Cannabis 'affecting young minds'

[Ilian]

The effects of the drug on the developing brain are unclear.
Half of young people using cannabis suffer side effects such as paranoia and blackouts, a UK survey suggests.

More than 80% of the 727 young people in their teens and early 20s polled by YoungMinds had tried the drug - the vast majority before they were 18.

The charity is calling for urgent research on the effects of cannabis on the developing teenage brain.

It is releasing guidance for young people and professionals on the effects cannabis may have on mental health.

Barbara Herts, YoungMinds chief executive, said: "Many young people are experimenting with cannabis from a young age.

"We are extremely concerned that there is still very little known about the effects of cannabis on the developing teenage brain and it is crucial that more studies are carried out in this area."

She said virtually all of the research on both short and longer-term cognitive effects has been conducted on adults.

This is a problem as the young, developing brain could be much more vulnerable to its effects, she explained.

Ms Herts said studies show young people who use cannabis regularly or heavily are at least twice as likely to develop a psychotic mental disorder by young adulthood than those who do not smoke.

Psychosis is a type of mental health problem, which includes conditions like schizophrenia, that can seriously affect the way you think, feel and behave.

She said: "Young people, their parents and the professionals working with them need to understand the issues surrounding cannabis use and the potential dangers to their mental health and wellbeing."

Drug helpline Frank recently launched a TV ad warning young people of the damage cannabis can do to the brain as part of its drugs awareness campaign.

A spokesman said they were particularly targeting 11- to 17-year-olds.

Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope, said: "Although cannabis use has been falling among young people over recent years, and is now at its lowest level for nearly a decade, we cannot be complacent.

"There is evidence that cannabis not only worsens existing mental health problems but may trigger - although the risk is thought to be small - some conditions such as schizophrenia.

"We support calls for more research into the possible long-term effects particularly of drug use among children and young people."

 

[Brugmansia]

Psychosis is a type of mental health problem, which includes conditions like schizophrenia, that can seriously affect the way you think, feel and behave.

Hey, isn't that how millions of people experienced love, peace and happiness, and became a better person?

Though, in some way, this article is true, a friend of mine has been brought to the hospital since he thought he was gonna have an heartstroke. I said it was all 'between the ears', and indeed, the doctors couldn't find anything, except a low carbohydrate level.

I have had some unpleasant encounters on weed while in public, but I always kept the thought 'It's not your environment, but your mind is expanding', that however, always kept me up to 'go with the flow'.

I believe cannabis is a great teacher for the first stepts into the psychedelic world.

 

[Meduzz]

I believe cannabis is a great teacher for the first stepts into the psychedelic world.

but it's also one of the most addictive psychedelics :wink:
It's a very underestimated psychedelic. it has the same properties as a hallucinogen, but still it's too much used like one would use an opiate. people care less about set and setting and use more times a day, no wonder they have bigger chances of psychosis.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I totally agree with that, that's why I've banned weed and shit from my life (except for one or two per years I think), I never smoked much, but I've seen friends of mine abusing from this stuff... This just sucks...

 

[tryptonaut]

Though, in some way, this article is true, a friend of mine has been brought to the hospital since he thought he was gonna have an heartstroke.

That's interesting, a friend of mine who suffered from a psychosis (although triggered by shrooms plus weed) said he always thought his heart would stop beating when he tried to sleep. Even weeks and months later, and mostly when he tried to smoke weed again.

I started smoking weed when I was 17 and between 19 and 21 I abused it heavily (smoked a bong before breakfast, and so on...)
When I didn't smoke regularly I was very sensitive to the effects, but with constant abuse I kind of pushed the psychedelic part of the effect away and got the "cool" feeling I wanted. But then the psychedelic effects came back slowly, and suddenly I was getting paranoid, depressed, moody, feeling unable to do things.
I tried it again about 1000 times and every time it was the same: paranoia, sometimes even short blackouts that felt real schizophrenic to me. Then I was sure I had to stop...
I tried again a couple of times some years later and found I can smoke weed when I'm alone, just like a psychedelic drug. I need to relax and lie in bed, then it feels fine. I sometimes do that, but rarely.

 

[HeartCore]

but it's also one of the most addictive psychedelics Wink
It's a very underestimated psychedelic. it has the same properties as a hallucinogen, but still it's too much used like one would use an opiate. people care less about set and setting and use more times a day, no wonder they have bigger chances of psychosis.

Well it depends how you look at it. In general without generalizing, young troubled kids seem to have dificulties with cannabis and addiction. Personally, I smoke since 20 years and since a long time, I smoke 2 joints a day. No need for more, I dont suffer psychosis.

If you start to talk addiction, you would be wise to have a look at some other addictions that may be a bigger problem for society. Like violent computer games, alcohol, tobaco. Even television is more addictive and potentially more dangerous than cannabis in my opinion.

Cannabis is a hallucinogen for sure, but not if you use it on a daily basis. Set and setting become more or less irrelevant if you are a frequent smoker.

Personally, I have developed an addiction to cannabis and I dont have a problem with it. Its not like you become sick when you can't smoke, or that you have to go out and rob people if you cant smoke. Its more or less like a coffee addiction. Especially compared to tobacco, cannabis is quite harmless. Research this year seems to prove that cannabis does not trigger lungcancer as does tobacco. Besides that, I just like the effect of cannabis a lot. It helps me relax after a long days work.

People are trying to give cannabis a bad name since more than 100 years, somehow they dont succeed....

Ms Herts said studies show young people who use cannabis regularly or heavily are at least twice as likely to develop a psychotic mental disorder by young adulthood than those who do not smoke.

I hear this remark out of context many times. IF you have a latent psychosis, there is a big chance it will come out when smoking a lot of cannabis. Here they suggest, that cannabis is the cause of psychosis. As far as I know, this is not the case but I may be wrong.

 

[MindAstronaut]

Heavy abuse of any kind of drug leads to problems so why blame cannabis..

If you smoke day in day out non stop joints, you can bet on it that you get some health problems.
but the same is with alcohol if you drink it everyday you will go downwards..

So i think its kinda hypocrite to attack Cannabis, becouse if you use it properly its safe, this research is just to put cannabis in a bad spotlight and make the war on drugs look usefull.

 

[Entheonaut]

Use cannabis, don't abuse it 8)

 

[Guest]

I kind of have a mixed reaction to this. On one hand, I don't have a problem with "addiction" to cannabis, and neither do a few of my friends who I smoke with. Nor do I think I have any problems with paranoia or blackouts, with the exception of forgetting stuff every now and again, and I've been smoking since I was seventeen.
On the other hand, I've seen what pot does to another one of my friends, and after she smoked for about a year (she started when she was sixteen), she started getting paranoid about everything, and depressed. After awhile, she never wanted to smoke pot again. So I guess it could just vary from person to person.

 

[patilan420]

Paranoia??
I've never been to UK, but I know some people in custedy and one already in jail for posession of less than 100 gr MJ..
I know one person in Greece in jail for growing less than 10 plants..
Anyway the constant fear of arest/drop from school/loss of job can probably harm a non-stable mind much more than THIS substance.

p.s. in the middle ages masturbation was concidored a major sinn.. Doctors and priests was claming it leads to madness..
same old story every day.
The only trustfull human reserches about effects of cannabis on the mental health or social behaviour can be done in the Netherlands, BECAUSE there is the only place where cannabis commun use is a social, not a criminal isue. :wink:

 

[Brugmansia]

I believe cannabis is a great teacher for the first stepts into the psychedelic world.

but it's also one of the most addictive psychedelics :wink:
It's a very underestimated psychedelic. it has the same properties as a hallucinogen, but still it's too much used like one would use an opiate. people care less about set and setting and use more times a day, no wonder they have bigger chances of psychosis.

You see, I think this is one of the lamest excuse that governments use to prevent it's population from thinking CRITICAL.

Believe me that weed is hardly addictive, the addicts are addicted to the combination of WEED AND TABBACO.

I know dozens of weed addicts who smoke it with tabacco, and if I confront them with quitting tabacco and smoking weed pure as a choice to get high, they laugh at me and tell me what I'm on about.

Also regular smokers who smoke weed pure will not experience the true and positive side of weed. This is due to the narrowing of their bloodvessels, while weed expands the bloodvessels. The body and mind is fighting with that combination and has no idea how to treat it.

Tabacco and weed produces a state of slowness, escaping the daily stress and just getting too lazy to perform in the society. Indeed kinda like an opiate. People don't want to be confronted with reality.

The true effects of weed in it's pure form for a non-smoker in an exccesive dose are powerful visuals, deepened thoughts about life and death, mother nature, VERY critical and creative thinking, also about your own weaknesses, a deep connection between the body and mind, and a alternate consciousness to an inner world of choice.

Sometimes the dose of THC gets too high by addicts in comparison with the tabacco and then their mind is opened about their issues, and instead of wanting to escape from reality, the weed does it's work and confronts them whith what they are actually doing, and then they can get psychotic.

Weed and tabacco are absolutly each others enemies, I don't understand the combination AT ALL.

Myself I smoke cannabis to go on a trip, very rarely, but then a few grams through the pipe or even more, seriously, the high lasts for about 40 hours at least. Sitting at work the next week and I still have a very light noticeable effect.

And the climax can be compared to a high dose of LSD, though, as a trip totally different. On acid I can walk, while tripping on weed I just lay down on my bed being somewhere else. Very hard to coordinate. And for some, very frighting.

 

[tryptonaut]

Anyway the constant fear of arest/drop from school/loss of job can probably harm a non-stable mind much more than THIS substance.

That's not the paranoia I was talking about. I was getting attacks of paranoia even when I didn't have any weed in my pockets, just took a few hits from a joint and the joint was long gone - no need for paranoia about the cops then. I get this "everybody is looking at me" kind of feeling. Everything people say and what they do becomes kind of hostile. Unconscious movements of people (like a little smile or something) become "meaningful" in a bad way. When I smoke weed and go out it can be for me like having a bad shroom trip in the middle of the day on the streets of a big city (=it's not fun and it won't go away with advice like "think positive").

Most people don't have this reaction to weed, but I got to know some who also say they can't smoke anymore because of bad reactions to it. In my case I think it was good that I got the bad reaction because it made me stop my abusive behaviour.

I'm not against cannabis at all. I sometimes still smoke it, but only like a psychedelic, not like some fun drug.

If you never had any bad experiences with cannabis - good for you, but please be open minded enough to accept that some people did have these experiences. I think it only shows that cannabis is a teacher plant and not some dull fun-herb.

 

[miow]

*shrug* i used to smoke it a lot but i stopped becasue i realised what an annoying high it is. i just get stupid and bored and then too stupid to amuse myself so i dont do much. personally i think its one of the more unpleasent drugs to get psychologically addicted to. i know many people who need it to sleep eat and wake up properly. personally i havnt seen a whole lot of good come form it so i try to steer people away form it. just my personal opinion though. its just annoying not beign able to think properly for a day or so after getting high.

 

[spice]

many good points here...just a quick comment.

weed is one of the last things people should be fearing as destructive to youth. It probably isn't going to lead to psychosis. What fucking rot.

Any 'psychosis' that was latent would most definitely be the result of :


a) crappy parenting

and

b) growing up in a world as violent, repressive and dangerous as this one


to blame it on 'the devilweed' is pretty archaic, ostrich-like thinking at its finest.

 

[HeartCore]

thousands of years of problemless use and you guys buy this shit...

Maybe I'm just hardheaded but how many problems with cannabis do you know in your direct environment? How many cannabis addicts are roaming the street, knocking down elderly people for money? How many people are treated for brain damage?

In my opinion a lot can be won by rising the age where you may use any susbtance, to 21. This way you have a shot at avoiding young people fucking up their schools cause they are stoned all day and keep it all friendly and relaxed for us responsible users.

Virtually all problems with cananbis is due to (too) young people abusing it. THATS the problem, not cannabis. Fuck this propaganda...

A wise man said years ago: 'the problem with personality altering drugs is too many young kids without a developerd personaliy, are using it.

Solve that problem, and there is no cannabis problem period.

edit: Cant even spell right cause of this bullshit lol

Edit: And while I'm at it, how many people have you seen pummeling someone else into oblivion because of the effects of cannabis? How many people do you know that have brain damage because of cannabis? How many times is agression initiated by cannabis use reason for violence? How many people are killed by stoned drivers?

How many people died as a direct consequence of cannabis use?

NONE WHATSOEVER

 

[silv]

If you start to talk addiction, you would be wise to have a look at some other addictions that may be a bigger problem for society. Like violent computer games, alcohol, tobaco. Even television is more addictive and potentially more dangerous than cannabis in my opinion.

(First of all look at the bold part, this is what my reaction is based upon)
When people say this, I get quite upset and feel like shouting at people and breaking stuff. It's one of THE most common misconceptions(spelling?) that violent computergames fuck up our youth. There's ONE single thing that fucks up our youth and it's poor parenting. I've been playing games like wolfenstein 3D since I was 7 years old, and stuff like carmageddon from the age of 11. Did I turn out to be a psycho? Fuck no, because my parents are parents who actually take care of their kids and don't see the computer/tv as a nanny.
FUCK Bashing computer games & movies that are violent, Open your eyes to the real problem -> Bad parents.
Thanks for letting me rage on a bit about this because it's something that really bothers me.
Also don't take this personal [/quote]

 

[Guest]

How many times is agression initiated by cannabis use reason for violence?

Well, I and friends had to fight like 3-4 times because some stoned fuckers wanted us to give them some cannabis (we didn't have any, thusfore making them mad...)

So it does happen, even if I agree that it's not a BIG deal...

 

[HeartCore]

Here's some perspective on weed:

quote by Terence Mckenna:

more money has been spent on finding something wrong with cannabis than any vegetable material in the human histiry and what did they come up with is so pathetically thin that I'm confident that it amounts to a clean bill of health for this stuff.

Just typed this over from this vid,

4 min talk about weed.

Here's another quote from that vid:

Cannabis is not a health problem but the problem is that it promotes social values and attitudes which are unwelcome in kapitalist market based societies, its just that simple.

And goes on about coffee, which is actually quite bad for you, is totally accepted since it promotes the lifestyle of marketplace society.

 

[spice]

As usual, Terence nails it. I am beginning to believe that its about as harmless as you can get for what it delivers.

All cannabis use is medicinal anyway. Everyone is just trying to feel better.
The large pharmaceutical companies can't come up with anything half as good for antidepressant uses, but they can come up with under-researched medications that have serious long term consequences....THESE are the 'experts' telling us we're too stupid to medicate ourselves?

Weed rules.