Editor’s Note: This is just a report of preliminary studies. Like all scientific studies, especially and including those that involve cannabis, your results may vary. This this article with a grain of salt…and maybe don’t smoke an entire joint by yourself the first time you consume cannabis.
A new study published this week helps illuminate the psychiatric effects of cannabis.
The research, which was published by The Lancet Psychiatry, found that “the acute administration of THC induces positive, negative, and other symptoms associated with schizophrenia and other mental disorders in healthy adults with large effect sizes.” As reported by CNN, the researchers concluded that “a single dose of the main psychoactive ingredient (THC) in cannabis — equal to one joint — in otherwise healthy people, can temporarily induce psychiatric symptoms, including those associated with schizophrenia.”
“The first takeaway is that for people in general there is a risk, even if you are healthy and taking a single dose, a one-off, you could have these symptoms,” said Oliver Howes, one of the study’s authors, as quoted by CNN.
“They are distressing and could affect your thinking. You might not behave in a safe or rational way. It’s not just something that’s going to affect people with a history of mental health problems,” added Howes, who is a molecular psychiatry professor at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience.
Howe and his colleagues researched 15 studies involving 331 “healthy” people who received both THC and placebo. He told CNN that they wanted to examine the effects of THC on otherwise healthy individuals who were not at risk of psychiatric problems. “This allows us to really test whether these cannabis components themselves lead to psychiatric symptoms,” Howe said.
More Cannabis Research Being Done
The study is part of what has become a flowering of academic research on marijuana in recent years that has dovetailed with governments and companies reconsidering longstanding prohibitions on pot. In October, researchers at the University of Georgia announced that they will study the effects of legalized medical cannabis on those suffering from chronic pain thanks to a multi-million dollar grant. Last April, the cannabis investor Charles R. Broderick made a $9 million donation that was split between Harvard and MIT to support research into how marijuana affects the brain and behavior. Broderick said the gift was driven by a desire “to fill the research void that currently exists in the science of cannabis.”
Were good here in pa w the virus.me n my family r getting thru this without getting sick.gov.tom wolf decided to keep our cannabis dispensaries open thank god cuz I don’t know what we would do without the stores being open half our neighborhood would go absolutely insane without it
Cannabis is an old psychedelic-entheogenic plant,used in rituals to connect with spiritworld.
Today we have no such rituals in society,and little understanding of altered states,putting the term “schizophrenia” on it.
I wonder how many people have ended up on dangerous psychiatric drugs after being labeled schizo.
Yes, I have ‘symptoms’. They’re so cool that I can’t wait to have more symptoms. I have a feeling that these doctors are trying to persuade folks not to try cannabis but they failed, as usual.
“Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you times of no dope” – The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Anyone buying this shit?! Guns are legal, nuclear warfare is acceptable, we spend $800 billion a year on weaponry, capitalism is nothing more than legalized theft, we do nothing about environmental degradation. The rich get richer the poor get poorer. Nationalism, hegemony, materialism are on the rise. Soldiers are viewed as heroes, not the murderous mercenaries they’re forced to become. School shootings, violent reprisals, terrorism, abject racism abounds in the world. Closed borders, closed minds, heartless world. Who decides exactly what “psychotic” means anyhow? I keep seeing more and more “scientific studies” popping up about the dangerous of cannabis use. Anyone seen the latest reports on the casualties drawn from “free market capitalism”? I’ll take my joint and settle my soul while listening to Portishead’s Dummy one more time. Peace out world. Its the most important cause of all, peace.
This is outrageous….seriously. There must be an agenda fermenting here as not a single smoker I know gets psychotic symptoms from both casual and regular use. I know more drinkers who have lost there mind, made super poor decisions, and put other people at risk. While everyone knows the entire psychiatric industry should be questioned, Mr Howes apparently bought the scheme hook, line, and sinker.
There is some evidence certain strains of weed may in fact be treatments for severe cases of schizophrenia. Similarly, certain genetics appear to help certain folks cope with anxiety and stress. AFter thousands of years of consumption with little evidence that weed causes loss of touch with reality, Mr. Howes now emerges from the swamp with biased research. That’s my take. Psychiatric science….the questions they ask define the glasses they wear!