Smoking weed increases risk of developing psychotic illness.
 

Cannabis use increases risk of psychotic illness

* 01:16 27 July 2007
* NewScientist.com news service
* Anna Davison

Researchers say they have the strongest evidence yet that using cannabis increases the risk of later developing psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.

On average, smokers have a 41% greater chance of suffering from such disorders than those who didn't inhale, the new study finds. And the likelihood increases with increasing cannabis use, with heavy users three times as likely as non-users to develop psychotic illnesses.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world. In the UK, for example, around 40% of young adults have used cannabis, according to research by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

Previous research has suggested a link between cannabis and schizophrenia-like symptoms such as paranoia, hearing voices and seeing things that are not there. But the possible association "has been an issue of tremendous debate and controversy for a long time", says Rick Rawson, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, US. "The science gets all mixed together with all the ideological views [about the drug]."

Now, researchers in the UK have reviewed 35 studies on the long-term effects of cannabis use in Europe, the US and Australasia and say the drug does in fact appear to be linked with an increased risk of psychosis. The original studies lasted from one to 27 years.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...c-illness.html

REEFER MADNESS WAS TRUE!!!!!!! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!!!!!!!!!

WHO'S THERE! I SAW YOU! I CAN HEAR YOU!!!!!!!

I think i might go and kill someone after this tasty joint. hmmm yes, and i think i shall wield a lead pipe, or i'll play zelda.... fucking tough decision.

its so much more than that, i know i wouldnt admit it to the european monitoring centre for drugs.... fuck no.

you can't trust science, hundreds of people use mariujana everyday and they are all fine. stop listening to what this new scientist is saying, he's obviously bought by the cia

Ahhh why can't you just say what you want to say instead of talking like that, dean r kootz.

i'd be interested to know what the risk is of developing schizophrenia without having smoked pot

because if 1 in 10000 people (made up number) develops a disease like this i don't think a 40% increase in your chances is really going to convince me to stop

i was just trying to emulate what i think krazee stacee would post.

1 in a 100 of the top of my head

the increase mentioned must be an average of the risks since more usage increases the risk

thinking about it in deterministical terms, no such things as risks exists and if you get schizofrenia there was always a 100% risk that you would get it, unless you count quantum mechanical phenomenons which might or might not be random-

1/100 is 1% so a 40% increase would be 41/100 :S

Although that's probably not looking at the percentages the right way or something.

yes that's wrong, it's probably a 41% increase of the original risk, ie the new risk is something like 0,0141 i think

karl, what has happened to your typing career? it's still going?

Shit man, that just means you gotta smoke more!

i'm stuck at 160 words per minute. when it gets that fast you have to do it differently. like its more of a go with the flow kind of thing and im having a hard time with it. i hope to move up to 200 wpm by december which would probably end with me getting out a year from now but. .. my life and shit and nothing works out, so. who knows

That's very fast typing. I probably belt out 50 or so at most but I dunno I'm not sure I never timed myself.

i imagine that it's a horrible amount of preassure, that's not good.

well with shorthand 160 is probably the equivalent of 60 wpm on a regular keyboard in terms of skill

I'm probably a faster typer than I am a writer. With errors probably slower cause I make heaps and have to go back and check. I made three writing this.

yeah. i feel like how the british mustve felt during WWII. things are bleak but you just have to keep on trudging along and not really think about it

One of my teachers read a similar article to us in class last semester, but it wasn't in reference to all marijuana, just what he referred to as "dank, indoor" marijuana. I guess the higher the potency the more likely you are to have a psychotic episode. Makes sense.

I actually have a friend that had a bit of an episode - getting naked from a gravity bong :rofl:

they're trying to placebo affect y'all

walking outside increases your chances of being hit by lightning

Eatting cake increases the chance of delicious by 150%

mmm... cake

living increases the chance of death by 100%

If they had smokeouts in the crazy house I know I'd sign myself up!