I voted yes for the use of marijuana for medical
purposes in our state – unknowing Federal law still made it
illegal. Today I would vote a resounding NO – not in a
cigarette form anyway – not as long as we have a Federal law
against it and now because of the following article connecting
cannabis use to psychosis.
I know people smoke pot but not around me. I might
have tried it at a young age but it wasn’t around then and later,
when it was hitting the Kitsap schools my children attended I was
too busy and no one I knew smoked it. The subject didn’t come
up.
Let me be clear: I don’t care what people do with
their own lives. I smoked 40 years and understand the
connection and addiction to drugs.
Trouble is all these years later I’ve got health issues
that seem to stem directly from my own 40 year smoking addiction
and have gathered opinions about it to share here such as….get
educated about it first.
If one is going to smoke, use cannabis and other illegal
drugs, then learn about them, study all you can find out about them
– then from the basis of full knowledge what you might be
getting into long term – make your decision. It is your
decision, not mine. Just get educated about it. And
that is why I’ve posted the following new information
here.
………………………………….
Cannabis Link To Psychosis
A new study has provided the first conclusive evidence that
cannabis use significantly hastens the onset of psychotic illnesses
during the critical years of brain development – with possible
life-long consequences.
The first ever meta-analysis of more than 20,000 patients shows
that smoking cannabis is associated with an earlier onset of
psychotic illness by up to 2.7 years.
The analysis, by an international team including Dr Matthew
Large, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of
Psychiatry and Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital, is published in
the prestigious journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
In partnership with St Vincent’s Hospital and The George
Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the
study set out to establish the extent to which use of cannabis,
alcohol and other psychoactive substances affects the age at onset
of psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia with
33.5% of the population reporting use at some time, according to
the 2007 National Drug Household Survey. Some 18% of all secondary
school students aged 12-17 reported using the drug at some time in
their life, according to the 2004 Secondary School Survey. (UNSW’s
National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre.)
Building on several decades of research, the finding is an
important breakthrough in the understanding of the relationship
between cannabis use and psychosis, Dr Large said.
A number of previous studies have found an association between
psychosis and the use of cannabis, alcohol and other psychoactive
substances. However, the aim of this study was to specifically show
the extent to which this is caused by cannabis use alone, he
said.
The current findings support the view that cannabis use
precipitates schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, perhaps
through an interaction between genetic and environmental disorders
or by disrupting brain development, the team notes.
“The study re-analysed the results from 20,000 patients with
schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses from 83 previous
studies. The study used meta-analysis – a modern statistical method
– to show that an earlier onset of severe mental illness among
substance users is a result of cannabis use, and cannot be
explained by other factors such as alcohol use,” Dr Large said.
“Results of this study are conclusive and clarify previously
conflicting evidence of a relationship between cannabis use and the
earlier onset of a psychotic illness, with evidence supporting the
theory that cannabis use plays a causal role in the development of
psychosis in some patients.”
Dr Large said there was a high prevalence of substance use among
individuals treated in mental health settings, and patients with
schizophrenia were more likely to use substances than members of
the wider community.
“The study raises the question of whether those substance users
would still have gone on to develop psychosis a few years
later.
“However, even if the onset of psychosis were inevitable, an
extra two or three years of psychosis-free functioning could allow
many patients to achieve important developmental milestones of late
adolescence and early adulthood that could lower long-term
disability arising from psychotic disorders,” Dr Large said.
“The results of this study confirm the need for an ongoing
public health warning about the potentially harmful effects of
cannabis.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215998.php
More later…. Sharon O’Hara
