Doctors: Marijuana Triggers Psychosis

Study Used Brain Scans For First Time To Show Link Between Pot And Paranoia

(AP)  New findings on marijuana's damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors say.

British doctors took brain scans of 15 healthy volunteers given small doses of two of the active ingredients of cannabis, as well as a placebo.

One compound, cannabidiol, or CBD, made people more relaxed. But even small doses of another component, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produced temporary psychotic symptoms in people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors said.

The results, to be presented at an international mental health conference in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, provides physical evidence of the drug's damaging influence on the human brain.

"We've long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works," said Dr. Philip McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King's College, London.

In analyzing MRI scans of the study's subjects, McGuire and his colleagues found that THC interfered with activity in the inferior frontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with paranoia.

"THC is switching off that regulator," McGuire said, effectively unleashing the paranoia usually kept under control by the frontal cortex.

In another study being presented at the conference, a two-day gathering of mental health experts discussing the connections between cannabis and mental health, scientists found that marijuana worsens psychotic symptoms of schizophrenics.

Doctors at Yale University in the U.S. tested the impact of THC on 150 healthy volunteers and 13 people with stable schizophrenia. Nearly half of the healthy subjects experienced psychotic symptoms when given the drug.

While the doctors expected to see marijuana improve the conditions of their schizophrenic subjects — since their patients reported that the drug calmed them — they found that the reverse was true.

"I was surprised by the results," said Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University's School of Medicine. "In practice, we found that cannabis is very bad for people with schizophrenia," he said.

While D'Souza had intended to study marijuana's impact on schizophrenics in more patients, the study was stopped prematurely because the impact was so pronounced that it would have been unethical to test it on more people with schizophrenia.

"One of the great puzzles is why people with schizophrenia keep taking the stuff when it makes the paranoia worse," said Dr. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at King's College.

Experts theorized that schizophrenics may mistakenly judge the drug's pleasurable effects to outweigh any negatives.

Understanding how marijuana affects the brain may ultimately lead experts to a better understanding of mental health in general.

"We don't know the basis of paranoia or anxiety," said McGuire.

"It is possible that we could use cannabis in controlled studies to understand psychoses better," he said. McGuire theorized that could one day lead to specific drugs targeting the responsible regions of the brain.

[responder47]

I can't help but wonder if they've scanned the same way to figure out why a completely drunken person losses thier inhibitions and/or bodily functions or becomes psychotic/paranoid/violent. I've seen some pretty psychotic (drunken) foolishness and rage in my days. No mention of that though... Rarely will we see fair reporting with regards to the cannabis plant unless someone steps up to demand it. Then the DEA will just shoot you down turn it sideways and spit out more propaganda. Vicious cycle. The effects are admittedly temporary, whats the big news here? KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN

[honestabe8]

itwasntme: indeed, people do have their choice as it stands now, but in the case of one of the choices, you can be arrested for possessing it. if pot were legal, it may not make a dent in the sales of alcohol. but then, it may. i would like for adults to have this legal choice.

[itwasntme000]

itwasntme: I would like to see Anheuser-Busch compete with home grown marijuana for the hearts and heads of the public.
Posted by HonestAbe8 at 04:53 PM : May 01,

Its not really even competition. Even today people have their buzz of choice. some alachol some pot. And they do either one as they see fit. I hardly think it would hurt the sales of alachol anyway is my point.

[honestabe8]

pancb1111: i think we have already started down that slippery slope. i would prefer to let adults decide what they want to do to their bodies rather than the government, which is heavily invested in prohibition.

[gunownerdan]

Maybe people wouldn't be so paranoid if they didn't get arrested just for having a marijuana cigarette or a seed.
Prohibition doesn't work.
Marijuana has been illegal for over 70 years and look at it today...IT IS AMERICA'S #1 CASH CROP. Drug gangs and other dangerous criminals can do a lot of crime with billions of dollars.
For the sake of public safety, LEGALIZE AND REGULATE MARIJUANA!
Here's how:
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
http://www.leap.cc

Marijuana Policy Project
http://www.mpp.org

[kaustin81579]

I don't know why they don't prescribe it to anorexics, psych patients, cancer patients, people w/arthritis, etc, as it DOES have it's medicinal values. I'd rather hit a joint than eat the pills, that'll give me 15 other side effects. I should be on antipsychotics, sure...can I afford insurance? No. Can I afford the pills? No. Can I afford a bag from a "street pharmacist" to get me through a week? Yup, sure can, so that's where I'm at.

People have such a jaded view on it, and if you do your history, a lot of it had to do w/cotton farming. It was made illegal in 1937,by our federal government, because they decided they made more money from cotton. This was 70 years ago. I find it funny that alcohol prohibition only lasted from 1920-1933, 13 years, and has caused more deaths than marijuana.

Also, I prefer something that doesn't affect my gastrointestinal system for the next 6 weeks, thank you very much. (Not to mention, if you go ONE day w/out the pills, you're off kilter for the next THREE days).

If you disagree w/me, ok, but this is years of personal experience talking. Been there, done that, and I'm telling you, it ought to be prescribed. Yes, anyone would have to go through a period of regulation to get used to it, but that's no different from the psych drugs they give you, everything takes time. It's introducing a chemical into your body, and the body needs to adjust. No different than any other antipsychotic medication out there.

[firebirdguns]

Sweet and Short if cigarettes and alcohol are legal then make pot legal and clear the national deficit you have built up duh!

[fonic8gw]

God grows it, zillions smoke it, that settles it.....psychosis or not.
Now, where did I leave that fresh can of Pringle's.....?

[quatermass2]

They've also been pedalling that "pot is twice/three/a zillion times stronger now than in the 60s" line for at least 20 years. More "Reefer Madness" nonsense. Show me a pothead, and I'll show you someone the LEAST likely to be involved with violent crime or aggressive behavior.

[taylpatr]

As with the Marinol caps given legally to cancer patients, the T.H.C. and other chemicals used in these tests are chemical derivatives extracted and artificially produced in a lab. Why can't the tests be done with natural herb taken the way it was meant to be taken? The Marinol caps are not as effective as the natural herb. This is just another smokescreen in another losing "war" that we have let ourselves believe we can win.

[pancb1111]

Husker: I didn't mean to imply that people do not smoke pot in college. That statement was jsut the overall attitude of my friends that have not yet attended college. However, I sometimes do wonder why graduating in 5 years is now a major achievement. NO, I do not blame all of this on weed, but I do think it is a result a generally hedonistic society in which weed plays a primary role. I always believed one went to college for the purpose of education.

HonestAbe: I actually agree with what you say. I do not believe that pot is as equally harmful as other drugs, however, I think its legalization would be a slippery slope. Heroin doesn't produce aggressiveness or violence either. How many deaths per user can be attributed to it on a yearly basis? 1000? Much less than alcohol in any case. Should we legalize it too?

[honestabe8]

My bad. The ONDCP is funded by tax dollars. The Partnership For A Drug Free America is funded by the legal pushers.

[honestabe8]

itwasntme: I would like to see Anheuser-Busch compete with home grown marijuana for the hearts and heads of the public. The ONDCP is funded by legal pushers...the alcohol, tobacco and pharaceutical industries that have proven to be such good corporate citizens. Anheuser-Busch and the like do not want competition from a relatively benign product that provides a better "buzz" than theirs. To say we are a Drug Free America, but alcohol is not a drug is as disingenuous as President Clinton's dalliance with that 190 lb humidor not being "***". Those who scoffed at that twisting of language should get a chuckle out of the Drug Free America nonsense. Why don't let the people who are always pushing the free market let adults decide which recreational drugs to take? When you see The Partnership For A Drug Free America, remember the sponsors are in it more to protect their markets than to have some vague concept of a drug free america. The big D stands for Deceit and Denial. Weapons of Mass Deception.

[susieq_13]

Legalize it! It doesn't harm anyone.

[itwasntme000]

Yea i have yet to see a stoner **** and *** himself all while trying to get into a fight with someone who called him a drunk.

Gunownerdan has made a few good points tho. If it was mad legal today. What do they do with the existing persons in jail with pot related crimes. Release them? Then thousands of prison gaurds would loose jobs. Their would be a rush of unemployed people on the market. It is to much for the gov to think about. Not to mention they can't make extreme profits off of it. Imagine if everyone started growing their own tobacco??? how would the gov like that???

[honestabe8]

pancb1111: There are other compelling reasons to take a serious look at a chance in policy regarding pot other than prohibition causing crime. For example, the policy as it stands gives tacit government approval of more dangerous drugs (alcohol and tobacco). The misinformation out of the Office of National Drug Control Policy equates harsher illegal drugs with pot, which may lead some to try the harder stuff. There is no debate over drug policy, just the ONDCP and DEA pronouncements from on high. As the population ages, more and more people are realizing the load of manure that the ONDCP and DEA push. This results in less respect being given the law enforcement community, which is seen as being more a group of embezzlers than protectors. What is being pushed is a reheated version of Reefer Madness. The country is not in the same place in 2007 as it was in 1937 (the year that the Marijuana Tax Act was passed). Do we expect to feel the same about pot as our grandparents (or great grandparents) did? The result of alcohol abuse is often agressiveness and violence, neither of which are end results of marijuana.

[huskerarmy]

"World views tend to cause people to reject scientific conclusions, because their lifestyles are heavily invested in these views."
Lifestyles are also heavily invested in reality. "I think, therefore I am." How are you supposed to tell folks who've smoked for years, never hallucinated, never known anyone who has, never developed psychosis, never known anyone who has, etc., that they themselves are an aberration? Especially when they are half paranoid already...;)

[huskerarmy]

"90% of my friends that use pot are essentially loafers...no ambition whatsoever... College..."I'll go someday."
Posted by pancb1111
So not much pot being smoked in college I gather...

[gmond]

I knew it, they're out to get me!!

[zendigity]

Oddly, I find that the most paranoid people out there are the stock brokers and investors.

If the president of Iran farts without excusing himself the price of oil increases by 25%...

Clearly we need to do something about this menace...what we need is a war on money.