Psychotic Potheads

I'm all for finding out the real risks involved an activity, so that people can make an informed decision. But when there is a tone of scaremongering I become suspicious of the real motives behind the research. I could for example say Queen's University researcher connects cycling and death. Then again we live in paranoid, safety-crazed times.

Techne said:
To make things worse:
Queen's University researcher connects cannabis use and sexual dysfunction
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This one sounds particularly unlikely. It reminds me of all the ridiculous scaremongering about it reducing fertility.

To make things better:
New UK study suggests minimal relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis
 
Well done joelus, I didn't know you were trying to pwn me ROFL, whatever that is supposed to mean in the context of discussing the correlation between smoking pot and psychosis and the plausible mechanism for explaining this correlation.
 
Based on how many people I know, and have known who smoke/used to smoke (many) and my own over a decade of having used cannabis (although, done with that now), I have to admit, I have only seen 2 people with any sort of serious mental problems, and there's no reason to think cannabis had anything to do with it, or not.

There are absolutely millions of people who use cannabis around the world, if it was causing them to go mad, there'd be some sort of obvious indication I'd imagine. :rolleyes:

I struggle to take this entirely seriously based on, well, observable reality.

*edit*

Of course, cannabis is a psychoactive substance, so it certainly will have some effect on a person's brain chemistry, and as far as I know it has been suggested that it is not a good idea for a young person to use it (although this should be obvious) as well as having the potential to unveil a predisposition to mental illness, but again, this should be obvious.
 
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copacetic said:
Based on how many people I know, and have known who smoke/used to smoke (many) and my own over a decade of having used cannabis (although, done with that now), I have to admit, I have only seen 2 people with any sort of serious mental problems, and there's no reason to think cannabis had anything to do with it, or not.

There are absolutely millions of people who use cannabis around the world, if it was causing them to go mad, there'd be some sort of obvious indication.

I struggle to take this entirely seriously based on, well, observable reality.
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So you are basically taking your own subjective view over scientific studies? Why in this case?
 
copacetic said:
Based on how many people I know, and have known who smoke/used to smoke (many) and my own over a decade of having used cannabis (although, done with that now), I have to admit, I have only seen 2 people with any sort of serious mental problems, and there's no reason to think cannabis had anything to do with it, or not.

There are absolutely millions of people who use cannabis around the world, if it was causing them to go mad, there'd be some sort of obvious indication I'd imagine. :rolleyes:

I struggle to take this entirely seriously based on, well, observable reality.

*edit*

Of course, cannabis is a psychoactive substance, so it certainly will have some effect on a person's brain chemistry, and as far as I know it has been suggested that it is not a good idea for a young person to use it (although this should be obvious) as well as having the potential to unveil a predisposition to mental illness, but again, this should be obvious.
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Based on personal observation and experience of many weed smoking friends and 29 years of personal experience with weed, I agree with you, only one of the many I've known are slightly psychotic and that's me lol and in all my years, I've never hallucinated on weed, just calmed down from being manic and of course plenty of munchies.

The worst but worst of all bad effects of weed is : procrastination
 
Techne said:
Well done joelus, I didn't know you were trying to pwn me ROFL, whatever that is supposed to mean in the context of discussing the correlation between smoking pot and psychosis and the plausible mechanism for explaining this correlation.
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I wasn't trying to pwn anyone - we were, as you say, discussing the correlation between smoking pot and psychosis - no pwn involved!
I am trying to dismiss the idea that this study shows that smoking cannabis causes psychosis.
I don't think you ever claimed that though so it wasn't directed at you personally
 
Techne said:
So you are basically taking your own subjective view over scientific studies? Why in this case?
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If I was going to construct my reality around scientific studies, I could (as many people do - Global warming being a good example) find studies to support just about any viewpoint I wish.

This is a daft way to find out the truth of anything.

I simply said that in my experience, your alarmist thread title does not gel with my (fairly extensive) experiences and observations.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying the study is incorrect, I've no-idea as I have not read it. I'll just be taking it with a pinch of salt for the moment is all.

MiyagiDono said:
Doesn't cannabis kill brain cells?
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No.
 
I guess there is such a thing as disconfirmation bias:
The results illustrated that people set higher standards of evidence for hypotheses that go against their current expectations. This effect, known as "disconfirmation bias", has been supported by other experiments.
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And some posts in this thread demonstrate it beautifully.
 
So now why is there all this negative publicity surrounding cannabis, and why was it banned, especially when you consider that drinking alcohol is still legal?
 
copacetic said:
If I was going to construct my reality around scientific studies, I could (as many people do - Global warming being a good example) find studies to support just about any viewpoint I wish.

This is a daft way to find out the truth of anything.

I simply said that in my experience, your alarmist thread title does not gel with my (fairly extensive) experiences and observations.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying the study is incorrect, I've no-idea as I have not read it. I'll just be taking it with a pinch of salt for the moment is all.
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Dude your point of view didn't clash with the study anyway as far as I could tell. The study just demonstrates that cannabis usage is related to higher incidences of psychosis. You were saying there is nothing to suggest that cannabis caused your friend's psychosis... there isn't. This study doesn't demonstrate that cannabis usage causes psychosis, just that there is a correlation.

Anyway hope that helped.

Also remember that the term "psychosis" is a massively far reaching term and many totally unrelated conditions can fall under the banner of psychosis meaning that while people may be experiencing psychosis that doesn't mean they're all the same illness. Psychosis can be caused by adverse reactions to medication so the term is almost useless in a study like this.
 
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MiyagiDono said:
So now why is there all this negative publicity surrounding cannabis, and why was it banned, especially when you consider that drinking alcohol is still legal?
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It was banned by white racists to control Mexicans. The original lie was that weed gave Mexicans super human strength and turned them into blood thirsty killers. Since it was mostly hard working mexicans that smoked it, it was soon used as a tool to control them.
 
MiyagiDono said:
Doesn't cannabis kill brain cells?
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Nope, not in my case, in fact I'm experiencing an increase in neurological alertness in the last decade.
Short term memory loss while using weed is normal, but within 3 - 5 days of not smoking weed, memory returns to normal.

I am however bipolar and I do not have normal neurological functioning to begin with and weed is my medicinal mood stabiliser.
 
MiyagiDono said:
Doesn't cannabis kill brain cells?
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The evidence to date shows the opposite.

Techne said:
I guess there is such a thing as disconfirmation bias:
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Confirmation bias is a problem, particularly when researching a controversial and propaganda laden topic like illegal drugs. How does a researcher interpret their results in a neutral manner if they've swallowed the propaganda? And equally how can they do it if they go in believing drugs are completely harmless?

And some posts in this thread demonstrate it beautifully.
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Your headline and original post being the first examples.
 
w1z4rd said:
It was banned by white racists to control Mexicans. The original lie was that weed gave Mexicans super human strength and turned them into blood thirsty killers. Since it was mostly hard working mexicans that smoked it, it was soon used as a tool to control them.
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Thanks for clearing that up, I knew there was a proper scientific explanation.
 
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