Scientists warn of cannabis ‘timebomb’

Scientists warn of cannabis ‘timebomb’





David Rose

By the end of the decade one in four new cases of schizophrenia could be triggered by smoking cannabis, scientists say.
Research has suggested that regular users of the drug are up to six times more likely to develop schizophrenia, although whether the drug is the direct cause remains disputed.
The Department of Health says it is now generally agreed among doctors that cannabis is an “important causal factor” in mental illness.
A study published in the journal Addiction predicts that, if the causal link between cannabis use and schizophrenia is accepted, rates of the illness will increase substantially by 2010, especially among young men.
The use of cannabis grew fourfold over the 30 years to 2002, and eighteenfold among under18s, the researchers say.
Such a boom in cannabis use could lead to increases in the number of new cases of schizophrenia of 29 per cent between 1990 and 2010.
Cannabis was downgraded from a class B drug to class C in 2004. The new study comes after a new classification system for drugs proposed by scientists this week placed tobacco and alcohol well ahead of cannabis in substances thought to do most harm.
The researchers examined the historic rise in cannabis use alongside new occurrences of schizophrenia in Nottingham, Bristol and the London Borough of Southwark. Predictions based on the data suggest that if the association is confined to heavy cannabis users then approximately 10 per cent of schizophrenia cases may be due to cannabis by 2010.
However, assuming an association between onset of the disease and both light and heavy users, then as many as one quarter of new cases could be due to cannabis.
So far, about 8 per cent of schizophrenia cases have been attributed to the use of cannabis.
John Macleod, a co-author of the study and an academic GP, said: “Our study does not address the question whether cannabis directly causes schizophrenia — this remains unclear — but what is clear is that if you assume such a link then the number of cases of schizophrenia will increase significantly in line with increased use of the drug.”
Matthew Hickman, the lead author of the study, added: “The challenge now is to improve our data on schizophrenia occurrence to see whether the projected increase occurs — which will tell us more about how important cannabis is as a cause of schizophrenia.”
According to the mental health charity Rethink, at least five international studies have found that cannabis doubles the risk of mental illness, including schizophrenia.
A spokesman for the charity said: “We now know that cannabis can be a trigger for mental health problems and smoking it under the age of 18 can double people’s chances of developing psychosis.”
Last year the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded that there may be a link between cannabis use and psychotic illnesses, but found insufficient evidence that frequent users were more likely to develop schizophrenia.
There are also fears that modern variants of the drug such as skunk, from the tips of the cannabis plant, are 20 to 30 times more powerful than those available 30 years ago.
However, Leslie Iversen, of the University of Oxford, dismissed this as untrue. “The advisory council looked at this carefully,” he said. “Cannabis resin has changed little and is about 5 per cent tetrahydrocan-nabinol [THC]. Skunk has 10 to 15 per cent THC. That makes it two to three times more powerful, not 20 to 30 times.”
Scientists warn of cannabis ‘timebomb’-News-UK-Science-TimesOnline

Wow, talk about wishful thinking on the part of these researchers...hahaha....what a pile of crap!!!

im calling SHANANAGINS on this one!! If you hearing voices...Its def not from weed your smoking.... Its from your genetics and yes life is not fair!! Will weed ever stop being the governments scape-goat??

SHANANAGINS! SHANANAGINS!!! SHANANAGINS!!! fucking bullshit all of it im glad there were people to tell those people the corret awnser..

Now we get to beat them with sticks right?

Can I volinteer for their test subject? Oh wait you have to be sane first right?

In my opinion this nonsense only serves to both ridicule and undermine itself. It's vulgar that we should have to depend on 'scientific truth' to dictate the way we lead our vapid lives. Science is fundamentally objective and doesn't exist for her own sake but as a goal in the minds of the people who search in that given direction.

It's therefore my question; can an increased rate of Schizophrenia in people reasonably be attributed to the smoking of Cannabis (Cannabis is believed to have been used in India as early as 1000 B.C). Or, is it more likely the result of an increasingly absurd way of life?

Humans happily used Cannabis before there were convictions, wars on drugs, peddlers, dealers, abusers, Drug enforcement officers. Before there was scientific evidence of the harm that we are doing to ourselves by ingesting these sacred herbs. Why I ask, is there no government agency to investigate the damage caused by the modern life: eating our food from cans and waking to alarm clocks, traffic jams, headaches, mortgages, loans. Well it's obvious why.

It's our duty to remember the words of T.S Eliot:

Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
Why won't someone give a fucking joint?

Hope that didn't sound like a childish rant. I'm a little blazed.

Hell that makes complete sence to me...

Looks like the DEA/Feds. are back at it again! All False, and history will tell you that!

Thats the biggest load of bullshit i've ever heard.

it does look like the dea/feds are at it again, i cant fucking believe this, may they all rot in hell.

SERIOUSLY, when was the last time someone smoked a bowl, and went psycho on somebody? fuck that bullshit

fuck that bullshit. it makes me so angry... so very very very angry.

THATS OK, We're going to win. and when we do, i will be smoking bowls on the front porch of every DEA/FBI or anti-cannabis activist i can find, with my middle finger up with pride.

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE. FUCKERS.

Yup misunderstanding an already misunderstood plant.

IT WANTS YOU TO SMOKE IT AND ITS NOT GONNA KILL ITS SEED BEARERS!

Pot depends on animals eating it to spread its seeds. It would make no sense for it to harm its offsprings transportation. Not to mention rude.

Real bad headline. People are time bombs, drugs are just triggers... Only reason why I smoke dope is because I watched Reefer Madness!

The 'logic of this article escapes me. If it becomes accepted that there is a causual link'. No, you would have to prove a 'Causual link'. The first question you have to ask is, how prevelant was the illness without the MJ.
The second one would have to be, why aren't 90,000,000 people that have smoked MJ at some time in the US mentally ill. The same paper had an article about a parent who's son commited suicide. She has written a book about it.
Her son told her he used it because then he didn't hear the voices. She doesn't believe that, she has decided the MJ caused the illness. While I sympathize with her over the loss of her son, I still can't believe the paper actually printed the story. Well, I guess they printed this one. SIlly me. VV

Pot depends on animals eating it to spread its seeds. It would make no sense for it to harm its offsprings transportation. Not to mention rude

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Well its more like Human's Smoking it to keep and plant the seeds haha animals in the wild eat everylast bit of it.... savage's

TillthedayiDIE420 said:

haha animals in the wild eat everylast bit of it.... savage's

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Yeah those bastards. Anyways if it were to be killing them or harming them they wouldnt be eating it. DEER LOVE WEED :O

I have a few buddies with chemical unbalances , skit's and weed is no good for them i really changes the way they think and act . I wouldnt go as far to say weed is the cause but i sure does magnify existing problems .

yeah, it would be best to ignore all the real research that points to viral and genetic factors involved in schizophrenia type illnesses....

we should blame weed for causing global warming and mold on cheese while we're at it.

i mean, what kind of article is this?


A spokesman for the charity said: “We now know that cannabis can be a trigger for mental health problems and smoking it under the age of 18 can double people’s chances of developing psychosis.”

none of the scientists are quoted as saying anything remotely similar to this!!





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silk said:

Real bad headline. People are time bombs, drugs are just triggers... Only reason why I smoke dope is because I watched Reefer Madness!

Click to expand...

People are bombs... Drugs can be triggers for some, but for others... You should see me when im out of weed...

Yea, you guys, these are thoroughly bogus "studies".

I read this book about 20 years ago. Whenever I think of mental illness, this book comes to mind....
I recommend it enthusiastically for anyone interested in schizophrenia.







The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity by Mark Vonnegut (Paperback - Oct 2002)

Book Description
"Most diseases can be separated from one’s self ... schizophrenia is something we are." So begins Mark Vonnegut’s depiction of his descent into, and eventual emergence from, mental illness. As a recent college graduate, self-avowed hippie, and son of a counterculture hero, Vonnegut begins to experience increasingly delusional thinking, suicidal thoughts, and physical incapacity. In February 1971 he is committed to a psychiatric hospital. The Eden Express, an ALA Notable Book first published over 25 years ago, is his honest, thoughtful, and moving account of the illness of schizophrenia. This edition features a new foreword by Kurt Vonnegut and a new preface by the author. "Required reading for those who want to understand insanity from the inside." — The New York Times

Ok, I will be the contrarian and open myself to attack on this one. I am not willing to dismiss this article out of hand. First off, let provide a little background. The Mrs and I spoke each night. Nothing major, maybe a joint or 2. On weekends, we smoke more - maybe 4 or 5 joints. I started smoking seriously in my mid-30s. I'm 40 now.

Now my beliefs. I don't think teens and kids should be smoking weed. I believe their brains and personalities are still developing and like it or not, weed does affect one's personality ("couch-lock", euphoric high, etc.). I'm not even talking about weed being a "gate-way" drug or anything. I am talking about knowing 2 people personally who smoked weed daily when we were teens together. Both are now diagnosed as mentally ill. Now, I'm no scientist but my personal belief is that these guys had a predisposition to mental illness and the weeds either directly triggered their illness or reduced their own psychological ability to "keep things together". Again, this is all just my opinion.

This may sound hypocritical to some but I say we legalize weed but restict it's use to adults only.

Yeah, i tend to agree with hearmenow. While i think the "dangers" of weed that are reported in those countries that it is illegal, is fairly bogus, it does contain some truths.

every single substance known to us has effects on the human body. we eat because it gives use energy and nutrients, we drink because our bodies need water. we consumer alcohol to gain the effects of being drunk. we smoke to get high. the problem is there are so many things we are putting into our bodies along with the basic body needs. preservatives, carcinogens, free-radicals and a concution of crazy shit.

Weed is natural, but has things that can affect the body and mind adversaly, just like sugar can affect our metabolisms to "evolve" developing diabetes. While it is in no way dangerous, or a problematic drug as the authorities would have us beleive - it is a substance in which we introduce into our body that we do not need (excluding medical applications) and henceforth can upset a balance that our body and mind might have worked out.

i think weed can affect people who have a more delicate balance in their bodies and minds, and adequate education and assistance should be available for those who chose to use it. illegalisation, and criminalisation is a breach of human rights.