POT, SANITY, and VIOLENCE

Cause or correlation – does it matter?

Clearly a major indictment of our society, legislators, stars and celebrities push for the legalization of drugs, but hanging in the balance, is the sanity of our nation, … of the entire world.

Weed at Woodstock had 0.8% THC and now street pot approaches and in many cases exceeds 15.98% THC, an enormous increase!  

Now, a new and timely study suggests that people with mental illness are more than seven times as likely to use marijuana weekly, than are people without a mental illness.  

One relevant, consistent fact is that users, mentally unbalanced or not, all live in a state of denial.   Negative information about their drug of choice will be ignored.   Needless to say, they’re not going to quit using just because a new study is published.

Now, with this new study, “We know that people with mental illness consume more cannabis, perhaps partially as a way to self- medicate psychiatric symptoms, but this data showed us the degree of the correlation between cannabis use, misuse, and mental illness,” said lead research Shaul Lev-ran, M.D.  

Although previous research has found links between cannabis use and mental illness, until now, the exact numbers and prevalence of cannabis use was hidden from the public.   Why, is a subject for further debate.

• ·          Long thought to cause people to become “mellow”, ‘preventionists’ (those of us opposing legalization) have noted that, contrary to this misperception, there has been an increase in violence among consistent users.
• ·          Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance globally, with an estimated 203 million people reporting use.   Regarding world-wide mental health, now, with the systematic, intentional increase of THC, we can expect symptoms to approach critical mass, driving mentally unbalanced users over the edge, potentially becoming prone to violence.
• ·          With the increase in THC content un-foreseen consequences, for some, possibly mental imbalance can be expected to increase, making “reefer madness” more likely an immediate reality instead of a slow process.

“Based on the number individuals reporting weekly use, we see that people with mental illness use cannabis at high rates. This can be of concern because it could worsen the symptoms of their mental illness,” said Lev-ran.

Researchers also found that individuals with mental illness were 10 times more likely to have a cannabis use disorder – researchers assessed cannabis use as well as various mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol use disorders and personality disorders, based on criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)..   Among those will mental illness reporting at least weekly cannabis use, rates of use were particularly elevated for those with bipolar disorder, personality disorders and other substance use disorders.

APA Reference

Nauert PhD, R. (2013). Heavy, Frequent Cannabis Use Linked to Mental Illness. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 3, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/03/heavy-frequent-cannabis-use-linked-to-mental-illness/53369.html

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor   ///   Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 3, 2013