UK gov't claim: Smoking just one joint raises danger of mental illness by 40%

[Skip]

UK gov't claim: Smoking just one cannabis joint raises danger of mental illness by 40%.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=471106&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

This claim is SUCH BULLSHITE! First of all the "study" the gov't did, didn't look at anybody in particular, but "cherry picked" from the mass of other studies those that matched their criteria, showing INDIRECT links between marijuana and mental disorders.

In fact the three "examples" shown in this article are a JOKE!
The first one admits the guy used COCAINE, not mj before committing murder.

The second one admits the guy abused ALCOHOL the day of the murder as NOT mj.

The third one the guy DIDN'T smoke MJ that day, and perhaps THAT'S WHY this BORN KILLER killed, because he DIDN'T smoke marijuana, which puts you in a VERY PEACEFUL, NON-VIOLENT mood.

I've had many friends tell me they smoke MJ precisely to keep their usual aggressive tendencies in check.

What a SNOW JOB YOUR GOV'T is doing to try to reclassify cannabis as a B or A class drug.

[paulfreespirit]

bullshit you can say that again man .........watched this on the news at 6.00 a.m this morning and then laughed out loud and built a j .

[mamaKCita]

99.9% of the pot smokers i know are just swell dandy fine. but there is ONE, a friend of my husband. they were heavy pot smokers, but johnathon never smoked or drank anything. one night dave and rob got him totally blazed, and something happened. he just lost it, completely. he was never okay again. dave and rob blamed themselves for years, but they had no way of knowing his family had a history of mental illness. his brain just broke, but he was predisposed to pschyzophrenia. last summer, after years of misery, he finally hacked and slashed himself to death. i couldnt' say that he wouldn't have broken anyway, though. just maybe that was the one thing that sent him over the edge. it was pretty immediate and terrifying. one day he's normal, the next day he's insane.

[Skip]

99.9% of the pot smokers i know are just swell dandy fine. but there is ONE, a friend of my husband. they were heavy pot smokers, but johnathon never smoked or drank anything. one night dave and rob got him totally blazed, and something happened. he just lost it, completely. he was never okay again. dave and rob blamed themselves for years, but they had no way of knowing his family had a history of mental illness. his brain just broke, but he was predisposed to pschyzophrenia. last summer, after years of misery, he finally hacked and slashed himself to death. i couldnt' say that he wouldn't have broken anyway, though. just maybe that was the one thing that sent him over the edge. it was pretty immediate and terrifying. one day he's normal, the next day he's insane.Well there's a definite affect on the brain's neurotransmitters. So yes, it's COMMON knowledge that pot can affect those who ALREADY have either a serious mental disease or have it but haven't manifested it yet.

But that in NO WAY implicates Cannabis as creating this condition in the first place, because if it did, millions of ppl would be raving psychotics on pot.

So anyone having consistent unusual psychological reactions should probably LAY OFF POT their entire lives.

But it's just as likely another drug like alcohol or meth or coke could trigger such an episode, in fact the other drugs are more likely to do that.

In the case you mention of someone who never used drugs, freaking out on pot, this can happen when one's world view is completely shattered. You think you have life all figured out then one day your MIND opens up and shows your ego how fucked up it really is, and some ppl can't handle that.

Usually it takes a good dose of LSD to achieve that state, cause pot isn't normally strong enough. But to someone who's never had pot it could cause a more adverse reaction.

Pot takes your normal mind to different states of awareness that are difficult to achieve without a LOT of meditation. That state of awareness is so radically different that some ppl just can't handle it if they're not prepared mentally.

[Oz!]

meh... gordon brown needs to win points... and the smokers are an easy target, as ever....

I was a loon long before i smoked weed ... and i been smoking 17 (ish) yrs http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/newsmilies/sifone.gifhttp://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/newsmilies/biggrinjester.gif

[lithium]

Skip, I notice you keep posting articles from the Daily Mail, you may not be aware but this is one of the country's most conservative tabloids and has a reputation for alarmist right-wing reporting like this and its borderline racist anti-immigration stance. It's really not taken seriously other than by the ignorant idiots who buy it...

[mamaKCita]

Well there's a definite affect on the brain's neurotransmitters. So yes, it's COMMON knowledge that pot can affect those who ALREADY have either a serious mental disease or have it but haven't manifested it yet.

But that in NO WAY implicates Cannabis as creating this condition in the first place, because if it did, millions of ppl would be raving psychotics on pot.

So anyone having consistent unusual psychological reactions should probably LAY OFF POT their entire lives.

But it's just as likely another drug like alcohol or meth or coke could trigger such an episode, in fact the other drugs are more likely to do that.

In the case you mention of someone who never used drugs, freaking out on pot, this can happen when one's world view is completely shattered. You think you have life all figured out then one day your MIND opens up and shows your ego how fucked up it really is, and some ppl can't handle that.

Usually it takes a good dose of LSD to achieve that state, cause pot isn't normally strong enough. But to someone who's never had pot it could cause a more adverse reaction.

Pot takes your normal mind to different states of awareness that are difficult to achieve without a LOT of meditation. That state of awareness is so radically different that some ppl just can't handle it if they're not prepared mentally.
yeah. it was tragic, but odds are good he woulda gone crazy eventually anyway. i think it helped him along, but like i said, he was just waiting to go over the edge. i can't think of anyone i know who doesn't partake, or hasn't at least once. the physical reaction i have to even the best is uncomfortable, so it's not my thing. but alarmism about pot when there's food additives that can mess people up enough that they' start taking pharmaceuticals to combat it (which have to list those same food additives on the warning label) seems really stupid to me. what the hell?

[lithium]

I can see no basis for the "single joint" claim from the headline, in fact when it starts to quote the actual report there's a quoted paragraph which says that the risk of cannabis induced psychotic illness is very small and only measurable on a population basis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,2135996,00.html

Read the Guardian's treatment of the same Lancet study and you start to see what the report was really about - yes they claim a 40% increase in risk but the study references 1% likelihood in the general population of developing schizophrenia and 1.4% likelihood among those who have smoked cannabis. Indicating perhaps that for that small percentage who may have dormant mental health problems, cannabis use may be a trigger. It doesn't give sample sizes in these articles but given the relatively small number of cases of schizophrenia there's likely to be a large error margin anyway.

The Daily Mail report is an absolute travesty of the actual study published in the Lancet, the UKs leading medical academic journal, but they got their shock headlines, and that's all that counts I suppose.

Also it's not a "UK Government claim"...

[dapablo]

Thanks for that Jon, trust your reviews.

[Scarlet101]

The Daily Mail makes it sound like that if you smoke pot, you have absolutely no hope; all pot users will one day turn schitz and become a danger to society. Its really, really pathetic, they're just blowing it all out of proportion-mountain out of a molehill as you would, so when Brown actually reclassifies it to Class B again, everyones going to think he's doing the public a much bigger 'favour' and saving them all from evil, psycho pot smokers!!!

My parents are big Daily Mail believers. That doesn't bode well for me.

[mellowthyme]

Smoking a lot of blow daily will make you ill long term, I believe; or at least my experience tells me so. But the current scare mongering is just the same old shite. Lets hope there's a news item, say interest rate increase to inflate mortage repayments, to take the focus away from this issue again.

It's funny how many of these policy makers have began to have their own skeletons revealed showing a past littered with parties and experiences that highlight the hypocracy of it all.

[weedsmoker]

what a load of shit the goverment are just trying to scare people they no its not true what i say and this for video games its not the weed that makes the mental people they are born mental and then choose to smoke weed they were mental all along personaly the goverment can all burn in hell especially david cameron!!! :mad:

[weedsmoker]

just imgine it a life without a goverment :drool:

[weedsmoker]

everything is bullshit - goverment, gangs , newspapers , tv , everything except the people you care about ... and weed thats all that matters

[autumn_jewels]

dope does affect the brains of younger smokers more than older smokers purely down to the fact that a persons brain doesnt finish developing until their late teens/early twenties (forgive me i forget the age...though i think its around 24). so it is true that it is more harmful to younger smokers. i didnt read the article from the mail as its far too early in the morning to be wound up by ignorant arseholes :)
peace x

[Madam Pastrami]

The main drift to me is the emphasis on skunk (new strains) being dangerous to mental health. There's no doubt that greedy producers are spraying it with chemicals for an instant-hit effect and that's bad news all round. If the Government did the decent thing and legalised all drugs then it could spend that futile policing money on environmental projects like more public transport, affordable housing and allotmemt provision.

[mamaKCita]

i really don't get the illegality of pot, i never will. it just doesn't make any sense. i think my mom would absolutely love it. she's getting older, her body is giving her some trouble, not to mention low grade arthritis. there's no mental illness or dementia on her side of the family. i think she'd be an ideal candidate for the benefits of pot. and i wouldn't mind it if she chilled the hell out just a little bit.

[singring61]

In my opinion if you already have issues with yourself or are inhibited in any way then weed is just going to highten any bad vibes you may have, but to any self assured folk all smoking is going to to is open the mind to allsorts of beautifullness and chilled vibes, I don't think this 'super skunk' thats been chemicaly enhanced is such a good idea for young minds, lets get back to natural, unadulterated herb.:)

[Roffa]

i really don't get the illegality of pot, i never will. it just doesn't make any sense.
We're not in the realm of rational debate here. The UK government recently decided to re-classify cannabis as class B (carrying heavier sentences for possession) in the face of a report from their own Advisory Council which said it should remain as class C (possession not normally an arrestable offence).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7386889.stm

The trouble is that although, as lithium pointed out a while ago, tabloids like the Daily Mail are only taken seriously by a cranky minority, that minority appears to include our neo-Labour rulers.

Footnote: if "skunk" really does pose a new and serious threat to young peoples' mental health, it should be straightforward enough to amend the legislation to isolate it as a distinct category of drug, separate from common-or-garden weed.

[verseau_miracle]

Do they really have the timje for this kind of bull?:rolleyes: When cigarettes are perfectly legal. A tad:toetap05:annoying, the figures obviously bollocks and there are far more pressing issues. Im personally not a fan of any drug i can think of really, but if someone wants to smoke a few joints it doesnt come up as a major concern for me, in comparison to other things were facing

[verseau_miracle]

I can see no basis for the "single joint" claim from the headline, in fact when it starts to quote the actual report there's a quoted paragraph which says that the risk of cannabis induced psychotic illness is very small and only measurable on a population basis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,2135996,00.html

Read the Guardian's treatment of the same Lancet study and you start to see what the report was really about - yes they claim a 40% increase in risk but the study references 1% likelihood in the general population of developing schizophrenia and 1.4% likelihood among those who have smoked cannabis. Indicating perhaps that for that small percentage who may have dormant mental health problems, cannabis use may be a trigger. It doesn't give sample sizes in these articles but given the relatively small number of cases of schizophrenia there's likely to be a large error margin anyway.

The Daily Mail report is an absolute travesty of the actual study published in the Lancet, the UKs leading medical academic journal, but they got their shock headlines, and that's all that counts I suppose.

Also it's not a "UK Government claim"...

Just read this, cheers

[freedom2020]

:cheers2:You know maybe it's true for you and not me or vice versa. I don't see how anyone can claim that they know what does what for me. I think we must think for ourselves. Be prepared for what they know about us so that they can not bait us. Anyone hearing what I am saying. I guess lately I am been thinking really hard about technology and how it can be used so well for army capabilities and how maybe they are using it for marketing techniques, personalized marketing, what a niche! Then I saw this american shortfilm about a security law resulting from 9/11 on line that looked so real. (APatriotAct.com) I wonder if the footage was real life or not? It seemed like it, such a weird look to everything maybe it was the hidden camera angles. Maybe I am just paranoid. But no matter what the issue is we got a think for ourselves.

TO answer your question...lite one up and find out for yourself if it's true for you. If you are scared than consider it tru!

[Psiwave]

dope does affect the brains of younger smokers more than older smokers purely down to the fact that a persons brain doesnt finish developing until their late teens/early twenties (forgive me i forget the age...though i think its around 24). so it is true that it is more harmful to younger smokers. i didnt read the article from the mail as its far too early in the morning to be wound up by ignorant arseholes :)
peace x

I agree with autumn completely. I know from experience with friends. I have a few friends who started as young as 12, and they have completely ruined thier entire lives on the search for more green, as well as developing serious emotional problems. However, isn't cannabis often perscribed medicinally by doctors as a relief to certain brain and mental illnesses. My friend takes it for his excessive migrains, and my sister in law was perscribed for her MS.

But back to the original point. If you are the type of person who gets into drink and drugs that early, you probably didn't have much hope for the future in the first place.

As for me, I've smoked it the last 5 years without ever getting paraniod, freaking out, getting headaches, puking or any of the many symptoms those stupid adverts on TV seem to depict as the norm.

Either the government IS full of shit or I'm a rare superhuman anomoly, and so are everyone I know, except the affore mentioned examples.

Ahh... rant over...I need a joint....:):):)

[autophobe2e]

i remember reading somewhere that the likelihood of anyone developing mental pschoses in their lifetimes was something like 2 percent, smoking occasionally increased this to 4 percent, and large ammounts every day to 6 percent, still very small. most of these articles which make claims of more rely on ridiculous scare stories which blame marijuana for murders etc, rather than looking at the general population as a whole, they never take into account the correlation/causation argument: that the reason for a connection is that people with existing mental issues are attracted to drugs, rather than the drugs themselves causing the disorders. its very easy to use scapegoats in order to divert responsibility.

surely if the substance is non-addictive, and people are made aware of the risks after proper, scientific research has been undertaken, and their minds have developed fully so the development of the brain is not affected, and the state judges them to be adults, then it should be their right to make the decision to take it? oh yeah, and as for those adverts that claim it causes uncontrollable puking....WTF? has this happened to anyone...ever?

[ApodemusSylvaticus]

From all the friends I have seen over the years get into it, I have noticed that excessive weed use just seems to fill holes in peoples lives......whether thats depression, escapism, sleep problems etc........It makes people very dull....kills their conversational capacity.....they start letting u down cos the weeds more important than their friendships or relationships.......Its fine as a recreational thing now and again, but as a habit its terrible. I had a brief period of smoking shit loads of pot and it just made me lazy and boring....all I ever wanted to do was just sit there and do nothing, and I was too lazy even to pick up a cup from across the room.....It was totally killing off any kind of imagination and brightness in my character and I'm glad I got away from it......I smoke it now when a joints goin round....occassionally get really stoned, but only occassional.

Daily use is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.....and u can only see how badly it erodes your personality and takes away your finances and your potential for making a future for yourself when you get away from it and step back....

One of the main problems today is that modern strains of weed are much stronger and selectively bred to contain higher levels of THC.........but on the flip side, this also means much lower levels of CBD. CBD is a naturally occuring antipsychotic, which is basically ensuring that you are getting fucked without messing up ya noggin.

Skunk is the absolute worst, because it contains virtually no CBD.

I have seen so many people I care about go down the swanny cos of pot. Intelligent, bright, vibrant people turning into bums and deadheads who dont care about themselves and throw away potential.......its so, so, so sad.

[Luketrials]

Another way to control the masses eh? - "Increase by 40%?!?! I'm never smoking cannabis again", well fair play I bet that phony survey got some attention.

[soaddodger]

just one joint? thats on avaregae 1-1.5 grams of weed and mixed with tobaccoo (according to how much me and my freinds put in our joints)

i call this bullshit or very very inaccurate...

and as people said before...if you're already suffering from a mental disorder than weed is going to make it worse, but if you're not then i don't see how 1 joint will change your mental state...

[silverhippy]

Geeez you guys do tend to go on don't you, how many words does it take to say this is bunk ??

Peace

[FriendlyWolf]

Well, just to prove that this is bullshit, the gov sacked their cheif drugs advisor yesterday because he said alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous than canabis and ecstacy. He also said that the chance of developing a mental illness from smoking canabis is 'minute' and that taking ecstacy is about as dangerous as horse riding.

I mean, seriously, they sacked a scientist for disagreeing with them. How is the human race supposed to advance with assholes like that in charge?