Question:
Cannabis use is a serious risk factor for schizophrenia in teenagers?
Answer:
http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3226588a10,00.html This is not a CCHR post, they have no monopoly on issues of mental health
and drug abuse, but merely a reference to recent research which indicates
strongly that cannabis use by young people carries a significant risk of
triggering schizophrenia in those with a particular genetic predisposition.
This is worrying in the current climate where politicians seem ready to
relax the laws on the supply and possession of cannabis.
It is difficult to strike a balance between individual rights and the
protection of the community, but as schizophrenia is a devastating illness,
that at present can only be controlled not cured, it would seem prudent to
note the words of Dr Jim van Os, of the University of Maastricht,
"...governments should focus on keeping cannabis out of the hands of
teenagers." Research carried out on New Zealand teenagers has confirmed cannabis use is
a serious risk factor for schizophrenia.
"There is a small but significant minority of people who have a
predisposition to psychosis and who would be well advised to steer clear of
cannabis," a Dutch researcher, Jim van Os, said in the latest New Scientist
magazine, due to be published next Saturday.
Dr van Os, a psychiatrist at the University of Maastricht, investigates the
effect of marijuana on people's brains - particularly adolescents' brains.
He and other researchers have been building a scientific case that, for some
teenagers, smoking cannabis leads to serious mental health problems in later
life, including schizophrenia.
Dr van Os said claims that marijuana is responsible for up to 13 per cent of
schizophrenia cases in the Netherlands. He said the figure will only
increase because cannabis use among teenagers was increasing in many
countries, the age at first use was falling and the strength of cannabis was
rising.
Part of the research is based on a study that followed 759 people born in
Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1972 and 1973 and was reported in the British
Medical Journal.
After carefully controlling for self-medication and other confounding
factors, researchers found that those who had smoked cannabis three times or
more before the age of 15 were much more likely to suffer symptoms of
schizophrenia by the time they were 26 - they had a 10 per cent chance
compared with 3 per cent for the general population.
The team concluded that there was a vulnerable minority of teenagers for
whom cannabis is harmful.
"We're not saying that cannabis is the major cause of schizophrenia," said
Robin Murray of the Institute of Psychiatry in London says Murray, who led
the study. "But it's a risk factor."
"I don't think we can deny it any longer," said epidemiologist Mary Cannon
of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, based in Dublin, who helped
carry out the New Zealand study. "Cannabis is part of the cause of
schizophrenia."
And late last year Dr van Os and his team brought out further results
following a group of nearly 2500 14 to 24-year-olds living in and around
Munich, Germany, over four years. They found that, overall, smoking cannabis
as an adolescent moderately raised the risk of developing signs of psychosis
later on, from 16 per cent to 25 per cent.
But when they focused on individuals who were known to be susceptible to
psychosis - those who were showing signs of disturbed thought processes by
age 11 - they found a much stronger link.
Susceptible individuals who avoided cannabis had a 25 per cent chance of
developing psychosis. Susceptible individuals who smoked it had a 50 per
cent risk. And the more cannabis they smoked, and the earlier they smoked
it, the worse the outcome.
In the Netherlands, the findings have fuelled a growing clamour for reform
of the laws regulating drug use. In Britain, Dr van Os's findings have been
seized upon by politicians, tabloid newspapers and mental-health lobby
groups who want drug laws tightened up.
A mental-health charity, Sane, has called for the reclassification of
cannabis to be reversed. And the British Government recently acknowledged
the link in its strongest terms yet, when it said in a press release that
cannabis was an "important causal factor" in mental illness.
The New Scientist reported that, compared with substances like heroin and
crack cocaine, cannabis was seen by many people as relatively harmless, and
in the UK marijuana was downgraded from a class B to a class C drug last
year, meaning people caught with small quantities were not usually arrested.
New Scientist reported one research avenue that may shed further light on
the matter was to look at whether genes are involved.
In the New Zealand study, the number of people who had smoked dope on three
occasions by the age of 15 was just 29, and only three went on to develop
psychosis, but Dr Cannon's research team recently re-analysed the data from
it.
This time, they added in in another variable - genetic predisposition to
schizophrenia.
The gene they investigated, called COMT, encodes an enzyme
(catechol-O-methyl transferase) that breaks down a signalling chemical in
the brain called dopamine. COMT comes in two forms, one of which is
marginally more common in people with schizophrenia and is thought to be a
risk factor for the disease.
The results were crystal clear.
The team found that in New Zealanders with two copies of the "normal"
version of COMT, smoking cannabis had little effect on their mental health.
In people with one normal and one "bad" form of the gene, smoking cannabis
slightly increased their risk of psychosis.
But for people with two copies of the bad gene, cannabis spelled trouble:
smoking it as a teenager increased their likelihood of developing psychosis
by a factor of 10.
The results have not yet been published, and Dr Cannon warned that they
needed replicating, but even so she said: "This is a very large effect,
similar to the size of smoking and lung cancer. This is a very significant
finding."
What should be done about it, however, remained an open question. Dr van Os
told New Scientist that teenagers with a personal or family history of
mental illness should be urged to steer clear of the drug. He also advocated
legal changes: governments should focus on keeping cannabis out of the hands
of teenagers.
Politicians follow public opinion on illegal drugs, no matter how idiotic
that might be. They stopped listening to scientists, doctors or anyone
rational on this subject many years ago. There is a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting you are right
on this topic. Also that tetrahydrocanabinol (THC the active agent in
cannabis) could be an etiological riskfactor ( causative) in it self in
a number of schizophrenic cases. Cannabis is a very dangerous drug specially for younger individuals.
The drug can change and damage your normal and healthy personality
permanently, it makes you stupid,passive,introverted,dull,numbes your
senses, and so on and soforth. And this is besides the risk of
developing an acute psychotic state wich in some cases can be chronic.
THC is also a fatsoluble compound and regarding the brain,that in about
70% is fat (glia cells) THC , if ingested or inhaled, is stored in your
brain for the rest of your life. Small portiens are excreted over the
years , but residues of the drug will stay.
The only drug I can think of more dangerous than cannabis, is alcohol.
And do not believe the bullshit told by Narconon about enhancing
drugelimination with overdoses of vitamine and sauna, and physical
excercises , eg, the purification rundown. It is a scam and bullshit
story without any kind of scientifical evidence. On the contrary ,
there is evidence on serious
healthrisks with this program.
It is a well known statistical fact that "lighter" drugs such as
cannnabis for some individuals , is a gateway to heavier drugs and
addiction.
In my opinion , based on personal experience, the greatest "kick" you
can get in life, is from your normal, natural senses and emotions. And
it is free!
