(CNN) — The proportion of schizophrenia cases linked with problematic use of marijuana has increased over the past 25 years, according to a new study from Denmark.
In 1995, 2% of schizophrenia diagnoses in the country were associated with cannabis use disorder. In 2000, it increased to around 4%. Since 2010, that figure increased to 8%, the study found.
“I think it is highly important to use both our study and other studies to highlight and emphasize that cannabis use is not harmless,” said Carsten Hjorthøj, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health and an author of the study published in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry, via email.
“There is, unfortunately, evidence to suggest that cannabis is increasingly seen as a somewhat harmless substance. This is unfortunate since we see links with schizophrenia, poorer cognitive function, substance use disorders, etc,” Hjorthøj wrote.
Previous research has suggested that the risk of schizophrenia is heightened for people who use cannabis, and the association is particularly driven by heavy use of the drug. Many researchers hypothesize that cannabis use may be a “component cause,” which interacts with other risk factors, to cause the condition.
I know many of you will insist marijuana is natural and perfectly safe--you have not gone mad. But just because 98% of pot smokers come through unscathed does not mean that it is safe.
Left's be honest. While the film "Reefer Madness" was outright propaganda against the use of marijuana, like all propaganda, there was some basis in reality.
ReplyDeleteI remember you posted a link some years back to a study that showed a 1 in 11 likelihood of schizophrenia from marijuana use.
ReplyDeleteIt is most notable that in China, unlike so much of the rest of the world that China wants to dominate, Marijuana is illegal, except as a sort of favor for foreigners. I recall reading recently about a westerner in China who knew a Chinese woman. One day they were out walking and he caught a whiff of the distinctive skunk weed, and he mentioned it to her. She replied that she thought it was just perfumed tobacco. For decades my brother would say, as we drove someplace and smelled the smell, that it was a skunk someone ran over. It wasn't until four years ago when I walked past a marijuana dispensary (wonderfully benign clinical term, that!) that I recognized the distinctive smell and knew what it was. Sometimes in the evenings now I can smell it.
In high school I knew two people that I knew were marijuana users. One was a boy nicknamed "Huggy", and on a good day when both synapses were talking to each other, he made "Spicoli" from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" look like a Valedictorian. The other was a boy from my Boy Scout Troop. He was the most grumpy, most cynical person I've ever met.
I think that Marijuana is a sign from God that your country is too smart. Either that, or from the Devil that he wants to take your country down a few pegs. Seriously, China is endeavoring to not miss a turn in the conflict of nations, and through "back channels" encourages other countries to legalize the stinkweed.