Young people with a family history of mental illness be warned.

[braindamaged]

Mental health warning for cannabis users
By Nic Fleming, Health Correspondent, the telegraph.
(Filed: 02/12/2004)

Young people with a family history of mental illness were warned
yesterday that smoking cannabis substantially increases their
chances of developing psychiatric problems.

Those who are genetically vulnerable to psychosis double the risks
of hallucinations, paranoia and serious conditions such as
schizophrenia by using the drug.


'Cannabis can be the trigger to lifelong mental illness'
The study, to be presented at an Institute of Psychiatry conference
in London today, confirmed previous findings that for an average
person taking cannabis once or twice a week the risk of suffering
psychotic symptoms roughly doubles in later life.

Prof Jim van Os, a psychiatrist at Maastricht University in the
Netherlands, said: "There have been a number of studies that have
shown that cannabis use roughly doubles the risk of psychiatric
illness such as schizophrenia among young people.

"There have been suggestions that cannabis can interact with pre-
existing, possibly genetic, vulnerability to psychotic symptoms.

"Our results show that in the group with no pre-existing
vulnerability to psychosis, cannabis use increased the chances of
the onset of psychosis by a small amount.

"However for those who had shown evidence of being predisposed, the
increased risks of developing problems were four times greater than
for those not considered vulnerable."

The new research, published by bmj.com, opens the way to the
possibility of a genetic test that would tell people if they were at
greater risk from cannabis use and of better targeting of public
health advice.

Prof van Os's team interviewed 2,437 Germans aged 14 to 24 to assess
their drug use and vulnerability to psychosis by asking questions
designed to reveal traits such as paranoia, suspicion and delusions.

Ten per cent were viewed as potentially vulnerable to psychotic
symptoms, ranging from hallucinations and delusions to serious
conditions requiring hospital treatment.

The group was assessed four years later. Of those found not to be
predisposed to psychosis, 15 per cent of those who did not use the
drug and 21 per cent of those who did experienced some symptoms.

Among the volunteers identified as genetically vulnerable to
psychosis, 51 per cent of cannabis users had symptoms compared with
26 per cent of those who did not use the drug.

Across the whole group, cannabis use, defined as at least five
times, was found to increase the risk of psychosis by two thirds.
Using the drug on average between once and twice a week increased
the chances of symptoms by 95 per cent.

Prof van Os said: "The public health message is that if people have
a family history of mental instability then they should know there
are high risks associated with cannabis use."

Other researchers said the risks of mental illness were also
increased by the trend in recent years of increasing amounts of THC â??
the active ingredient in cannabis â?? in the drug, and young people
starting to use it earlier.

A report released last week showed that schoolchildren in England
were using more cannabis than in any other country in Europe. The
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction disclosed
that among 15-year-olds, 42 per cent of boys and 38 per cent of
girls had tried cannabis, compared with less than 10 per cent in
Greece, Malta, Sweden and Norway. More than one in 10 15-year-olds
in England reported heavy cannabis use â?? defined as 40 or more
occasions a year â?? compared with the next biggest groups of seven
per cent in Spain and Belgium.

Marjorie Wallace, the chief executive of the mental health charity
Sane, said: "The evidence is mounting that cannabis can be the
trigger to lifelong mental illness. We need to make these risks
known, clamp down on drug dealing in such places as playgrounds and
hospital wards, and change perceptions of cannabis from being a
recreational relaxant to a dangerous substance for those who are
vulnerable."

braindamaged Reviewed by braindamaged on 11-14-2005. Young people with a family history of mental illness be warned. Mental health warning for cannabis users By Nic Fleming, Health Correspondent, the telegraph. (Filed: 02/12/2004) Young people with a family history of mental illness were warned yesterday that smoking cannabis substantially increases their chances of developing psychiatric problems. Those who are genetically vulnerable to psychosis double the risks of hallucinations, paranoia and serious conditions such as Rating: 5

[beachguy in thongs]

You know, Schizophrenia is another way of saying an open mind.

[NightProwler]

thanks for the warning. my family has a history of depression and im deep in that. o well. nothing seems to work out how you want it to.

[daZenfmeister]

im insane thanks to weed, but when i dont smoke i go back to normal and i feel like im super smart. i can come up with comebacks instantly and shit but when im on weed, i feel like im schitzo

[lemonboy]

"Using the drug on average between once and twice a week increased the chances of symptoms by 95 per cent."

95% eh? When their budget is large enough to fabricate believable figures I'll be glad to pay attention to a "study" like this. If the journalist was responsible it would go on to mention the numerous benefits as well and allow the reader to draw his own conclusion. Instead of doing that we're left with Marjorie Wallace's libelous quote. Lovely.

[robert42]

so thats what it is lol

[somebody someone]

wow i hope you all stop smoking weed right now!!

[drgreenthumb1238]

This whole thing is such bullshit!Mental illness can be brought on by stress(coincidentally relieved by weed!),alcohol,bereavement etc!I'm sick of papers in the UK linking dope smoking to mental problems, at worst it can act as a catalyst to something you are already predisposed to getting.I remember this lovely piece in the Daily Mail about a teenager who murdered his girlfriend, it had great anecdotal info from a "friend" of the murderer stating he was smoking hundreds of joints a week.I'd love to know how a 15yr old could afford to do that and for his parents not to realise. It also got in the "he listened to Marilyn Manson" crap as well. Scurrilous, scaremongering journalism that people believe cos its written down. Thats all it is fuckin words printed on a page, would they believe something I'd written and printed off?No, whole thing is bogus!

[FunkyMonkey]

its true! havnt you seen refer madness??
You are all ruining your lives and endangering your loved ones!
REPENT!

Sorry no intelligent debate out of me tonight.

[drgreenthumb1238]

Lol it sometimes seems as if we haven't moved on from when Reefer Madness was made, you see its the mental illness the kids get blighted by, then they go on killing sprees. What a fucking crock of shit, it an insult to anybody's intelligence this bollocks is still being trotted out, at the end of the day its propoganda, pure and simple