabis-... ) and Increasing potency and price of cannabis in Europe, 2006–16 ( https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.14525 ). From the abstract of the latter study: "Resin potency increased from a mean [95% confide…

Anecdotally, I've heard in the 60s and 70s generally people would just smoke a lot more weed in a single sitting than today. Several joints to a person of harsh brick weed vs. half of one with decent modern weed, for example.

There was not much testing of cannabis in the 60s and 70s, so we can only speculate about how potent it was back then.

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

#360

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…

That makes a lot of sense and is smart. Very introspective. I want to provide my anecdotal evidence as a counterpoint, with the understanding that weed can trigger anxiety in a really damaging way and it affects everyone differently.

I’m not in a financially stressful situation, but have been under a lot of performance stress in recent jobs. I found the best routine for myself was meetings during the day + whatever coding I could fit.

Where it gets interesting is at night, I would have a Coke Zero for a small caffeine kick and vape a bit of weed - not a lot - and put on some tunes. Then I’d be totally in the zone and code several day’s worth of work in a night. Sometimes even more.

I was praised for high productivity, and got a lot of work done. I don’t do it as often now, trying to maximize my sleep and my current work has more inter-team tension... but overall I get less work done now.

It definitely was a cheat code to enter the zone for a good 4-6 hours at night, and helped me perform at a higher level than I normally would.

Worth noting I wasn’t avoiding anything or using it as a tool for comfort. I think that can blur the line into an addiction or avoidance mechanism that can be harmful.

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