psychosis

Pot-Smoking Does Not Lead To Psychosis

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 12:44pm
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by Anna Tomova

Previous studies have provided some evidence of a link between early and continued use of marijuana to an increased risk of psychosis and hallucinations, instigating researchers from Queensland, Australia to investigate further. Their investigations have now established a pretty strong connection between the length of marijuana use and the possibility of psychosis in young adults.

Young adults who smoke cannabis or marijuana for six years or more, seem twice as likely to experience psychotic episodes, hallucinations or delusions, than people who have never used the drug.

Checking out pot use and psychosis symptoms among siblings just to ensure no genetic or environmental factor had been missed out, the researchers found marijuana played a role in ‘psychosis-related outcomes’. However, in their conclusion, they write the nature of the relationship between psychosis and use of cannabis is not simple.

Minimal Relationship Between Cannabis And Schizophrenia Or Psychosis, Suggested By New Study

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 9:40am
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ScienceDaily  — Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia in young people. But the evidence for the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis remains controversial. A new study has determined that it may be necessary to stop thousands of cannabis users in order to prevent a single case of schizophrenia.

Chronic City: After Further Review, Smoking Pot Doesn't Make You Crazy -- Blimey!

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 3:32pm
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By Steve Elliott

The time-honored notion of reefer madness, given new life recently in the British tabloid press, has taken another hit from reality. Widespread marijuana use by the public has not been followed by a proportional rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia or psychosis, according to the findings of a forthcoming study to be published in the scientific journal Schizophrenia Research.

It stands to reason, after all: If marijuana really led to psychosis, wouldn't the streets be choked with burned-out, gibbering potheads?

Film director John Holowach, responsible for the documentary High: The True Tale of American Marijuana, wasn't surprised. "I've said it for years now," Holowach told SF Weekly. "If pot and mental illness were linked, the two should rise and fall with one another, but they don't."

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