Cannabis & Schizophrenia?
May 2, 2007 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
According to Reuters, doctors are making progress in determining a connection between heavy cannabis use (weed, pot, Mary Jane, marijuana – you get the picture) and the onset of psychosis and schizophrenia-like symptoms in a recent London report, Brain scans pinpoint cannabis mental health risk.
Thanks to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), professors Philip McGuire and Zerrin Atakan at London’s Institute of Psychiatry have determined tetrahydrocannabinol (THC – the compound found in cannabis) reduces frontal cortex functions, which could also negatively affect a person’s ability to control emotional and behavioral responses to particular situations.
“What THC seems to be doing is switching off that part of the brain, and that was associated with how paranoid people became,” McGuire told reporters.
The International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference at the Institute of Psychiatry (May 1 & 2) will present further information, including the connection between high doses of THC and symptoms similar to those of schizophrenia.
So, it seems that illegal plant you or your parents used to spark up in the back of that Chevy van headed to Woodstock may not have relieved as much stress as originally thought.
of course marijuana produces schizophrenic type symptoms. it’s a mild psychedelic. it has hallucinogenic properties and can cause paranoia. these symptoms usually fade after the drug wears off and have no long term affect if marijuana use is stopped.
Thanks for chiming in, Zoe. I think the main goal with this research in London was to actually see the effects marijuana has on the brain (using the brain scans), rather than just rely on the knowledge they already have of its psychedelic and hallucinogenic properties. In other words, the brain scans actually showed them what we’ve all known for a long time.
Too, the researchers focused more on the “newer” breeds of pot, and their effects.
What I was really interested in reading was that the researchers did indeed mention that some people are “vulnerable to long-term damage from modern skunk” – they didn’t elaborate, however.