Changes in schizophrenia diagnoses associated with cannabis use disorder

Maybe not even worse.

This is looking at what fraction of schizophrenia cases had significant cannabis use.

If more people use cannabis, there will be more of these cases, even if there's no causal link.

Cannabis misuse appears linked to a larger share of schizophrenia cases as I understand it.

Implying causality there is often misplaced. I’ve noticed some people smoke more after things start to fall apart from issues they have no control over, just as others binge eat when stressed.

It’s not a helpful coping mechanism, but there’s a reason double blind studies are considered so important. Untangling complex mechanisms especially when they have feedback in both directions is inherently difficult.

Pot is one of those things that makes things worse if they're already going badly.

Like alcohol or opiates will make your good life bad if you fuck too hard with them.

Pot, in my experience, won't really ruin your life unless you're already on that path.

My thing is that it's mostly harmless, but the problem with it is that young people can become complacent with it. It won't necessarily ruin your life, but you'll be content to sit and veg your life away. So not bad, but not good.

While I also have anecdotal experience that suggests early-life cannabis abuse can lead to short-term memory loss, I have not seen any evidence that it leads to much else. I would imagine that people with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia would only not have it by chance, and that altering their brain with pretty much anything can risk upsetting that balance. Doesn't matter if it's weed, LSD, opioids... SSRIs, stimulants...

I don't think I do. I do know a lot who have fucked their lives with alcohol and opiates though.

Are acid flashbacks real? I thought that was an urban myth.. I've never had one and I don't think I've ever encountered someone who has. It seems like one of those drug war era scare tactics or viral rumours.

I agree it can cause those effects but it always seemed to me that the weed is just causing sleep deprivation which eventually leads to psychosis. IME it's not much different from alcohol in that way, they both disturb REM sleep so you end up deprived with daily use. It's just more apparent with weed because you don't get the hangover effects, so it's easy to overuse.

It is incredible that the slightest increase in any cancer associated with alcohol is immediately trumpeted, but no matter how much research shows marijuana has dangers, the stoners always brush it off.

Just accept the risks and live your life. Nothing is without risk. Drink your beer and smoke your joint, why bother living if you aren’t going to enjoy yourself

Nearly all are all symptoms of depression, delusions with manic depression. Nearly all are symptoms of being stoned too.

It's unlikely you were experiencing schizophrenia unless you were actually hearing voices, thinking that you were a "Targeted Invididual", things like that.

I support the legality of cannabis and alcohol.

However, on an individual level, I think people need to know about the psychosis risks. It undoubtedly can trigger schizophrenia and make it much worse once it exists.

I know more than a few people who have severe alcoholism problems in their families, and just chose to never drink alcohol. I think a similar choice may be wise for cannabis if there is a history of psychosis.

On a public health level there was a theory that people would substitute cannabis for alcohol. But unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be bearing out.

Previous studies have shown that young adults who are susceptible to schizophrenia are more likely to develop it if they were heavy cannabis users at a younger age. As they get older it is less likely to develop, or they are better able to keep it from developing. My brother-in-law smoked cannabis in high school and college and was hospitalized for schizophrenia when he was in college. It wrecked his life and he still has schizophrenia at age 65. I don't think it is just an academic issue.

There are practical reasons to understand the effects of both cannabis and alcohol. It’s not like we can only care about one of them at a time based on which is winning the social harm olympics.

alcohol is proven to kill tens of thousands every year — obviously much worse than a few people who develop mental issues.

Regardless in a free society people should have agency over what they do with their bodies.

Education about these substances is the most important thing.

I don’t see how your conclusion follows. I quit heavy weed use because of noticeable cognitive and social problems. The warning is useful for users to know about regardless of the problems associated with alcohol.

I knew a few people when I was young (20s) that "pot does nothing" to them. Then one day they took a toke from a joint going round and were totally munged.

I've seen it a few times, and I have no idea why it's like that for some people.

Every human brain is different, some smoke a lot of pot and develop serious mental issues— others smoke a ton for years and you don’t notice any change.

The problem imo with this kinds of studies is that people can’t take the nuance and rather see it as “weed = bad” or some other binary outcome.

Imo all drugs have a potential to be dangerous — all adults should have free agency what they do with their bodies.

Sure cannabis, alcohol or mushrooms are dangerous, but I would argue a society that makes their use completely illegal without nuance is not a free society

Your brain is not receptive. This could be a worse, however. If you have schizophrenia within the family, you might be at risk. The doctor strongly recommended I do not take any cannabis because there is a risk it triggers a psychosis episode. I wouldn’t see cannabis having no effect as good news as that’s not representative of the average experience.

Sounds like a dosage situation. A lot of the tincture stuff just isn’t all that strong.

Effect wise - I mostly notice it in sensation of time. Two hours feels like four. And it’s not smooth flow of time - almost skips occasionally.

People have this strange concept that weed is supposed to make you see rainbows and stuff lol. I'd say your experience is about normal.

It just made me feel 0 anxiety, but I thought the experience was not good enough to justify breaking the law

This sounds snarky but you just didn't do enough.

[flagged]

Could also just be an increase in symptoms the person already had but in minor form. We tend to think of people as being either schizophrenic or... "not," but it seems far more likely that it exists, like everything in humans, on a spectrum.

it's pretty hard to establish causality for something like this, but you have:

1) very solid evidence of correlation at a population level

2) a lot of clinical experience from doctors that patients with psychotic disorder diagnoses who use cannabis tend to do worse. and, similar stories from family members of people with psychotic symptoms who aren't in treatment.

so unfortunately I think there is something real here, it's not just people having transient bad reactions to weed and going to the ER and getting a diagnosis.

>"I mean, it's legal, right?" asked the Tesla founder, before taking a drag on the joint.

"Tesla founder." You'd hope that the BBC would get right that he's not the founder but an early investor that ended up taking over the company and kicking out the original founders.

Was it implied that was the first time he’d ever tried? That wasn’t my impression

Why intentionally mis-name someone?

When I hear people say that, it just sounds like a blind hater/memeist/chronically online person and I discount their views entirely.

We literally still call Hitler Hitler. We can call Elon Elon no matter how bad you think he is.

Schizophrenia develops in the twenties. Whatever his problem is, I don't think that is it.

This may be a joke, but with the ultra-potent weed available nowadays, one time is really all it takes to cause serious psychological changes.