{"id":9992,"date":"2024-01-30T20:29:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=9992"},"modified":"2024-01-30T20:29:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:29:16","slug":"marijuana-and-schizophrenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=9992","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana and Schizophrenia?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The evidence linking cannabis use to psychotic disorders is considered strong enough to warrant a public health warning.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u201cEven as proponents of [cannabis] legalization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3538401\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contend<\/a> that smoked marijuana is a harmless natural substance that improves the quality of life, a growing body of evidence links it in a small but significant number of users to\u2026the induction or aggravation of psychosis.\u201d \u201cPsychotic disorders <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24904437\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> arguably the most serious of mental illnesses, the best known being schizophrenia.\u201d \u201cSchizophrenia, an illness that is <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25768856\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">characterized<\/a> by delusions, hallucinations, and odd behavior, is among the top 10 leading causes of disability in the United States. It affects approximately 1% of the general population.\u201d Can cannabis cause it?\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>As I discuss in my video <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/does-marijuana-cause-schizophrenia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Does Marijuana Cause Schizophrenia?<\/strong><\/a>, over the last half-century, \u201cnearly 2,000 studies have been <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27052382\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> on this topic\u2026and the pro-psychotic effects of cannabis have dominated media reporting about this drug. But how clear is the link?\u201d Population studies have \u201cconsistently <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/28115737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demonstrated<\/a> a strong, positive, and dose-dependent association between cannabis use and the risk of psychotic disorders.\u201d Indeed, studies have <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26884547\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shown<\/a> that the more cannabis people use, the more likely they are to be psychotic, as seen in a chart below and at 1:10 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/does-marijuana-cause-schizophrenia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100491\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-10-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">However, that doesn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27052382\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mean<\/a> cannabis is the cause. It could just be a correlation or even a consequence of the disease. \u201cThe link between cannabis and psychosis is well <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12446510\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">established<\/a>,\u201d but it may be the case that patients with mental health problems self-medicate and \u201cuse cannabis to relieve their distress.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">As you can see below and at 1:38 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/does-marijuana-cause-schizophrenia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>, there isn\u2019t only a link between cannabis and psychosis in snapshot-in-time cross-sectional studies, but in cohort studies as well, where people are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26884547\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">followed<\/a> over time. Research has shown that cannabis use often precedes psychosis, not the other way around. Now, it goes without saying that \u201cthe vast majority of people who use cannabis do not <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27052382\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">develop<\/a> psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, and many people diagnosed with such disorders have never used cannabis.\u201d But, overall, these studies are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26386480\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">considered <\/a>to be \u201cstrong enough evidence to warrant a public health message that cannabis use can increase the risk of psychotic disorders.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100493\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-38-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><br \/>There is another potential explanation: Even though cannabis use <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25768856\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">precedes<\/a> schizophrenia, could it be that whichever genes drive schizophrenia also make it more likely you start smoking pot? The biggest strike against the cannabis-schizophrenia link is country-by-country ecological studies that don\u2019t seem to <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26398733\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">show<\/a> more disease in areas where there\u2019s more use. And, overall, schizophrenia rates seem to have remained stable or even gone down worldwide since the 1960s, even though there\u2019s been a big bump in cannabis use since then.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If about 10 percent of schizophrenia cases are attributable to marijuana use and there\u2019s been a fourfold <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24904437\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">increase<\/a> in use, why hasn\u2019t there been a 40 percent increase in the prevalence of schizophrenia? The problem with that argument is \u201cthere <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26970362\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">is<\/a> little reliable evidence on the temporal [true] trends in the incidence of schizophrenia, so it is difficult to know whether this statement is true or not.\u201d Perhaps it\u2019s more of an issue with potency rather than just cannabis in general. Indeed, \u201cthe incidence of schizophrenia is higher in countries\u2026where high-potency cannabis has taken over the market compared with countries\u2026where more traditional forms of cannabis are smoked.\u201d The bottom line is you don\u2019t know until you put it to the test.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>You can\u2019t just <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/28115737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">randomize<\/a> kids to cannabis, but, in a way, Mother Nature set up a natural experiment for us. There are genes that kids randomly get that can increase their likelihood of smoking pot. Do those kids then go on to have a higher risk of schizophrenia? Yes, research \u201cfindings strongly support\u201d all of those population studies that suggest \u201ccannabis plays a causal [cause-and-effect] role in the development of schizophrenia.\u201d Okay, but by how much?\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Let\u2019s break it down. Even if cannabis use <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23836598\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">doubles<\/a> the risk, that would mean only going from a 7-in-1,000 chance of developing a psychosis to 14 in 1,000. So, going from a 1 in 140 chance to a 1 in 70 chance. It would be different if schizophrenia runs in your family, where a doubling of risk could mean going from a one-in-ten chance to one in five, but, on a population scale, it could take thousands of cannabis users <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26970362\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quitting<\/a> to prevent a single case of schizophrenia. So, from a public health standpoint, \u201caddiction is a far more common problem.\u201d Researchers \u201cestimate that people who try cannabis are ninefold more likely to become addicted to it\u201d\u2014even though that itself is relatively rare\u2014\u201cthan to develop psychosis in their lifetime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I have an entire series of videos on cannabis, which I originally released in a webinar and <a href=\"https:\/\/drgreger.org\/products\/cannabis-what-does-the-science-say-digital?utm_campaign=digital_dl_mj&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=docnote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">downloadable digital DVD<\/a>. See related videos below.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The evidence linking cannabis use to psychotic disorders is considered strong enough to warrant a public health warning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cEven as proponents of [cannabis] legalization contend that smoked marijuana is a harmless natural substance that improves the quality of life, a growing body of evidence links it in a small but significant number of users to\u2026the induction &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}