Thank you, I loled!

Another pointless study yields obvious results.

everyone knows that cheeseburgers make you fat though. a lot of people would deny that cannabis is bad. its different, ye know?

Well I heard years ago cannabis use in adolescence caused problems, so not or me. Plus common sense dictates that teens shouldn’t be doing dugs, be it alcohol or other drugs, as they don’t, in the vast majority of cases, have the common sense to do so in moderation and don’t fully appreciate the affects.

I think you have missed the significance of this report. Studies in the past have shown a relation between schizophrenia and cannabis use. From the findings Psychiatrists could guess which region of the brain was effected. These results have traced the effects of cannabis use, to interaction with a single gene. This means prescribing treatment for patients effected by narcotic induced Schizophrenia can now be administered in a way which will guarantee success. This is a major leap forward from the trial and error chemical drug therapy that currently exists.

I prefer to handle the cause of a problem not to treat the symptoms. But I do see what you’re saying.

I think Aidan has just hit the nail on the head there – adolescents shouldn’t be using any sort of drug at all.
In addition to the very nature of adolescence, which brings enough changes of its own, they are not renound for respecting their own limits, and that is a recipe for disaster whatever the drug is.

Glen Grehan you appear to be a font of knowledge perhaps you can tell us what exactly is schizophrenia, what causes it and how do you test for it? If you’re suggesting cannabis use is directly responsible for it on the basis of one study in rodents who don’t suffer mental illness like humans (they don’t have higher consciousness) what causes schizophrenia in people who have never smoke weed?

How do they know if a mouse is schizophrenic anyway? ;)

They run the opposite way in the wheel.

Don’t forgot tobacco!
emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease all available at your local newsagent in a convenient 20 pack @ €6.71 for the revenue, welcome to flavour country!

Thats all true but cannabis can cause mental health problems so it needs debate. I have seen people so messed up on drugs including cannabis they had a condition which was drug induced bi polar. Its not meant to insult anybody but if you take drugs including alcohol you are rolling the dice. If you can live with the fact that you could end up with mental health problems carry on. As someone with mental health problems I would prefer not to have them your choice.

100% agree with Michael. Seen drug induced bi polar myself. Several times. And the only drug involved was cannabis.

Alcohol causes mental health problems too! How many ordinarily law abiding people appear in court for alcohol induced public order offences?
Alcohol induced bi polar anyone?
Cannabis in moderation is no more harmful than alcohol in moderation.

True Caroline but I never said alcohol was safe. You say in moderation its ok. Give me a number for moderation.

That’s up to individuals!
You object to Cannabis on mental health grounds because of personal reasons, I respect that. I do not drink alcohol or smoke for my own reasons but I respect anyone who chooses to do so
If we’re going to educate children on the evils of drugs lets do the same with alcohol & Tobacco.
Then let educated adults make their own choices

@Michael http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-and-you/health/how-much-is-too-much

Y’know, I was depressed once.. I went to the doc who gave me SSRIs – which made me go crazy, then after nearly killing myself I got put on SNRIs, which made me manic then dysphoric – I was told I was type II bi polar..

I stopped taking the drugs. I started eating right, making sure I was getting plenty of b complex and magnesium, and guess what?
I’m discharged, cured if you will.. Doctor had zero to do with it – except for making the problem worse..

I’m inclined to take a lot of research into mental health with a pinch of salt because they routinely ignore the fact that low levels of certain nutrients cause the exact same symptoms as several “psychiatric disorders”, even schizophrenia.

@ Caroline, you say “Cannabis in moderation is no more harmful than alcohol in moderation”, have you got anything to back that statement up?

Plus the tax on alcohol as well

“in over 10000 years of usage, how many people have died from smoking cannabis?”

Answer: Zero, Ziltch, Nada.

I officially give you Two Thumbs Up!

He gets 3 thumbs up from me! The man speaks sense.

Have a look at research of cannabinoids in the human system and this should shed some light on the cancer thing for you.

Agreed – even if one is to read the article it states:
“Dr Behan said the study showed how genetic, developmental and environmental factors interact to affect brain function in schizophrenia.”

This statement is very telling. They weren’t researching whether cannabis causes schizophrenia, they were observing myriad factors and somehow the author (and no doubt every outlet reporting on this) jumped to the conclusion that cannabis was somehow a causative factor.

Besides the fact that one study never really “proves” anything, it’s only when a large number of studies reach the same conclusion that it’s considered proven. According to Ben Goldacre there’s over 600,000 ways to cook trial data. According to Richard Smith up to 99% of what goes in med journals is later proven wrong. And another poster above pointed out that the study may have been conducted on MICE..

This should all be borne in mind when reading articles such as the one above.

I think your conclusion is correct!

Yes you might have a point but what is moderation hows it measured. Apparently if you smoke a couple of joints every weekend this is enough to do damage. The arguement for people that may have had mental health problems anyway & cannabis just sealed their fate is a none runner for me. Mental health problems have exploded since the increase of recreational drug use. Thats a fact. Again its a debate that needs to happen. It may be that these drugs can have benefits but all the information should be put out there. Information is the greatest weapon.

Mental health problems have not exploded because of recreational drug use, where did you get that?
People have been using cannabis and magic mushrooms and cacti etc since humans evolved, maybe even before – there is a hypothesis that they could have contributed to our evolution.

Mental health problems have exploded since the APA started voting conditions into the DSM, they went from 4 basic conditions to about 300 over the past few decades, all diagnosed on symptomology alone. Psychiatrists have been put in schools in the US to get ‘em while they’re young, and since they started advertising anti depressants on the TV over there their use doubled in 10 years – ever eager to expand their market (and extend the patent), Prozac is now even marketed to dogs (Reconcile).

The rise in mental health problems has come from the broadening of the scope of what’s considered a mental illness. Some of the “disorders” in the DSM are questionable, and there’s no test for any of them, just a symptom checklist, many of which overlap.
The early stages of type 2 diabetes can present as mental health problems, as can certain nutritional deficiencies, and then there’s the environmental causes such as stress and bullying etc – how a drug is supposed to treat any of those things is beyond me.

@ Michael, here’s an interesting little study done by Keele Uni which completely disagrees with what you say about the increase in drug use and mental illness

http://ukcia.org/wordpress/?p=76

what a waste of resources just google drugs and mental issues there’s hundreds of pages relating to this some in more detail

Connor I dont accept the government conspiracy stuff. Go to your local mental hospital the evidence is clear. Im not saying not to legalise cannibis Im saying its harmful to your mental health as is alcohol. Just make your choiced based on that information.

Michael – It’s not a “conspiracy” in the “tin-foil hat” sense you are trying to imply. It’s a cold hard fact about the way private interest groups lobby governments the world over. Read an introductory politics text book and see how lobbyists manipulate policy at every turn. Democracy my feckin eye…..

Conor have you been to these hospitals?

Michael, have you looked at all those patients charts? Measured their blood serum levels of essential nutrients? Done hormone panels? MRIs to rule out forms of epilepsy etc? Taken a full detailed history from them? Seen what other drugs they may be taking (eg prescribed medications) and checked the side effects from any prescribed meds?

If not then I’m afraid you cannot truly comment as to whether the cause is truly the drug use or whether the drug use is symptomatic of something else.

Conor your right, there are underlining problems and for anyone else I know what the inside of a mental hospital looks like

It’s so frustrating, how do many people still fall for the anti-weed propaganda. If these idiots were capable of independent thought, they would see through the ridiculous lies that are put out about weed. If they’d only have a toke, then perhaps they would actually be capable of independent thought!

Yes conor unfortunately for me I have been in these hospitals a lot. And Im not trying to influence the arguements for allowing people to use cannibis or alcohol but the evidence is there that it damages your mental health thats all im saying. Now you have the information so you make the choice. Im not judging.

Shizophrenia is usually bad…

I understand that, what I mean is if it helps or if it makes it worse.

How long di you have conor & I never said I was visiting. Why are you so defensive
. If you believe your own information why be so defensive. I have seen it. I have the.experience from all sides all you seem to have is.an ideology. If your serious in backing up your arguement take a fact.finding trip to a hospital.

Cannabis is a hallucinogenic?

Doesn’t ingest mean eat as opposed to smoking which would be to inhale?!?!

I suppose it does mean eat primarily. B7584 yes THC is an hallucinogen, its not hallucinogenic in the sense that you start to hear colours or belief your hands are now squirrels gnawing at your wrists but it is an hallucinogen.

I doubt the claim would be that the smoking of it exclusively was the cause though anyway.

@Oisin

Did you know THC is produced in the brain?
http://phys.org/news100446420.html

So it wont have me “tripping balls”?…Awh

My comment was speaking to the fact the article says literally nothing other than a very loose attempt at making a connection between schizophrenia and cannabis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_vLk1I6G4&feature=youtube_gdata_player this could happen to YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t help but laugh at these ‘studies’

Which aspect do you not like?

Which aspect of weed?none! I love weed,it’s the miracle herb! It’s got so many pros to it that it’s completely pointless trying to list it out here. Read the thousands of other studies that show it only opens the door for people already predisposed to mental health issues.

Cheers!

No comment from Ming on this, suprised as an advocate of legalising blow in Ireland you would imagine he would be at the front line to defend his lifestyle choice,Dope is for dopes !!!!!!

Unless you’ve some kind of medical disorder like MS heywood

If cannabis were to be legalised, or more accurately – decriminalised, it would still need to be regulated. It’s sale should still be restricted to ADULTS only, like alcohol (which carries far more health concerns btw)
Anything can affect an adolescent brain negatively, the same applies to childhood. This is why many medications (especially psychiatric ones) are not intended for use in adolescents.

It’s also worth noting that this is ONE study looking at combining factors such as genetics and environment, so to land the blame squarely on one thing is premature.
Aside from the vagueness of the report, whether or not it can be recreated independently is another matter. The use of the word “prove” is dubious in this context.

Dope makes you crazy research stories have been circulating in the media forever. of course what no journalist reports is that this research wasn’t conducted in human beings at all it was carried out on in lab mice not even stoned schizophrenic lab mice just mice missing an enzyme that some scientists suggest may be linked to schizophrenia, assuming we can establish what schizophrenia is to begin with as may not even be a genetic illness. Point I’m making is some scientists conduct research from a particular perspective and it gets a lot of press coverage because it’s suits a political agenda, i.e. to demonise marijuana. Of course the media never question it, and people never question the media, and before long everyone believes weed makes you mad, be cause the scientists proved it does.

Thumbs up for choosing Legalising Cannabis that could generate OVER 476 MILlION EUROS over….the household TAX.

Ming Flanagan has hit the nail on the head with this one for sure!

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ming-tells-rally-legal-cannabis-can-raise-476m-3101776.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMM_T_PJ0Rs

After a carefull study at university of mensah mensah,it was found out that cigarette smoking cause’s cancer and can cut your adult life in half…oh please how long are they gonna keep this going

You looking at the journal through a iPhone ?

Wierd… Only showing all comments sometimes on my screen…hmmmm