New Harvard Study: "Teens who smoke pot at risk for later schizophrenia, psychosis
 

This Harvard study was published in the Journal Of Nuroscience. As I heard it explained on the radio, 1 to 7 joints per week can cause permanent brain damage in young people whose brains are not yet fully developed. The average IQ is about 100 and smoking pot can cause a permanent decline of about 8 points. If one starts with a lower than average IQ, they could end up with a near moron IQ.

Some teens already smoke pot. But if it becomes legal for adults, it will only encourage more teenage pot smoking, not less. Anything that becomes more commonly used will seem more acceptable. And it will be more available too.

To learn more, search the following: Teens who smoke pot at risk for later schizophrenia, psychosis

Will this change anyones mind? Duh? :shrug:

I will ask the same of seniors that drink alcohol.
NIHSeniorHealth: Alcohol Use and Older Adults - How Alcohol Affects the Body
Will this change anyones mind? Duh? :shrug:

heck, edited...so I can say scuze me....I didn't see word "pot" on first read...

IMO, nicotine is a treatment for schizophrenia.
I learned firsthand from social work w/victims of schiz.
Others have noticed the effect too:
Nicotine Therapy for Schizophrenia? | Psych Central News

What I take from your post is, let the professionals handle this. I think marijuana has more uses in medical treatment than does vodka, yet, I rarely hear seniors calling for it to be outlawed.

Changing the subject is a good technique. Should I bite? Nah. I think we all know the risks of drinking alchohol. And we're not talking about medical marijuana. We're talking about legalizing marijuana and how it will most likely become more commonly used by teenagers.

If teens see their grandparents, parents, older siblings, Aunts and Uncles etc. smoking pot, it will seem harmless and fun to them. And it will be more available. It will be everywhere. This will envitably result in many more teens smoking pot, as the stigma will be gone. So there will likely be many more brain dammaged teens to look forward to in the future.

Your right.

Wouldn't it be better to not develop schizophrenia in the first place?

It would appear that pot does Not cause skits.

Does Marijuana Use Cause Lasting Schizophrenia, Psychosis, or Other Mental Disorders? - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org

I have read the report, and all it measured was physical changes to the brain. The only correlation drawn to specific disorders was that in those disorders, physical changes to the brain were observed. IQ is not mentioned at all in the report. Additionally, all the pot smokers in the study were also heavier drinkers than the control group.

Hummmm. Maybe we should think twice and post once. If you have more posts than properly researched thoughts, maybe that should be reversed. All kidding aside, let the professionals come up with the solution to this.

Did you read your own link? If you scroll down to where they have "Pro and Con" you will see both opinions. Some doctors say, "yes, there is a causal relationship." And some say there is no firm causal relationship.

This new Harvard study that I posted above may be more conclusive, leaving the others outdated.

At any rate, if it is an unsettled question, why should anyone risk permanent brain damage?

I hear yo and believe your assumptions are correct, but I want medical marijuanna approved. Legalization for all will do harm to millions just like alcohol but less than so many prescription drugs already in use. I don't know the answere, hence my preaching to allow the professionals to make this call. You and I may be wrong.

Lou, where would we find a professional pot head?:jester:

Don't you just love experts. Does anyone believe that perhaps many have built-in confirmation bias?

Experts told me back in the 1980's that I was totally wrong when I told them that there is a mind-body connection. In the early 90's they found the connection.

Nicotine is said to be good for reducing schizophrenia but experts also said it was good in healing ulcerative colitis. Yet some of the most expensive treatments fail. and so can nicotine replace all of the psychotropic drugs?

Some experts say that people who are heavy drinkers are more susceptible to brain trauma. does this also apply to drug users?

Experts now say that people are not using enough salt.

Experts now say coffee is good for you

Experts now say that people over 65 should eat more protein including both vegetable and meat protein.

Eggs were once off people's diet now they are in favor again

Beware of sentences that start out with "Ëxperts say"

I have three or four family members with years of expertise in the field (no pun).

You sound like an expert on experts.
:beer3:
:pepper2:

In my opening post, I stated the following in the second sentence: "As I heard it explained on the radio,......and smoking pot can cause a permanent decline [in IQ] of about 8 points." I assumed this was also in the study that was published in the Journal Neuroscience.

However, when in doubt, do a little more research. Search: Cannabis smoking permanently lowers IQ

I yield to Rubicon. If anyone can come up with an intelligent answer he/she can.

Lou

Another good arguing technique is to confuse the issue and put everything in doubt. But you are only highlighting the fact that the average person has a proclivity to misunderstand science. They don't know, or don't care to know, how to put anything in proper perspective. Misunderstanding food science, or science in general, is more productive to their agenda.

This is of interest.
 

Harvard: Marijuana Doesn’t Cause Schizophrenia | Psych Central News

Not sure how much impact some study will have on the habits of teens and college age kids.

The third paragraph of your link basically explains just about everything you need to know about this study. They are talking about the underlying basis for schizophrenia. And they say: "It's not cannibis use by itself..." In other words, it's not one thing working alone. If you have underlying health issues, or a predisposition, cannibis can be the trigger.

We all have predispositions for multiple health issues. Do we always know what they are? No, we don't. So why fool around with drugs or substances that may act as a trigger to set those health issues in motion? It doesn't make sense.

When kids go out with their friends to have a good time, are they going to stop and think if there might be a family history of some brain disease? It's highly doubtful. And even if they did, they might think that getting high is worth the risk. Even if they don't trigger schizophrenia, they could still lower their IQ.

This is why marijuana should never be made legal for general recreational use. Making it legal will only serve to make it more widespread among teens than it already is.

The Harvard study was an attempt to work around the known confounding factors in studying drug use and later psychiatric outcomes. It has been long known that heavy drug and alcohol use is associated with poorer adult functioning. But correlation is not causation. So in this study of only about 300 people they divided the 300 into four groups. 87 people non-psychotic and not drug users, 84 non-psychotic drug users, 76 psychotic drug users, and 32 psychotic non drug users. The study then looked at the family history of nearest relatives of each person and found that "There was an increased morbid risk for schizophrenia in relatives of the cannabis using and non-using patient samples compared with their respective non-psychotic control samples (p = .002, p < .001 respectively). There was no significant difference in morbid risk for schizophrenia between relatives of the patients who use or do not use cannabis (p = .43)." What this means is that if you have a family history of psychosis your risk of becoming psychotic is increased whether you use pot or not.

A controlled family study of cannabis users with and without psychosis

This study involves a small number of patients, depends on the accuracy of patient report of their own adolescent pot and alcohol use and the accuracy of the family history obtained.

Really..A Surprise
 

Is anyone really surprised that Pot has a very bad effect on the body including the shrinkage of the brain, possible birth defects, etc. etc. There always is an attempt to say it is better than acholol which somehow means one bad thing is not as bad as another bad thing. As an aside alcholol is a drug that effect EVERY ORGAN in the body unlike other drugs that effect isolated portions of the body and organs. I know I speak out everytime these drug points come up but only in hopes it may reach just 1 of the readers who take the subject serious. :rant-rave:

Your last sentence is correct. However, you forgot to mention that if you are a regular pot smoker, your risk of developing a psychosis is doubled.

Correlation is not causation: That's what the tobacco companies used to say about cigarette smoking and lung disease.

study shows Legalizing Medical Marijuana Doesn't Increase Use Among Adolescents

Legalizing medical marijuana doesn't increase use among adolescents, study says -- ScienceDaily

I find it amazing how " intelligent" people can read a report, without any personal knowledge, and reach a conclusion that Only fits their agenda. Then they publish this much slanted opinion as gospel. I guess there are those that believe because it's on the internet, it must be true!

ouch! if that refers to me....you seem to be making a conclusion about me without personal knowledge as well.

Just another example of Reefer Madness. UUUUOOOOHHH. Look out.

A glass or two of wine a day is good for you but......wait for it....the government TAXES wine. Hummm. A connection?

Wait until marijuana is legal. There will be studies that say it is good for you.

Why? The government collects taxes on it.

Me and the other guys in my head are debating this. We will have to get back to you.

If you will read my opening post you will see that I didn't say anything about medical marijuana.

"This Harvard study was published in the Journal Of Nuroscience. As I heard it explained on the radio, 1 to 7 joints per week can cause permanent brain damage in young people whose brains are not yet fully developed. The average IQ is about 100 and smoking pot can cause a permanent decline of about 8 points. If one starts with a lower than average IQ, they could end up with a near moron IQ.

Some teens already smoke pot. But if it becomes legal for adults, it will only encourage more teenage pot smoking, not less. Anything that becomes more commonly used will seem more acceptable. And it will be more available too.

To learn more, search the following: Teens who smoke pot at risk for later schizophrenia, psychosis

Will this change anyones mind? Duh?"


I would agree that their is brain damage associated with this "study" .... it is 99.876% confined to whoever conducted it.

Have you read the latest statistics: every two in one people is schizophrenic!

Except for those with multiple personality disorder.


I don't care what anyone says, I am NOT my own grandma.

Sorry
 

Not at all, sorry for any misunderstanding.

I guess what I was trying to point out is that the addition of medical marijuana use does not seem to mean more adolescents will use it. From what my son told me, it's always available to anyone who wants it. I believe it will damage a developing brain just as alcohol and nicotine will. However, I think it should be available for medical use.

It must have been the latest report from: "Me, myself and I."

Some kids don't have the money or are afraid to take the chance of getting caught trying to buy it. There are lots of different situations other than what was reported by your son.

In Colorado, it has already been reported that some kids found a stash of marijuana at home and were taking portions of it to school to sell or share with their friends. This is marijuana that they otherwise wouldn't have had. And that proves the point I was trying to make: It will become more accessible and therefore it will be used more, especially at younger ages. And it's the younger ages that will be most affected because their brains are not yet fully developed.

I don't think it does anyone any good to try to change the conversation to medical marijuana or to try to justify marijuana by mentioning other harmful substances such as alcohol and nicotine.