Page 36 - Spring 2019 Journal

MORE STUDIES ON CANNABIS AND MENTAL ILLNESS
“The association between level of cannabis consumption and development of schizophrenia during a 15-year follow-up was studied in a cohort of 45,570 Swedish conscripts. The relative risk for schizophrenia among high consumers of can- nabis (use on more than fifty occasions) was 6·0 (95 percent confidence interval 4·0—8·9) compared with non-users. Persistence of the association after allowance for other psychiatric illness and social background indicated that cannabis is an independent risk factor for schizophrenia...” www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(87)92620-1/fulltext
“Cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, consistent with a causal relation. This association is not explained by use of other psychoactive drugs or personality traits relating to social integration.”
w w w.bmj.com/content /325/7374/1199
This population-based prospective study showed that a baseline history of cannabis use increased the risk of a follow-up psychosis outcome for subjects with a lifetime absence of psychosis, with a dose-response relation between exposure load and psychosis outcome. https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/156/4/319/112397
“Our findings show the importance of raising public awareness of the risk associated with use of high-potency can- nabis. . . especially when such varieties of cannabis are becoming more available.” www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/ PIIS2215-0366%2814%2900117-5/fulltext
“Multiple linear regression analyses showed that cannabis users by age 15 and by age 18 had more schizophrenia symp- toms than controls at age 26. These results remained significant after psychotic symptoms at age 11 were controlled for. The effect was stronger with earlier use.” www.bmj.com/content/325/7374/1212
“After adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic status, urbanicity, childhood trauma, predisposition for psychosis at baseline, and use of other drugs, tobacco, and alcohol, cannabis use at baseline increased the cumulative incidence of psychotic symptoms at follow up four years later.” www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15574485
“These data indicate that Delta-9-THC produces a broad range of transient symptoms, behaviors, and cognitive defi- cits in healthy individuals that resemble some aspects of endogenous psychoses.” www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15173844
“Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.” www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2017/health-effects-of-cannabis-and-cannabinoids.aspx
After correcting for history of mood disorders like depression, researchers found that adolescent cannabis use increased the odds of suicide attempts 7-fold. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25273309
“Daily [cannabis] use before age 17 substantially increased odds of later suicide attempts (odds ratio 6.83).” www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(14)70307-4/fulltext
“Statistical significant associations were found between physical aggression and alcohol and/or marijuana use.” https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0886260512468234
A 2016 paper in Psychological Medicine examined marijuana use and criminal behavior among over 400 boys in Lon- don, who were followed for more than 40 years beginning in 1961. The boys were surveyed when they were 18, 32, and 48 years old. Researchers found that marijuana at all three ages was associated with a 9-fold increase in violent behavior, even after adjusting for other variables. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/continuity- of-cannabis-use-and-violent-offending-over-the-life-course/F8E66EC005BDA73865872BD1F398A567
Individuals meeting the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence were 3.8 times more likely than control subjects to be violent. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3928/d437180cb086857cc665fbbebb4ba185d624.pdf
Note: These research studies are from the work of Dr. Christine Miller and author Alex Berenson. See: http://momsstrong.org/honorary-advisor/ and http://www.alexberenson.com/.
34 Wise Traditions SPRING 2019