ECW
09-20-2007, 03:42 PM
Not good news for the dope smoking crowd...
People who smoke marijuana daily or weekly double their risk of developing a psychotic illness over their lifetime, according to a study published Thursday.
Among all marijuana users, including sporadic experimenters and habitual users, the lifetime risk of psychotic illness increased by 40 percent, the report said.
"It's not as if you smoke a joint and you're going to go crazy," said Richard Rawson, who directs the Integrated Substance Abuse Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was not involved in the study.
But he cautioned: "It's definitely not a good idea to use heavy amounts of marijuana."
The researchers found that the risk for psychotic illnesses appeared to increase with dose, suggesting that stopping marijuana use would decrease risk, said co-author Dr. Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol in Britain.
Psychotic illnesses include schizophrenia and disorders with symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.
Marijuana can cause psychiatric problems because it throws off the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain, Zammit said.
Previous studies have had difficulty untangling marijuana's role in psychiatric disorders. Smoking the drug could be a symptom of a psychiatric disorder rather than a cause.
The study by Zammit and colleagues, published in the medical journal The Lancet, reanalyzed data from seven long-term studies on psychotic illnesses and marijuana involving 61,000 participants.
The researchers filtered out about 50 factors, such as pre-existing mental illness, the use of other illicit drugs, IQ and social class, to try to isolate the effect of marijuana, Zammit said.
Most of the studies that were analyzed reported a range of increased risk for frequent users from 50 percent to 200 percent, with the average being around 100 percent, or double the risk, Zammit said.
The researchers also studied the link between marijuana use and mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder. They analyzed 22 studies involving 52,000 participants.
more...
~link~ (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=marijuana27&date=20070727&query=marijuana+psychotic)
People who smoke marijuana daily or weekly double their risk of developing a psychotic illness over their lifetime, according to a study published Thursday.
Among all marijuana users, including sporadic experimenters and habitual users, the lifetime risk of psychotic illness increased by 40 percent, the report said.
"It's not as if you smoke a joint and you're going to go crazy," said Richard Rawson, who directs the Integrated Substance Abuse Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was not involved in the study.
But he cautioned: "It's definitely not a good idea to use heavy amounts of marijuana."
The researchers found that the risk for psychotic illnesses appeared to increase with dose, suggesting that stopping marijuana use would decrease risk, said co-author Dr. Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol in Britain.
Psychotic illnesses include schizophrenia and disorders with symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.
Marijuana can cause psychiatric problems because it throws off the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain, Zammit said.
Previous studies have had difficulty untangling marijuana's role in psychiatric disorders. Smoking the drug could be a symptom of a psychiatric disorder rather than a cause.
The study by Zammit and colleagues, published in the medical journal The Lancet, reanalyzed data from seven long-term studies on psychotic illnesses and marijuana involving 61,000 participants.
The researchers filtered out about 50 factors, such as pre-existing mental illness, the use of other illicit drugs, IQ and social class, to try to isolate the effect of marijuana, Zammit said.
Most of the studies that were analyzed reported a range of increased risk for frequent users from 50 percent to 200 percent, with the average being around 100 percent, or double the risk, Zammit said.
The researchers also studied the link between marijuana use and mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder. They analyzed 22 studies involving 52,000 participants.
more...
~link~ (http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=marijuana27&date=20070727&query=marijuana+psychotic)