NEWS: Stoners are Psychotic

CULTURE: Stoners are Psychotic

No, no, it’s true. Marijuana users are not just smelly, boring and often annoyingly self-righteous about their drug of choice, but they also run the risk of inflicting psychotic damage upon themselves. Or so says a new “scientific study.”

Psh. Whatever, man. Quit harshing our mellow.

Well that’s just like… your opinion, man.

Actually, the long and the short of the above study is that smoking pot makes you paranoid and experience hallucinations. Not exactly earth-shattering news, but it’s worth mentioning if only because this study shows actual physical reasons for those effects. The other study that was presented at the above international mental health conference might be a bit of a bigger bummer.

Yeah, so that’s bad. It’s especially bad in that this isn’t the only study to link pot and schizophrenia. And while the results of this study may have been somewhat surprising to some, they raised questions for others.

Uhh, because it’s easier than getting a job, maybe?

All kidding aside, according to the National Institute of Mental Health schizophrenia effects as much as 1.1% of the American adult population. While that may not seem like a large slice of people, it’s enough to provide further ammunition for anti-legalization forces.

Legalization of marijuana is certainly a reasonable (and economically efficient) policy to pursue. But being reasonable and economically efficient isn’t going to help the decriminalization movement if advocates refuse to acknowledge that there is evidence that pot is not some kind of cure-all miracle drug. The only way legalization is ever going to happen in this country is if we have an honest, informed conversation of the positive and negative effects of smoking weed. Chalk these studies as two in the negative column.

While Subrosa thinks it’s very nice that you’d like to “blaze” with him, he’ll stick to his sweet, life-giving alcohol. Thanks anyway, hippie.

Bummer. That's a bummer, man.

you know what
i think that is BS
my husband is bipolar
did the meds
and they really fucked alot of other shit up
if he gets to smoke his herb the man is fine and deals with life just fine

yeah, obviously those doctors and scientists have no idea what they're talking about!

Duuuuuuude. It's a conspiracy. Go Ask Allison. Duh.

Nice Clockwork Orange still.

Until some TRUE progressives get elected to office, governmental bodies like the ONDCP and ATF etc, will always put propaganda and lies ahead of ANY true, honest discourse about the positive and negative aspects of drug prohibition or legalisation.

Decriminalizing is good.

Legal medication can also incite paranoia and psychosis. =/

Unfortunately, this is one more example of piss-poor science. They say that they're testing "pot", but they're only testing THC. There are over 70 cannabinoids that work synergisticly in cannabis. THC is the primairy psychoactive component of cannabis, so it gets the most study. However, "a separate study has shown that one of these ingredients - cannabidiol (CBD) - has the potential to dampen down psychotic symptoms, and could form the basis of new treatments". Funny how this study gets third billing.

No one serious about cannabis as medicine, herbally or otherwise, grows cannabis just for THC. If you do that, you're a simple stoner wanting to get high. Fine--whatever. Those people who truly understand cannabis are in it for more than just the high. They understand the complex interplay between cannabinoids, and how to taylor the plant growth to enhance some cannabinoids and/or minimize others.

Anyone with a highschool-level grasp of the scientific method understands just how flawed this research is. They say they're testing "pot". Bullshit. That's like saying they're testing the effects of eating a hamburger every day, but the study only provides you with the lettuce and the bun.

And by the way (and I say this in the most loving and compassionate way I can muster) a big patchouli-scented "fuck you" for the hippie comments. This kind of willfull ignorance is very quickly destrying the world. Sorry to harsh your snotty punk-assed mojo, but when it's time for the chemo, my hippie ass will still be here, helping you or a loved-one either a) get through the chemo without waisting to nothing, or b) die remotely peacefully and with some remnant of dignity...

what a load of b.s.

as usual.

The 1.1% schizophrenic figure is vastly inflated, mostly because the diagnostic statistical manual for mental illnesses is a joke. It takes practically nothing to fall into the category of a number of mental illnesses, and any of us could be diagnosed with a laundry list of them if a 'health professional' would care to try. The NIMH helps to spearhead this mass delusion.

For years the powers that be have been trying to scrape up the tiniest bit of evidence they can find to substantiate the legal status of marijuana, while simultaneously ignoring the effects of legal drugs, like alcohol and cigarettes, not to mention pharmacueticals which are a whole other sack of nails. st_even is correct, some of the things prescribed to people these days, especially schizophrenics and others who are percieved as having 'major' mental illnesses are quite disturbing.

and thank you for that, chimehouse

anecdotal evidence really isn't helpful to argue against a study conducted of hundreds of people.

Yeah, god forbid someone make a joke about hippies liking pot. TOO FAR, MAN!!

The problem is that for all its positive uses as medicine, the people who mostly want it legalized are people who just want license to smoke pot all the time. It doesn't really make for a convincing argument. I can't say it seems to be a good idea to use it in the long term...

dude..... wait....... what? are the cops really coming, or are you just fucking with me?


whoa..... not cool dude, NOT cool.

so wait.... is that a yes on the pretzels?

Well that and schizophrenia %u2260 bipolar disorder.

Just because I think they're out to get me doesn't mean it's not true.

The problem with our world is that it has become too scientific. People think that by plugging in variables and numbers and comparing and adding and subtracting and multiplying we can know everything, and it can't ever be refuted, and it has to be entirely correct. The problem with this is that we are suffocating ourselves with a plastic bag, as we cut all cords connecting us to nature and spirituality, in favor of a world that is focused solely on rigid efficiency. emotion gets pushed back in favor of a new set of feelings - feelings that are based on a simple equation that is replicated in every person sent through the machine.

This isn't intended to be a direct attack on you, the comment just brought some things to mind. Of course, I'm sure it will just get ignored. Oh well. I guess this thread just bothers me.

Beaten to it.

Assuming that %u2260 is the 'not equal to' sign.

eh, given that alcohol is legal, despite the reams of evidence as to its harmful effects, i don't really see why a license to smoke pot recreationally is a necessarily flawed argument.

if consenting adults want to do something that is potentially harmful but also potentially beneficial (with chronic pain and whatnot), that to me, is their right.

alcohol, tobaco, and Big Pharma's drugs are proven killers.
Is there one proven death from POT

all of the anti-depressants i took back in the day had horrible side-effects, far far worse than anything associated with the weed smoke. why not criminalize alcohol, tobacco & caffeine while we're at it?

part of being an advocate for legalisation involves using tactics that are used against it, such as refusal to believe certain fact when readily apparent......but cmon weed is know for making people paranoid and wiggy. i had a schizo friend who used to get high all the time. he was mostly harmless, all he would do is go yell at himself in the bathroom mirror for about an hour or so.......

Oh, how fucking clever of you...

Okay, fine. As an "editor", please feel free to delete my last attempt to defend who I am and what I do in an article that essentially leads with "smelly, boring and often annoyingly self-righteous", and address THE REST OF WHAT i SAID...

Oh, you know...

THE FACT PART...

On second thought, forget it. It's a waste of my time. I should know this by now. Once again, a number of folks here rush to illustrate to me that style (or lack-thereof) is more important that substance...

my point exactly.

subrosa is right that we need an honest discussion of the positive and negative affects of marijuana, and to ignore negative side effects is not going to help the debate.

but as far as the larger issue of legalization is concerned, i don't think that those negative effects that have been shown to exist, like with this study, are persuasive enough to justify continued criminalization. it seems like a cop-out argument convenient for those who oppose decriminalization or legalization.