Author, former Colorado journalist links marijuana to mental illness

The Gazette ^ | Mar 20, 2019 | Joey Bunch

[Leep]

You could be the exception to the rule ?
Or, do you believe that no one who has smoked larger amounts of weed ( 2 or 3 tikmes a day) for 5..or more years..has ever been affected negatively?
What people call “pot heads” is sort of what people think of as losers..no ambition..no motivation..their main concern is getting stoned.

[Valpal1]

The actual study sliced and diced the data for multiple types of drugs, primary mj users is just one category.

What they are saying is that for all users of any type of drug who had a substance abuse disorder diagnosed up to one year before being diagnosed with schizophrenia were not counted as drug abusers for the purpose of the study under the assumption that they were self-medicating prior to clinical manifestation of schizophrenia.

[DouglasKC]

“I was a pretty good investigative reporter, because I often saw the way companies would deceive, especially when there’s money on the line,” he said. “I mention that because I think this story of cannabis legalization is a story of deception, but it’s also sort of self-deception.

Absolutely and from day 1. The nose of the camel was "medical" marijuana. It was 100% put on ballots across the country by pro-legalization forces. They cared NOTHING for the sick but this was the only way they could get legalized marijuana. Amazingly their propaganda campaign was effective. They convinced enough people that SMOKING pot was healthy! Unbelievable! And today we are nearing the end game of this deception. Full scale legalization of EVERY type of drug. This is ALL designed to destroy American culture and society. LOOK at EVERY city where decriminalization and/or non-enforcement of drugs laws happen. Pure cesspools eventually.

[NobleFree]

They convinced enough people that SMOKING pot was healthy!

Cannabis has medically beneficial properties; whether those benefits outweigh the harms of smoking for any particular patient is a question for him and his doctor, not government.

[Ken H]

Trump is all for medical marijuana and letting the states decide on legalization => https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOpgIDMV07o

Trump has done more to facilitate marijuana in the US than all of FR combined and more than any president since FDR effectively criminalized it at the federal level.

Now let’s see if the big-government nanny-staters have the nerve to snark on President Trump.

[NobleFree]

Paul B Birkett, Clinical Lecturer, Longley Centre
British Medical Journal, 27 November 2002

[...] those with schizophrenia may have had abnormalities detectable in childhood (1) and therefore predating any cannabis use. There is another difficulty with the proposition that cannabis use causes some cases of schizophrenia; as Rey and Tennant (2) point out, we lack the crucial epidemiological evidence demonstrating the expected increase in incidence of schizophrenia within populations exposed to high levels of cannabis. It is therefore important to carefully consider alternative explanations for the association.

Varma and Sharma (3) found an increased prevalence of cannabis use disorder in the first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands. Working from the other direction, McGuire et al (4) found that within a sample of patients admitted with acute psychosis, the morbid risk of schizophrenia was increased for the relatives of probands who had tested positive for cannabis on urinary screening. These findings are consistent with the notion of a common genetic risk factor for cannabis abuse and schizophrenia. [...]

1. Jones P, Rodgers B, Murray R, Marmot M. Child development risk factors for adult schizophrenia in the British 1946 birth cohort. Lancet 1994;344(8934):1398-402.

2. Rey JM, Tennant CC. Cannabis and mental health. British Medical Journal Clinical Research Ed. 2002;325:1183-4.

3. Varma SL, Sharma I. Psychiatric morbidity in the first-degree relatives of schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 1993;162:672-8.

4. McGuire PK, Jones P, Harvey I, Williams M, McGuffin P, Murray RM. Morbid risk of schizophrenia for relatives of patients with cannabis- associated psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 1995;15(3):277-81.

[higgmeister]

But you degenerates hide the fact that freedom without responsibility is anarchy. And anarchy destroys everybody it touches.

Take your mindless, ignorant, degenerate propaganda someplace else. You're not welcome here, and you know it.

I don't know what to say to you. If you had checked my join date you would see I have been on this forum for twenty years. I have been voting Republican since my first vote for President Nixon. I live in the GA Sixth Congressional District, the district that sent Speaker Newt Gingrich back to Congress over and over again. I went to his rallies, put out his yard signs, and donated to his campaigns.

Libertarian means small government and individual freedom, not anarchy. Big "L" libertarians are just harmless contrarians. If you attempted to understand libertarianism, you would see that it draws in disgruntled Republicans and disgruntled Democrats. It is a loser party with no hope of any political influence. As I already stated previously, I dropped the Libertarian Party just after 9/11 when I saw a schism building between half of the individuals in the Libertarian Party that saw attacks by Islam as initiation of force (thus requiring a principled libertarian response), and the other half that thought the use of force by Islam was retaliation for transgressions by the the US (Paulists, etc.). After 9/11 I have not supported or voted for those LP pacifists even once.

But the principles of libertarianism have nothing to do with what the Libertarian Party has become, in the same way Republicanism has nothing to do with the Globalist Elite Republican Party we are burdened with now.

I am a Goldwater libertarian objectivist Republican.

I'm not at all out of line with the values of this forum. Look at these words from the Republican Liberty Caucus:

Liberty Compact: A Candidate's Pledge

The Liberty Compact is a written pledge inspired by the words of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) in his book, "Conscience of a Conservative," which promotes the belief that government isn't the solution, but all too often, the problem. The pledge reads as follows:

"I, (insert name), pledge to the citizens of the State of (insert state) and to the American people, that as their elected representative I will work to: Restore liberty, not restrict it; shrink government, not expand it; reduce taxes, not raise them; abolish programs, not create them; promote the freedom and independence of citizens, not the interference of government in their lives; and observe the limited, enumerated powers of our Constitution, not ignore them."

I remember in 1964, Barry Goldwater was the political founder of our modern day Conservative movement when he wrested control of the Republican Party from the liberal Rockefeller Republicans and paved the way for every Republican President since.

I suggest you chide me for something else, being "small ell" libertarian is no vice.

I personally joined the Libertarian Party twenty years ago in disgust with the Federal Budget Crisis of '98, when the Republican held Congress caved in to President Bill Clinton, and sent him a revised budget instead of forcing him to shut the government down. In the previous Budget Crises our Republican Presidents had up until then given in to Congress.

If you apply libertarian logic to the 2nd Amendment issue, "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Maryland enacted a "Red Flag Law" to confiscate guns and a citizen has already been murdered. That is totally against the Libertarian principle of "non-initiation of force."The same libertarian principle applies to abortion. Government has no authority to rule that children in the womb can be murdered. I

This is from wikipedia:

Libertarian conservatives claim libertarian principles such as the non-aggression principle apply to human beings from conception and that the universal right to life applies to fetuses in the womb. Thus, some of those individuals express opposition to legal abortion.

The The same libertarian principle applies to open borders. Libertarians have generally stated "let peaceful people cross borders peacefully." What we have now is clearly an invasion, not peaceful people crossing our border peacefully.

The list goes on and on. You have been fed third hand disinformation about libertarianism. There are nut jobs who jump on individual Libertarian National Party platform planks like on a one trick pony, but freedom loving individuals wish to have less government intervention in their lives.

[DouglasKC]

Cannabis has medically beneficial properties; whether those benefits outweigh the harms of smoking for any particular patient is a question for him and his doctor, not government.

It has VERY limited benefits WHEN THC is extracted and used in actual medicine. And even then there are MORE effective drugs then any THC based drug out there. The whole idea of "medical" marijuana was and IS a sham designed to make the idea of smoking dope or getting high more palatable to a gullible public who can't see the propaganda effort they're launched.

[angry elephant]

Here in Seattle there are very few conservatives. Many of the successful conservatives I know smoke pot.

And I am meaning conservative business owners who create businesses and create jobs for others.

I think conservatives in Seattle smoke pot to sometimes numb the chaos of being surrounded by all the socialists.

[higgmeister]

They cared NOTHING for the sick but this was the only way they could get legalized marijuana.

Chemotherapy patients have notoriously had trouble keeping food down and lose strength because of that. THC which has long been known for causing "the munchies" allows these patients to survive instead of withering away or dying by aspiration of vomit.

I agree the other frivolous excuses are silly.

[wardaddy]

I can sure see that

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for adding your erudite - and Loving! - contribution to the thread.

[Jamestown1630]

when I worked on K Street in DC, and used a doctor in the building who treated a lot of high-profile print and television journalists, doc told me that almost all of them were heavy tobacco users who had a hard time giving it up, because it helped them to write and to concentrate.

I’m not suggesting tobacco as a ‘good idea’ for those who write and want to concentrate; but there is definitely a difference between the effects of tobacco v. MJ on the brain and intellect.

[Jamestown1630]

Are there studies to back this up?

The people I’ve known who were dying of cancer and tried MJ found no relief, and didn’t want to use it.

[jonascord]

You should know this. My brother starting smoking weed at 15.
He was much brighter than I, and yet always seemed to thrash around.
Got an undesirable discharge, later upgraded to a general, from the Army, because of drug use.
Apprenticed as a machinist, for a while, constantly toking.
Moved to Florida, finally went on SS substance abuse disability, and died of a cardiac arrest at 44.
He's in the Florida National Veteran's cemetery.

Did MJ kill him? Hellifino. It surely had an impact. To me, tokers are a waste of O2.

[Jamestown1630]

The majority of people (users) that we’re discussing don’t represent ‘wastes of oxygen’. They’re human beings, like you and me, and your brother; a lot of them just need help, MEANING in their lives, and education.

And it DOESN’T help when people - most of whom just want to make money - are promoting a very bad idea.

I’m very sorry about your brother; but expressing yourself in terms that alienate people doesn’t result in a positive promotion of your viewpoint.

[jonascord]

The presumption that EVERYONE is equally valuable is a quaint notion, right up with Bigfoot, pastel colored chakras and magic crystals.

This country is about to explore this whole question. Today's hissy fit by the Left is a symptom. A lot of people are going to die. MJ use is going to be a factor in just how many.

Walking around with a constant mild buzz is not a prescription for survival.

[publana]

From what I’ve read, 90% of bipolar disordered people smoke as they use tobacco to regulate their brain. It stimulates when they’re down and calms when their manic. It seems fairly apparent to me that if bipolars are able to utilize it to self-medicate, it obviously does something beneficial. Unfortunately the benefits are far outweighed by the damage to the body that it entails with long term use.

[NobleFree]

there are MORE effective drugs then any THC based drug out there.

So only the most effective drug for any given condition should be legal?

[DouglasKC]

there are MORE effective drugs then any THC based drug out there. So only the most effective drug for any given condition should be legal?

There are (I believe) ONLY three cannabidioal based FDA approved drugs. They are: Dronabinol (Marinol), Nabilone (Cesamet) and the recently approved Epidiolex. Out of the three of them.

Out of these three ONLY Marinol actually needs to be derived from the pot plant. Nabilone is synthesized (no pot needed) and Epidiolex is based not on THC but on CBD.

Marinol is RARELY prescribed because there are drugs that are MUCH more effective.

The ONLY reason you're arguing this is because you apparently have been duped into believing that ingesting or smoking the marijuana plant is MEDICINE. You've been duped so that pro-pot advocates and their ilk can get high legally. That's the ONLY reason that marijuana EVER started getting talked about as "medicine".