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Memo to Snyder: Don’t stop the radical reforms now!New report: Cannabis contributes to psychosis, might be a primary cause
June 30th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Dan Calabrese
It’s almost beyond comprehension to me that anyone could believe a mind-altering substance would not have a negative effect on the overall functioning of the body – particularly the brain. The body is designed to work in a certain way. To think you can barrage the body with foreign chemicals and do no damage simply defies belief.
The usual logic: Something else is worse!
But this is what marijuana-smokers and legalization advocates believe. Talk to them about the harmful effects of marijuana, and they will either deny that any exist, or they will quickly change the subject to alcohol, which they will claim is far more harmful. Then they will tell their counterpart that because he or she surely drinks alcohol (they’re wrong in my case), he or she must be a hypocrite.
At any rate, a new report from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, authored by Dr. Masood A. Kahn and Sailaja Akella, demonstrates how cannabis use can induce bipolar disorder with psychotic features. (Hat tip to my friend Marie Jon.) There is some disagreement among researchers about whether cannabis use causes bipolar disorder or merely exacerbates it, but there is really no debate about the connection:
Cannabis intoxication can lead to acute psychosis in many individuals and can produce short-term exacerbations of pre-existing psychotic diseases. Cannabis use also causes symptoms of depersonalization, fear of dying, irrational panic, and paranoid ideas, which coincide with acute intoxication and remitted quickly. In one survey, it was reported that 15 percent of cannabis users identified psychotic-like symptoms, the most common being hearing voices or having unwarranted feelings of persecution.
If cannabis is causing the problem, how would that work? Here is the researchers’ explanation:
Researchers now believe that cannabis consumption during critical phases of brain development can lead to a strong disturbance of the endocannabinoid system and ultimately cause an inappropriate hardwiring of the brain. Cannabis may play a role in the complex interactions involving dopamine, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamate transmission or other factors that cause psychotic disorders. However, the question remains as to why, in a general population of cannabis abusers, do only a small population exposed develop a psychiatric illness.
That’s a good question, but there are many examples of behavior that can be shown to be harmful, but affects different people in different ways. Everyone has heard stories of Bob’s great grandfather, who smoked a pack a day, ate red meat and drank bourbon, but somehow managed to live to 102. That doesn’t change the fact that all of the aforementioned behaviors put you at risk for some very serious problems. If you want to tempt fate, you might be one of the lucky ones. Every human body is wired a little differently, and no one can say for sure how yours will react to the things you put in it.
But in the case of cannabis, I think it’s fair to say this: No one needs to use it. No one needs to get high. If you depend on it, or some other chemical invasion of your body, to be able to relax or socialize, that’s the choice you’ve made. But you didn’t need to start using it. The choice you made was an easy cop-out, an alternative to learning how to relax and enjoy life in your natural physiological state.
No one should be surprised that those who make this choice are liable to pay a heavy price. Your body is a very intricate mechanism, and you’re filling it with garbage that doesn’t belong in there. That will lead to problems. Is that really so hard to figure out?
This is one of the reasons I do not support legalization. Now, for those who say I am violating my “limited government principles” by taking this position, here is my response:
I am for limited government, not no government. One function of government I think is perfectly appropriate is the regulation of substances that can, oh, say, lead to psychosis. This is dangerous shit, and if there is any legitimate use of it (which I seriously question), it should be tested, regulated and distributed through a system designed to closely guard the circumstances in which it can be used – just as we do with every other substance that has dangerous side-effects.
It should not be bought on the street or in some idiot’s garage, and it should never, under any circumstances, be used “recreationally.”
We have enough people walking around society stoned, psychotic and rendered societally dysfunctional because of bipolar disease. Legalize it, and we get a whole lot more. That’s far too high a price to pay for giving people “liberty” to do something that is, at its essence, fundamentally stupid.
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What are the legitimate uses of cigarettes and alcohol ?
Following your logic, no one needs to drink either. So we should make alcohol illegal also. Alcohol prohibition didn’t work….. It caused gangs and violence, same as now with drugs. Keep your guns and alcohol, but let others make the safer choice of smoking pot.
Most of cannabis activists do know (and will tell you) that cannabis may induce mental illnesses in genetically vulnerable persons. That has nothing to do with legalization and its effects. The point is that we already have a huge number of cannabis users who will use it regardless of its legal status.
It has been scientifically shown that legal status of any drug barely affects is popularity in larger society. For example, Portugal legalized ALL drugs some years ago and did not see any rise in drug consumption. Netherlands have de facto legalized cannabis but still has less cannabis users than US or many nations where it remains strictly illegal.
If you think that you can protect your children from using cannabis by keeping it illegal, you are actually exacerbating the possible problems that come along the cannabis usage. Governments are losing big money prosecuting large number of otherwise law abiding people how end up losing their jobs for using “drugs” in their freetime.
Alcohol prohibition did not work and nor does cannabis prohibition. Lets face it, cannabis is already here (and there) and we cannot get rid of it by keeping it illegal. Instead, we should tax it and use this money to help people who have developed some mental illnesses or other problems arising from cannabis use. Cannabis should be taxed and treated just like alcohol. Btw. why don’t you want alcohol prohibited? Everybody knows that no-one needs it.
(If there is some grammatic errors in my text, it’s not because I’m high, but because I’m from Finland and thus not native english speaker =))
This is classic. The first three comments whip out the alcohol comparison, exactly as I said they would do in my column.
What makes you people think I carry any brief for alcohol?
Yes I admit that it probably is classic, but for me, comparing alcohol and cannabis is relevant since alcohol is legal and cannabis is not. Simple as that.
Why don’t you try instead answer the question what are the merits of cannabis prohibition? Like I wrote, it doesn’t decrease levels of cannabis usage (which can be easily verified). Over 50% of revenues generated by Mexican drug cartels comes from selling cannabis to USA. 23,000 dead mexican people during last 3.5 years because of drug war. Governments will not win that war (which has been waged for decades), the only solution is to legalize and control cannabis sales. The war is spreading to southern USA and local police officers are intimitated by mexican drug lords at the moment. List of adverse effects of prohibition goes on and on, but what are the merits? Please share your wisdom with us.
Or is it only a moral message that you are sending? Is it just a principle?
If you actually read that report the conclusion would be poor crazy people use street drugs to self medicate because we don’t have a decent public health system.
In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death.
Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.
Francis Young DEA Administrative Law Judge
Except for the part where it causes psychosis. Otherwise, perfectly safe!
(By the way, who eats 10 raw potatoes? I could play that game too. The KFC Double Down is more healthy than eating 143 Dum-Dum suckers!)
Wow, I wonder what it’s like to live up in your ivory tower.
I also wonder how much actual research you’ve done into this subject in order to get to your conclusion. I’d suggest doing a whole lot more – there’s a lot of info out there.
Through this article you’re basing your whole argument on one report – then gleefully dismiss anyone who might challenge your shortcomings (did you learn your debating skills from Bill O’Reilly?…just sayin’)
Enough of the reefer madness already. I agree there may be some detrimental effects on SOME users, but that remains a minority.
So you’re telling me that someone with a terminal illness, MS, or a host of other illnesses or ailments should not be allowed to access a medicine which could give them a better quality of life? What gives you the right to say who does or doesn’t “need” to use anything?
You do know the US Govt has patented cannabanoids right? And that there are several companies making and currently distributing cannabis-based medicines to patients in countries like Canada, Britain etc? Sativex and all that..
You also know that there are a litany of studies showing the human search for mind-altering substances is a natural one which we share with many, many other species on this planet? Try reading some of Ronald Siegel’s work.
While you may have a point that cannabis might have detrimental effects on a small minority, the rest of your arguments don’t hold much water, particularly the assumption that legalisation will lead to higher usage. The statistics in countries like Poland show that this is just not correct.
Prohibition remains the biggest problem for cannabis users – it far outweighs any negative health effects.
Nothing wrong with having an opinion, but your opinions would hold a lot more credibility if you’re arguing through knowledge and facts (all the facts, not the ones you might want to cherry pick to suit your cause).
You seem to only choose to respond to the comments you want to respond to. That is down right juvenile (and judging by the way you write, you seem like a juvenile person who does not do much research before he starts to write). I believe the point of most of these comments are that prohibition takes a far greater toll on society than regulation. This is why teens say the easiest substance for them to get is marijuana (ahead of both tobacco and alcohol) since drug dealers do not ask for ID. This is why we have powerful cartels in Mexico. And, this is why many marijuana users feel it is completely harmless when nothing in this world is (since marijuana IS safer than alcohol, users quickly write off any real concerns they should have after they try it since our government claims alcohol is safer). By the way, that research you cite does not claim cannabis causes mental illness, it claims it adds in it’s development in those who are genetically predisposed to it.
You really do not need to dig very deep to find something wrong with anything we consume on a daily basis. The matter of consuming anything boils down to what may be considered a healthy dose. Your addiction seems to be standing proudly on your soap box and telling everyone that the only healthy way is your way and if the way you want to relax happens to have been made illegal through money spent by big chemical corporations back in the mid 1930′s well you should have no problems. The fact is there are far more things that affect our behavior than smoking some weed now and then. Here’s a link to a study of human behavior. http://www.nurturingparenting.com/research_validation/hardwired_to_connect.pdf
By the way I have spent many years without consuming any sort of recreational drug be it alcohol, weed or the highly addictive drugs my doctor prescribes me for my chronic pains. I do intend on enjoying a small bowl of weed at night to help me physically relax and get a good nights rest once it becomes legal and you have made a few million dollars from the sales of your book of misrepresentations.
Just one more point, I have witnessed people who could escape reality just by eating their favorite food. You can clearly see it in their eyes as they drift away into their fantasy world of bliss. No alcohol, weed comparison here. Just fact. Some people fill in for the love they were not given as a child by engorging themselves with food. Hence we now have a population of morbidly obese people.
someone trying to promote there book by any chance
Cannabis is not harmless, nothing in the world is harmless. However, because it’s illegal it’s made as dangerous as it is possible to make it. Two main reasons central to the mental health debate:
1: You don’t know the strength – ie dose – of illegal cannabis
2: Different strains of cannabis contain different ratios of the active chemicals, most importantly THC and CBD. Because it’s a prohibited and uncontrolled drug you have no idea what strain you’re getting.
Add to this other problems caused entirely by prohibition – violence caused by the mob, exploitation and so on – and it’s easy to see how the law makes things far, far worse than they need be.
If we treated alcohol the way we treat cannabis there would be dead bodies in the street.
It’s a pity more research wasn’t done into your claims about cannabis ‘causing’ psychosis. There are many things that can cause psychosis and while there ‘may’ be a ‘tentative’ link between cannabis and psychosis the claim that it is a causative link is merely wild speculation at this point in time.
Regardless of whether that particular claim turns out to be true however, the main question for me in terms of cannabis use is “Should people who use it be penalised and/or imprisoned for it?” Given the KNOWN physical, mental and societal problems caused by some popular LEGAL substances that eclipse any of the wild ‘reefer madness’ speculations made about cannabis, the continued prohibition screams hypocrisy or, dare I say it? “conspiracy”. Given the documented history of the American-led war against this natural and most beneficial plant, I’m gonna go with ‘Both”.
If tobacco and alcohol (MUCH more dangerous substances than cannabis) remain legal then cannabis should be re-legalised as well. After all it’s only been this way for the last 90 years or so, where are all the psychotic and bi polar hordes from the thousands of years before? Just like today, they simply don’t exist and when you look at charts of cannabis use going up or down in particular regions the rate of psychosis always seems to stay the same, funny about that.
But like most things these days ‘quid bono’, “Who Profits?” and when we examine who is profiting from the continued prohibition of cannabis it’s not hard to figure out what’s REALLY behind it all.
As a Christian I find your words blasphemous. Who are you, that you label as evil that which God has called “Good”? Who are you to forbid and say Do not touch, Do not taste, Do not handle etc?
A false prophet and an anti-christ. That is what you are.
die in a fire, mr Dan Calabrese
fucking little pig
Dan,
Cannabis is only likely to induce psychosis in a tiny percentage of people already predisposition toward getting that mental disease. Many other everyday events cause this as well. Soldiers in battle, Doctor’s seeing patients die, if they flip out we understand, we don’t shut down hospitals in case it happens to anyone else. Where is your empirical evidence of these cases? Can you prove in all the psychosis cases that cannabis was the only cause? Or would we find an abusive home life? Or maybe a heredity leaning toward developing these disorders?
Furthermore the presence of CBD (that’s cannabidiol)in cannabis provides an anti psychotic effect. Funny how little this is ever mentioned.
I have suffered from type two bi-polar disorder my whole life. My crazy behaviour got me sent to a mental hospital as a teenager where I was loaded up with legal drugs until I became a zombie.
Eventually I managed to convince them to stop and found cannabis. It is the only substance I have used that levels out my brain and facilitate me to function.
For the past ten years it has allowed me to live a ‘normal’ + happy life, holding down successful jobs and relationships.
I imagine you will just compare me to the 102 year old man in your story, the exception to the rule. But I plead with you to investigate this issue further. Being in a position to publish stories like this to the world brings responsibility. Be balanced, be impartial, be honest Dan. Emotive opinion with no basis in fact is for personal blogs not online newspapers.
I await your response.
[...] New report: Cannabis contributes to psychosis, might be a primary causeThe North Star NationalThere is some disagreement among researchers about whether cannabis use causes bipolar disorder or merely exacerbates it, but there is really no debate … [...]
Sorry to post again but I just read the report upon which this article was based. It entirely focuses around a case study of one individual. If we use to logic found in your article Dan won’t we reach the conclusion that what happened here is simply the Bob’s Grandfather analogy?
Should we base all of our laws on the evidence of what has happened to one person?
i find your arguement one that lacks the necessary research to form an adequate outcome that can be backed up with factual references ..a case study of one man ..seriously ..you should work for the daily mail sir ..i find your style of writing reminiscent of an egotistical maniac to be honest and using such a media sensitive story (well thats what it is ,its certainly not factual journalism )to promote a book by ..oh its by you ..is i would say whorish ..they say everyman has a price ..you obviously set your price low sir ..it seems you are being mocked on many websites this morning for your biased piece of writing , i would say journalism but its not really is it ..in fact going by the rules of most internet forums the fact that your promoting a pointless waste of paper would indeed make you a troll and a spammer ..please do yourself a favour before telling anyone that you write articles ,please explain that those articles are solely for you to make a profit from and not to aid the debate or discussions over whether or not a human can imbibe safely a medicine that has been naturally available on this planet since time imorial . now hurry along ..youve got a lot of catching up to do with the rest of humanity .
so you basically say that you want the government to regulate substances which cause problems, so why should marijuana be illegal, when in this article you even admitted that the link between marijuana and psychosis hasn’t been proved, yet the link between alcohol and all kinds of disease and psychosis has been definitely proven, there are even links between video games and psychosis, but you seem very happy to keep these things perfectly legal, while marijuana, the one which is in fact safer, you think should just remain illegal, which means that anyone who decides to choose “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” (*quote from Francis Young, an American Federal Judge), they must become a criminal, and a persecuted only for choosing the safer option.
Hello? Mr Calabrese,
Your call to villify cannabis is absolute hogswash….you talk of “research”, and provide a link to one case study of one individual….
One load of testicular tripe, boy, and even then the so-called research on one individual is nothing more than an opinion.
Pure and unadulterated tripe, never going to be considered as research in any legitimate scientific exchange.
Unamused and disgusted that you would take the government coin to peddle political piddle.
Mr Arthur K. Blenkinsop….(UK) Cannabis tester for over forty years.
Wow-why dont you go find another bandwagon to go hitch a ride on, maybe a subject you actually have some knowledge about rather than repeating others opinions in a parrot like fashion
The comments every time I write on this subject are the best indicator that I’m correct, especially the inevitable “die in a fire” comment.
Seriously, if you guys want to get stoned so badly that you’re willing to ignore evidence you’re risking serious psychosis, I’m under no illusion that I’m going to stop you.
Maybe the rest of the world will take heed. But not you.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19560900
Abstract
A recent systematic review concluded that cannabis use increases risk of psychotic outcomes independently of confounding and transient intoxication effects. Furthermore, a model of the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia indicated that the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia would increase from 1990 onwards. The model is based on three factors: a) increased relative risk of psychotic outcomes for frequent cannabis users compared to those who have never used cannabis between 1.8 and 3.1, b) a substantial rise in UK cannabis use from the mid-1970s and c) elevated risk of 20 years from first use of cannabis. This paper investigates whether this has occurred in the UK by examining trends in the annual prevalence and incidence of schizophrenia and psychoses, as measured by diagnosed cases from 1996 to 2005. Retrospective analysis of the General Practice Research Database (GPRD) was conducted for 183 practices in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The study cohort comprised almost 600,000 patients each year, representing approximately 2.3% of the UK population aged 16 to 44. Between 1996 and 2005 the incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining. Explanations other than a genuine stability or decline were considered, but appeared less plausible. In conclusion, this study did not find any evidence of increasing schizophrenia or psychoses in the general population from 1996 to 2005
That’s the abstract of a different study.
i am a sufferer of bi-polar disorder and have been since losing a hand at the age of 17 and losing my partner and daughter at the age of 23
i smoke cannabis as it lets me cope with life, without it i would have committed suicide a long time ago
your ignorance is quite bedazzling
We currently have two complete myths being reported by the media as facts. Firstly, that the strength of cannabis has risen, and, secondly, that cannabis causes serious mental illness. Both invented by the prohibitionists, and both utterly groundless.
Let’s start by noting that there are as many strains of cannabis as there are types of roses. When talking about the strength, one cannot say ‘cannabis is’ anything, just as one cannot describe all roses as being of any one colour. The hemp that is grown in our fields, under license from the Home Office, is less than 1% THC, yet it is no less a cannabis plant than those being grown in closets and lofts throughout the country. It has always been this way, the strength varies from strain to strain, and cannot be given a generalised figure.
The truth behind this myth is that the average strength of herbal cannabis, tested by the police, has risen from 8% THC, roughly a decade ago, to 12% THC more recently. This has happened because the herbal cannabis supplied to street dealers has changed from imported strains, common in Afghanistan, Morocco, or Jamaica, to strains grown here, which originated, mainly, in the Netherlands and USA. Using selective breeding, not genetic engineering as some tabloids might have you believe, modern breeders are producing the strains being demanded by the market, but none are stronger than strains which already existed.
The Cabinet members and various politicians, who admit to breaking the same law they seek to have their constituents prosecuted for, have also been rolling out the ‘much stronger than I smoked way back when’ routine with hilarious regularity. Ignoring the fact that the majority of the cannabis which would have been available when they were at university wouldn’t have been herbal cannabis, but hashish. For those who might not know, hashish is produced by collecting the active natural chemicals on the exterior of the flowered buds and pressing it into solid form. Hashish would usually be found to be over 80% THC, and can be over 90%. This is what our Home Secretary and David Cameron smoked at university. Not the 12% herbal cannabis they allege is far stronger.
Myth: Cannabis is 10-20-30-40 times stronger.
Fact: The herbal cannabis currently available from street dealers is stronger by about a half than that available a decade ago. So use less and save yourself some money.
Now let’s burst the ‘cannabis psychosis’ bubble. I’d like to drift a little before I begin, if you could excuse an observation for one paragraph, by pointing out that the prohibitionists are using the, unprovable, suggestion, that cannabis may be one of a myriad of things that, might possibly, act as a trigger for a latent mental illness in those already predisposed to that illness, as justification for the prohibition of cannabis. Whilst tobacco and alcohol are still killing over one hundred thousand UK citizens every year. And they say there is no hypocrisy in the Misuse of Drugs Act, ho, ho.
For some time now, there has been an open purse for those wishing to do any form of ‘reputable’ medical study that could be used as proof that the use of cannabis can be dangerous. That isn’t a conspiracy theory, I have no time for them and prefer to stick to facts. Governments who supported the prohibition of cannabis have been searching, without success, over the last seventy years, for supportable evidence that what they did was right. The field of psychiatry is such that nothing can ever be proven conclusively, and so has become an ideal prohibitionist spawning ground. Add a multi-million dollar, US government funded, advertising campaign, 10 years ago, which attempted to promote the idea that cannabis use was dangerous to mental health, and which flopped most thoroughly might I add, and it starts to sound like conspiracy theory though.
I could quote the authors of some of the reports being used in evidence of these mythical dangers. Such as Dr. Ferguson stating that he would ‘have had the same results testing for milk abuse’, or Prof. Van Os stating that his findings would ‘effect such a small number of cannabis users that they could never be used to determine legislation’. I could even point out that the majority of those behind the studies believe that prohibition can only make this situation worse. But all I really have to refer to, to destroy the cannabis psychosis myth, is the international rate of schizophrenia, and related serious mental illness.
Whilst the use of cannabis has changed dramatically, the international rate of schizophrenia, and related serious mental illness, has remained constant. From the point where records began, when cannabis use would have been minimal in westernised society, through the flower power years, through the late seventies, when 80% of US college students admitted to having tried cannabis, to the current day. The rate has remained exactly the same. Some leading psychiatric scholars even suggest it may be dropping.
If you were to compare countries with minimal use of cannabis against countries with high use, you would find the same rates of schizophrenia, and related serious mental illness. If you compared the legal structures of countries and the severity with which they treat cannabis users, you would find the same rates of schizophrenia, and related mental illness.
For there to be any validity in the claim that cannabis causes serious mental illness there would have to be a rise in the rate of those illnesses when there is a rise in the use of cannabis. It cannot be any other way, it is indisputable. Cannabis does not cause serious mental illness.
Myth: Cannabis can increase your risk of schizophrenia by up to 200%
Fact: The increase in the use of cannabis has not increased the rate of schizophrenia, anywhere in the world, at any time.
Dan.
You’re own aura of self satisfaction, ignorance, self riteousness, closed mindedness, and blissful stupidity has been perfectly demonstrated by your last post.
I’d have thought a career knocking on peoples doors telling them that Christianity, Jehovas witness, mormons etc. have the definate answer to the creation of the universe.
Please stop wasting valuable paper you hack!!
What about Portugal and Holland Switzerland Germany and many countries that control cannabis? by legislation, with out the draconian laws, that criminalize millions of youth for the rest of there lives?
The rubbish you are peddling is not backed up by the increase in schizophrenia or psychoses illnesses.
Millions of people in this country, and in Europe millions more use cannabis, by your biased reckoning millions should have schizophrenia or psychoses not at all borne out.
Have you ever been to Holland, the streets are orderly peaceful and safe to walk down day and night,with none of the alcohol fuelled riots we have every weekend.
If you had any sense or true care at all, you would be speaking out against the biggest 2 legal killers in society.
I am hazarding a guess here, but were you by chance pleased with the recent budget, and no extra tax on “boozenfags”
Cannabis is a human rights issue as was Gay rights.
You seem to be rather uniformed, prejudiced,ans somewhat bigoted to me.
what a twat,really what a complete dickhead,
he doesn’t know a dam thing…
alcahol according to our goverment increases the chance of getting a mental illness by 400% and cannabis by 200% that’s right!!!
they don’t mention the chance of suffering a mental illness is small! so even these increases are small.. there is no argument at all from this goverment that alcahol is worse than weed…ask them yourself… alcahol is toxic full stop you cannot possible drink your drug without watering it down!
why don’t you look up these studies and then make your sh*t up?
cannabis kills cancer
cannabis seems to prevent parkinsons
people who smoke tobacco and cannabis get less lung cancer than just tobacco smokers!
there is no argument whatsoever that alcahol and tobacco kill thousands and cannabis hasn’t killed anyone ever!(fact)
Dan, the abstract I quoted was a review that was published in the journal Schizophrenia Research last fall.
It was expected, if cannabis use causes psychoses, then due to an increase in use preceding the dates examined, the rate of psychoses would increase.
It makes sense that if cannabis causes psychoses, the rate would fluctuate according to the use of it.
They found no such thing, the rate remained constant. The cohort was 600,000 UK patients per year.
The only conclusion is that cannabis use does not increase the rate of psychoses.
I wouldn’t give any weight to the opinion of a person that seeks to sell a book based on propagandist myth,
of course he will defend its content and its fraudulent conclusions he would be silly to do otherwise, as with all prohibitionists they cherry pick the data to suit the agenda they wish to promote, any mention of Alcohol psychosis, Amphetamine psychosis, Cocaine psychosis all very real and easily researched but flippantly dismissed
by the author as irrelevant and predictable reactions
from cannabis users, what of the multitude of psychiatric drugs pushed on us by big pharma industry, what of the teenagers that committed suicide after being prescribed Seroxat without any
realistic medical follow up or basic care from the
“health professionals” that were dishing it out in
place of proper treatment, what of sufferers of cyclo thymia (a form of bi polar) where the use of
anti psychotic drugs actually increases the severity of the existing illness, I have yet to see the author counter or even discuss the valid points raised by other posters that disprove his theory instead he chooses to belittle and demonise
cannabis users opinions as predictable and agenda driven, perhaps because he has no realistic answer
to the facts figures and personal experiences of
cannabis users and those whom can plainly see the
that the author of this article and book is not interested in opposing opinion no matter how it is presented all he is interested in is promoting his opinion and the book that will no doubt bring in a pretty penny or two from the ignorant fools who will buy it, just another eejit making money from prohibition and that is all it is about shifting units and filling his bank account, just another media whore selling crap that appeals to the ignorant and clueless, just for the record I currently suffer from mental illness (bi polar)
but have not smoked any cannabis, how does the author explain the onset of my illness?.
Dan Calabrese:
1 July 2010 at 5:41 am
“The comments every time I write on this subject are the best indicator that I’m correct, especially the inevitable “die in a fire” comment.
Seriously, if you guys want to get stoned so badly that you’re willing to ignore evidence you’re risking serious psychosis, I’m under no illusion that I’m going to stop you.
Maybe the rest of the world will take heed. But not you.”
Dan this is an emotive response. Journalists are supposed to respond using facts. Please try to ignore these few comments in favour of replying to the many comments that are using sources and evidence to try and have a reasonable debate. If you are an ‘expert’ in this area surely you can respond to them in an educated manner without resorting to calling all cannabis users stoners?
I await your response.
Everyone be sure to duplicate the comments they make here on Dan’s official website as well:
http://www.dancalabresebooks.com/?p=80&cpage=1#comment-15
Go on Dan respond to Phil S & Vince Noir’s posts. They are making reasonable points based on evidence. What say you to that?
“it was reported that 15 percent of cannabis users identified psychotic-like symptoms,”
So these psychotic cannabis users are delusional but can still be relied upon to self diagnose symptoms of psychosis, funny how they are taken seriously when the “evidence”(opinion) backs up the prohibitionist agenda but are “hypocrites” when they express opinions contrary to the
propaganda?.
“the most common being hearing voices or having unwarranted feelings of persecution.”
Aye cannabis users have “unwarranted feelings of persecution”
could this possibly be because they face arrest for using a plant demonstratively less harmful than a multitude of legal drugs, you can be jailed for up to 14 years for growing it and receive more jail time than a murderer, what about the continuous propaganda pumped out by the mainstream media
which is completely at odds with the experiences of the majority of cannabis users not only here but worldwide.
Hughie your comment reminded me that of course I hear voices and have unwarranted feelings as well as become paranoid and see things differently than they actually are but, just as a few beers gives me beer goggles and have a lower set of standards upon which female I am eager to chat up, when I come back down I am back to normal once again however with no ill side affects like I do with alcohol or over eating.
Dan Calabrese have you had your mental state evaluated by an upstanding psychiatrist lately? You seem to be responding as a sociopath would.
I would post on Dan’s official website, but it’s illegible due to having white characters on a white background!
Once again you failed to respond to anyone’s argument. You simply said of people are angry I’m right without even commenting on the fact that the prohibition has worse consequences than the drug. You are also ignoring the argument that this Study is only focusing on the genetically predisposed (and perhaps adolescent brain development, but I don’t think anyone is advocating letting fourteen year olds smoke weed). Stop attacking others and come up with an answer if you are so sure of yourself.
“Maybe the rest of the world will take heed. But not you.”
You’ve obviously taken a hit of that killer skunk at some point Dan cause you’re coming across all Noah or some shit with put-downs like these.
oh great wise Dan, what is this terrible affliction that you say will befall us ? Oh, forgive us Dan, you know better than we, with your one case study about one person. When is
Oh, I get it now, you are Mr X from the story ?
I see what you did there.
Yes Dan’s site does leave the comments as white so they are unreadable – an accident? Unlikely.
Come on Dan – we’re all waiting for your intellectual response to the reasonable questions.
Well good job everyone our work is clearly done here.
Each one of Dans points has been totally blown out of the water here for everybody to see and collectively you have exposed him to be very unknowledgeable on the subject and unable to answer virtually any of the well-founded arguments posted.
Shame on you Dan I thought you would have put up a better show than you have, at least hit us with the whole ‘gateway drug’ line.
Good luck on the book sales haha
I agree with RUssell–all points blown completely out of the water. Regardless of my opinion on legalization of marijuana, I can certainly agree that Dan’s writing style mirrors that of a passionate 8th grader attempting to write a persuasive paper. If I were your Language Arts teacher, I’d get you a D, Dan. But, why should we expect anything other than the typical fear-based, hyperbolic, the-sky-is-falling rhetoric?
Hello, everybody.
I’m really not sure which of my points you think you’ve blown away. The report I quoted indicated that there is a connection between cannabis use and psychosis, and there the latter might in some cases cause the former.
No one has demonstrated anything to disprove this.
You’ve quoted old studies. You’ve pointed out that different doses make a difference (of course they do). You’ve pointed out that other things are more dangerous (so what?).
Otherwise, you’ve ripped my writing style (your opinion), told me to die in a fire (no thanks), called me the Antichrist, called me a fucking pig, pointed out a design flaw in the web site of my book (now fixed, comment away!) and generally not much else.
I said, and I say, it’s not hard to figure out that using foreign chemical to interfere with the natural chemical cycles of the body could lead to problems. I’ve cited a report that indicates what one of them might be.
You don’t want to hear it because you like getting stoned so much.
Your choice.
Dan, once again you are choosing to only response to a select few comments while ignoring all those (including my own) that make sense. Do you think because marijuana may or may not have a link to psychosis (which lots of legal things including STRESS also do) it’s worth the insanely high human cost of prohibition (Which ruins many more lives than psychosis would ever effect? But since I know ou will never respond to this, I’ll play ball. Here is a study from may 2010 debunking a causal link between psychosis and marijuana: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20471224
also, you should note that as marijuana usage has risen, incidencies of psychosis has stayed the same. If you would like more studies debunking this link let me
know and I will deliver them (I would now but it’s a painin the ass on an iPhone).
By the way, I am not a pot smoker but I am pro- legalization, not everyone who is in favor of harm reduction policies uses drugs, they just use their brains when evidence is placed before them.
By the way, it’s odd that earlier you claimed that people making
personal attacks against you made you right but you then proceeded to make personal attacks against everyone else… So according to your logic you must have just done that because you know they are right.
One final comment for now… I would never advocate for someone with a history of
mental illess to use any substance, but even if you are right, we do not need to be legislating for the needs of a very small minority. We have laws against murder because if anyone is murdered they will die. We don’t need laws that forbid an activity that would only harm a tiny, tiny, TINY percentage of those who engage in it (and I cannot emphasize tiny enough since forty-four percent f this country had a funner life than you and chose to try marijuana at some point but forty-four percent of this country most certainly does not have psychosis)
I would like to add that I have had a craving for a raw potato (maybe not 10, but 1 large one would be good!) with just a pinch of salt, since one of the earliest comments on this thread.
And, I am not the Kimberly who posted earlier. But I think Dan knows that.
Anyway, ummm….that’s all. I’m not getting into this debate, I just really want a raw potato. With a pinch of salt. Right now. Really.
I wish raw potatoes hadn’t been mentioned. They really have been one of my favorite snacks since I was about 5 years old.
Dan, with all due respect, where did you get the idea that smoking pot can lead to acute psychosis? Hahahahahahaha! What the hell are you smoking, son – crack? You must be, because, clearly, you do not know WTF you’re talking about when it comes to cannabis and, near as I can tell, all you can quote are scientists who have something to gain by disputing its effects.
Have you ever TRIED it? If you haven’t then you really shouldn’t be writing about whether or not it’s harmful, since you obviously know little or nothing about the subject. The fact is I’m 54 and have smoked since I was 18 and not only am I educated, I’m also a careerwoman. If you think it’s so bad, then don’t frigging smoke it, but please stop writing articles filled with little more than the ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric, we’ve heard it a 1000 times and it’s no more factual now than it was when that ‘war’ started. I suggest you do some research on it before you condemn it, Dan, or better yet, smoke some and then tell me how “mind altering” it is (I can’t even type that without LMAO, it’s just too funny) but, until then, do us all a favor, pour yourself a cold one and leave the debate about this issue to those who actually know what they’re talking about.