Marijuana-schizophrenia link?

[Jon.]

A person whose opinion I respect in these matters informed me that there was a study done by the Swedish military that indicated that marijuana use (specifically, 50+ joints in a lifetime) was linked with a seven-fold increase in incidence of schizophrenia (1% of population vs. 7% of population). Has anybody heard of this or know where further info can be found?

P.S. Any jokes along the lines of "I used to know but I forgot, man" can be posted in the Humor forum.

 

[Dredred]

A person whose opinion I respect in these matters informed me that there was a study done by the Swedish military that indicated that marijuana use (specifically, 50+ joints in a lifetime) was linked with a seven-fold increase in incidence of schizophrenia (1% of population vs. 7% of population). Has anybody heard of this or know where further info can be found?

A search in PubMed for "cannabis schizophrenia" returns plenty of hits.

I've heard of this link (between cannabis and schizophrenia) before.

BTW, I know this doesn't prove anything, but I know several schizophrenics, and they've all smoked a lot of pot.

 

[luchog]

Re: Re: Marijuana-schizophrenia link?

BTW, I know this doesn't prove anything, but I know several schizophrenics, and they've all smoked a lot of pot.

I'm related to schizophrenics, and have known plenty of others with mental disorders (I have a couple myself); and while there is a corellation, there is nothing that even remotely indicates causation that I've ever been able to find.

More likely what is being noted here is the "self-medication" effect; the well-documented tendency of many mentally ill people to attempt to mask the symptoms of their disorder. It's only relatively recently that the mental-health field has been realizing just how many undiganosed cases of (frequently marginal) mental illness have gone undiagnosed, or incorrectly diagnosed, due to the effects of long-term drug use for self-medication purposesl as well as how many severe drug addictions started as self-medication behaviour.

There's an interesting alternate explanation of the cannabis-schizophrenia link on PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...list_uids=16060598&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=1

This one also looks like it could be interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...list_uids=15820332&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=1

 

[Jon.]

Re: Re: Re: Marijuana-schizophrenia link?

I'm related to schizophrenics, and have known plenty of others with mental disorders (I have a couple myself); and while there is a corellation, there is nothing that even remotely indicates causation that I've ever been able to find.

More likely what is being noted here is the "self-medication" effect; the well-documented tendency of many mentally ill people to attempt to mask the symptoms of their disorder. It's only relatively recently that the mental-health field has been realizing just how many undiganosed cases of (frequently marginal) mental illness have gone undiagnosed, or incorrectly diagnosed, due to the effects of long-term drug use for self-medication purposesl as well as how many severe drug addictions started as self-medication behaviour.

I raised this issue with the person who quoted the Swedish study to me, and he said that the Swedish study was done on men entering their period of involuntary military service. Anyone with active schizophrenia was turfed out prior to the study's question being asked and would not have been included in either the control or experimental group. So it wasn't self-medication with marijuana.

There's an interesting alternate explanation of the cannabis-schizophrenia link on PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...list_uids=16060598&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=1

If I understand this one correctly, it's suggesting that there is a factor in the morphology (correct word?) of the brain that gives it more cannabinoid receptors and that this factor is linked to increased risk of schizophrenia, independent of marijuana use. Is that correct?

If so, I actually made that suggestion to him, and he said that it was possible there was a common brain factor predisposing certain people to both marijuana use and schizophrenia, but that it would be hard to find such a factor.

This one also looks like it could be interesting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...list_uids=15820332&itool=iconabstr&query_hl=1

Interesting. What does "sparing" mean?

 

[CaveDave]

I would tend to agree with the "paralell but not causal" type of hypothesis.

{DERAIL}
Does anyone else have trouble looking at Dredred's avatar?
It makes me seasick. (Pretty girl, disturbing photo.)
{/DERAIL}

Dave

 

[uruk]

I smoked marijuana fro the greater portion of my youth (WAAAAY more than 50+ joints) And the voices comming from the radio transmitter implanted in my head by my parents and the FBI clearly state that marijuana does not cause schizophrenia.

But posting on skeptics forums does.

 

[uruk]

Does anyone else have trouble looking at Dredred's avatar?

Yea! It does this freaky thing where the focus of your attention is being split between the two sets of eyes. Kind of similar to those tunnel rides at haunted houses or amusment rides.

I think it's cool yet nauseating.