Re: Link between cannabis dependency and mental illness

February 27, 2006

So, basically, because some people overdo it, they have a go at cannabis

again... when will they ban alcohol, then? Or TV, which can destroy

people minds, too, if watched to obsessively, or computer games, or

internet as such... weird world.

Lwaxy

February 28, 2006

Just for the record AS is not an " Illness " anymore than having blond

hair or blue eyes... Yes it is an atypical way to process

information... yes it can be a disability but it is not a disease...

it's a way of being...

I do agree with your point though that as long as you aren't hurting

some one else the people should not try to impose their morals on

others... Actually I think it's an NT thing to worry about what other

people to do...

Ender

At 06:12 PM 2/27/2006, you wrote:

>So, basically, because some people overdo it, they have a go at cannabis

>again... when will they ban alcohol, then? Or TV, which can destroy

>people minds, too, if watched to obsessively, or computer games, or

>internet as such... weird world.

>

>Lwaxy

February 28, 2006

There is no such thing as an N.T really, as there are so many types of people. Commonly persons say N.T is this and A.S is that is if labels are people. Other times people say what they donâ€™t like is an N.T thing, when persons with A.S may share a trait. It is not critically reasons nor subjected to subjectivism in articulates commonly viewed. Not logical entirely but the spectrum of people logics in ways of being are to subconsciously reinforce the group mentality and fitting in I suppose. Ender <ender@...> wrote: Just for the record AS is not an "Illness" anymore than having blond hair or blue eyes... Yes it is an atypical way to process information... yes it can be a disability but it is not a disease... it's a way of being... I do agree with

your point though that as long as you aren't hurting some one else the people should not try to impose their morals on others... Actually I think it's an NT thing to worry about what other people to do... Ender__________________________________________________

February 28, 2006

There is no such thing as an N.T really, as there are so many types of people. Commonly persons say N.T is this and A.S is that is if labels are people. Other times people say what they donâ€™t like is an N.T thing, when persons with A.S may share a trait. It is not critically reasons nor subjected to subjectivism in articulates commonly viewed. Not logical entirely but the spectrum of people logics in ways of being are to subconsciously reinforce the group mentality and fitting in I suppose. Ender <ender@...> wrote: Just for the record AS is not an "Illness" anymore than having blond hair or blue eyes... Yes it is an atypical way to process information... yes it can be a disability but it is not a disease... it's a way of being... I do agree with

your point though that as long as you aren't hurting some one else the people should not try to impose their morals on others... Actually I think it's an NT thing to worry about what other people to do... Ender__________________________________________________

February 28, 2006

Since this article was posted here, I'm assuming that it's ok to comment?

Article:

> As a series of new studies proves the link between cannabis

dependency and mental illness, an Observer investigation reveals the

plight of young users struggling to find help to deal with the

disturbing effects of a drug once considered 'safe'.

> Hrekow is 23, articulate, musically talented and academically

bright. In the past five years he has dropped out of two

universities and experienced two breakdowns. At the age of 19, after

several years of feeling depressed, anxious and increasingly

disconnected, he was diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, a form

of autism.

They're not indicating that he GOT AS from cannabis?? Most Aspies are

talented and bright AND feel depressed, anxious and disconnected in their

teens WITHOUT so much as coming near a drug.

> Signs of Asperger's include an inability to empathise or understand

other people's emotions, difficulty in tolerating change and

obsessional behaviour. In 's case, this obsessional behaviour

can mean periods of smoking cannabis for several days and nights at

a time. Since his teens, out of fear and frustration, has

tried to control every aspect of his mother 's life. He has also

become extremely violent to her, his father, , and younger

brother, Ben.

That is how some Aspies with ADHD or OCD may be with or without using drugs.

My sister was violent without taking as much as an aspirin.

> is the human face of a disturbing statistic revealed last

week - an alarming 40 per cent rise in hospital admissions for

mental ill-health prompted by cannabis use since 2001, when it was

first proposed to downgrade it from a Class B to Class C drug.

" Prompted by " ? Or was it there to begin with and the use of cannabis a form

of self-medication?

> A new study demonstrating the link between psychosis and cannabis -

written by Professor Tom - will be published in the Journal

of Psychiatry next month, adding yet more pressure on the government

to take a fresh look at the price paid by increasing numbers of

young people dependent on cannabis.

The consistently emotional verbiage of these statements instead of just

neutral reports indicate this is a paid-for PR article to elicit a specific

knee-jerk response in the reader. I prefer to form my own opinion based on

the facts presented.

> is just one example of this growing problem. 'When he's

violent, he bangs his head against the wall, punches and shakes me,

smashes furniture and cuts himself with kitchen knives,' says .

His parents have had to ask the police to remove their son from the

family home several times - and again this weekend, has been

abusive and threatening.

That is of course a serious problem. But again, something that some Aspies

and autistics do without any drug whatsoever. Though of course the drug

COULD be making it worse by further diminishing self-control and I think it

is also possible to be allergic/hypersensitive to some drugs.

> Last September, after 18 months in a residential unit,

decided to return to university. He was supposed to receive support

but none was forthcoming from the trust. After several weeks at

Goldsmiths College in London, he began to do what he has always

done, since the age of 15, to ease the pain of alienation - he began

to smoke cannabis excessively.

> 'When you're trying to live life as a normal person, and you're

stoned, you disguise yourself because you're pretty much out of it,'

says.

That feeling is probably something just about every Aspie - as well as many

other teens - feels around that age. If you want to prohibit drug use,

wouldn't it be logical to see what can be done to bridge that alienation?

> He gives a long and moving account of life with a cannabis

addiction. 'At first, with cannabis, it becomes so much easier to

float by unnoticed. But then you become paranoid.

I never became paranoid.

> You're quick to assume the world isn't going to make a place for you.

He should stick to what HE assumed and not assueme that everyone else would.

(I never felt overly at home in this world either but that was way before I

tried any drugs.)

> Through drugs, I've come close to destroying myself, but sometimes the

> only option is to be in this oblivious state, trying to get a break from

> the pressure. But it's no break at all really.

True enough. Drugs never solve any problems. They just offer temporary

relief. Though for some, that relief is what keeps them going nuts.

> 'In my teens I used to champion cannabis but once you've taken

yourself to places I've taken myself to, you can't hide from what

your brain felt. Now, I don't get a high at all. Instead, my brain

hurts so much, and I don't sleep for days. It goes wrong so quickly

that what's going on internally becomes visible to everyone and

that's frightening for me. No one at 23 who's been into cannabis for

years can get away with saying it doesn't mess your head up.

That is entirely individual. Though I stopped at 23 because I felt it was

affecting my digestion, it did not mess my head up at all in those three

years I smoked. On the contrary, it was the one thing that helped me sleep

at night and rewind enough after work/on weekends to be able to wake up

refreshed and do my job with excellence and get promoted.

> If you're smart and have potential and you do drugs for too long, it

takes you further away from a healthy balanced way of living which

is what you secretly wanted in the first place - with that first joint.'

Probably true, IF you overdo it. Just like not everyone who drinks regularly

becomes an alcoholic, and some react decidedly weirdly to alcohol, the same

goes for cannabis or any other drug. Some can smoke a little now and then

and not experience any problems at all.

But many Aspies have a tendency towards all-or-nothing and a supersensitive

nervous system that MAY react funny and/or more easily get addicted to any

drug (including sugar, caffeine, alcohol and medicines) should probably be

extra careful with both legal and illegal drugs.

> In 2001, 490 patients were admitted to hospital as a result of

excessive use of cannabis.

Note " excessive " . Anything done in excess can be dangerous.

> There were 710 admissions in each of the

past two years. Several recent studies have demonstrated the links

between cannabis and schizophrenia. Professor Robin Murray, a

consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in south London and

one of the leading researchers in the field, estimates that 25,000

of the 250,000 people with schizophrenia in the UK could have

avoided the illness if they had not used of cannabis.

That could actually be true. Cannabis does open up your energy fields and

energy centers, and if those are already thin or open to begin with they

might become TOO thin and open one up to a premature, artificially induced

clairvoyance or other psychic experiences that the person may not be capable

of handling unless it is innate or comes as a natural result of spiritual

evolution or aspiration. Something similar happens in delirium tremens where

the etheric web that usually protects one from percieving astral phonomena

has been destroyed by the excessive use of alcohol.

> In addition, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD),

in a report to Home Secretary e arguing against

reclassification, suggested for the first time that cannabis may not

only cause schizophrenia in those with pre-existing mental

conditions, but could also exacerbate a range of other mental health

problems.

> In the UK, 250,000 people experience psychosis - a term that refers

to symptoms including delusions and hallucinations, rather than a

specific diagnosis. 'Five years ago, 95 per cent of psychiatrists

would have said cannabis doesn't cause psychosis,' says

Murray. 'Now, I would estimate 95 per cent say it does. It's a quiet

epidemic.'

The percentage of OPINIONS does not impress me, only actual proof. It has

always been known that it is POSSIBLE for some sensitive individuals to have

adverse reaction to cannabis. I've only met two people who had a hasch

psychosis first time they tried it. That was enough for them to avoid it and

they were fine once the effect passed. One is a diagnosed Aspie, the other

is also atypical.

> Steve Hammond, the 27-year-old son of mental health worker, Terry,

began smoking cannabis at 16, graduated to smoking up to 10 joints a

night over weekends, then, in his twenties, was diagnosed as

schizophrenic.

10 per night?? :-o Ack! That's way too much!

> 'Steve was a brilliant sportsman: a gifted footballer, a superb

runner, a natural athlete,' says his father. 'Now, he is just a

shadow, a recluse. This is definitely an emerging issue. Everyone

knows a " dope head " who has used cannabis, the " safe " drug. It's not

just the number of cases of schizophrenia and psychosis that's a

concern, it's the thousands upon thousands who have lost a future.'

Well, that's a risk with any drug used in excess. That's why it's safest to

avoid drugs altogether if you're a personality type that can't do things in

moderation.

> The ACMD report says that 'the mental-health effects of cannabis

are real and significant'. While it is true to say that many millions of

people have used cannabis moderately without impairment to their

daily lives, can we afford to ignore the hike in hospital admissions?

Can we afford to ignore the never-decreasing effects of alcohol and the

dramatically increased gambling-dependency?

> And have a number of recent court cases dealing with horrifically

violent crimes involving cannabis raised us from years of torpor

about the use of cannabis? Earlier this month, , aged

21, was given an indefinite jail sentence after beating Voice,

the mother of his former girlfriend, so severely that she needed 11

operations. 'He smashed my skull, my nose was a pulp... he smashed

my eye sockets and my eye was hanging out,' Voice said. Medical

experts said had been suffering from 'cannabis-induced

psychosis'.

Ugh! That must surely be a very unusual adverse reaction, or this person was

demented to begin with. The normal effect of cannabis is to make you more

peaceful and happy. Alcohol I think is the drug that has the highest number

of cases of violence connected with it?

> e promised last month to 'implement energetically'

the three main recommendations of ACMD - a 'substantial' education

campaign, strengthened medical services for those dependent on

cannabis and further research into the implications of cannabis use -

although whether there will be sufficient funding is extremely

doubtful. In 2005, France spent £2 million to educate young people

about cannabis. In comparison, a recent British public health

campaign on the same issue received £230,000.

Why just cannabis? What about ecstacy, alcohol, heroin, sugar and other

drugs? Though I think it is good to inform of POSSIBLE adverse effects on

especially susceptible individuals, the danger of exaggerated cannabis

fright campaigns is that some will try it anyway, find it more or less

harmless in 99% of the cases and make the erroneous conclusion that this is

the same with all other drugs as well.

> Next month, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse

is launching its Young People's Effectiveness Strategy for under 18s.

Professionals say it is impossible for the strategy to encompass

excessive cannabis use because so little is known about it - who is

using it, how often, why some individuals appear more vulnerable

than others to its effects and how many are seriously impaired. Nor

do we know enough about what works in terms of 'education'. What is

certain is that, in many parts of Britain, a young person with

cannabis problem would be very fortunate indeed to find effective

help. Heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine have a more established link

to crime and death, so receive a far higher priority in public

policy. Cannabis may lay waste to lives, but often the casualties

suffer a lifetime of delusion and reclusiveness while their families

privately mourn their loss.

Well, good if those who want to stop smoking can get the same help as other

drug users. But is the reclusiveness always a result of smoking or could it

be that it is the drug of choice of sensitive introverts who would have been

reclusive anyway?

> For years, the debate on cannabis has progressed little. 'The issue

has been polarised between those who argue that if everyone smokes

it, it will lead to world peace and those who believe that a few

spliffs may send you psychotic,' says Dr Luke Mitcheson, a clinical

psychologist. 'That shows a deep immaturity in the face of

increasing evidence that we need a far more sensitive dialogue.'

This I agree with.

> Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance around the world,

particularly among young adults. Users are smoking it from a younger

age and in larger quantities for longer, not least because young

people today have more ready cash than their Sixties counterparts

did and a small quantity of cannabis is now cheaper than a packet of

cigarettes or a couple of pints.

Starting young with ANYTHING - including legal drugs - is probably not a

good idea.

> There has been a staggering 70 per cent increase in teenage mental-

health problems since 1974, according to the Institute of

Psychiatry. Young people in the UK use more cannabis than their

peers on the continent. In the UK, latest statistics reveal that 1

per cent of all 11-year-olds, 17 per cent of 14-year-olds and 26 per

cent of 15-year-olds used cannabis last year.

Is it only because they have more cash, or is it that there is more pressure

and alienation today that makes more and more kids dependent on both legal

and illegal drugs?

> Cannabis, or marijuana, comes in different forms. Hash, the resin

of the plant, is less expensive than grass or weed, which is the

plant's dried leaves. 'Skunk', at around £200 an ounce, is herbal

cannabis grown from selected seeds by intensive indoor methods.

Skunk is twice as potent, on average, than hash or weed.

> Some say the increase in psychosis and schizophrenia is because

skunk is more readily available and easier to obtain than hash or

grass, but other professionals believe that the market is simply

responding to demand for the more 'mind-blowing' version. The ACMD

said that the evidence on whether 'skunk' was playing a major part

in the apparent increase in psychosis was 'unclear' because, there

was 'too little information about the potency and pattern of use of

cannabis by consumers'.

That's interesting. Perhaps this is like the difference between wine/beer

and strong booze? Though both can be detrimental with prolonged use, isn't

strong liquor many times more likely to result in violence, ruined liver and

other seriously harmful effects? I have family members who can drink any

amount of wine and not even appear tipsy, but who will turn decidedly weird

and aggressive on even one glass of strong liquor and hardly remember it the

next day.

> Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience show, contrary to earlier

research, that even in adolescence the brain is still developing. A

paper to be published soon as part of a campaign by the charity

YoungMinds, explains how the frontal cortex - where this development

takes place - is essential for functions such as response

inhibition, emotional regulation, analysing problems and planning.

In which case one should think twice before medicating children and teens.

> Research also shows that sustained use of cannabis over several

years may result in cognitive impairment, affecting memory,

attention and the organisation and integration of complex

information.

Interesting.

> Several controversial key studies have recently shown the impact of

juvenile cannabis use. One, carried out by Murray and the University

of Otago in New Zealand, followed a group of 750 adolescents over 15

years and found that those who had smoked cannabis at age 15 were

four and half times more likely to be schizophrenic at age 26.

Hm.

> " He is greedy, lazy, selfish and unbearable. As well as treating

myself and my family unfairly, he has no control over his anger,

also becomes obsessed with the slightest things, for example:

switching the computer off every time it is not in use; pacing

around the house; and making pots of tea. "

Gee, how terrible... (Sounds more like an Aspie than a weed-induced

schizophrenic.)

> · Cannabis was banned in 1928 after a Chinese musician was accused

of giving hashish to three women found near-naked in his flat in Cardiff.

LOL! That was the lamest excuse for a ban I've ever heard! How many women

have been found more than NEAR naked after being given a drink?

Inger - NOT propagating for use of any drug, just trying to keep a balanced

view

February 28, 2006