Originally Posted by
gangjababy
weed cannot cause psychosis, there has to be underlying mental problems...
Thats not true AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
A somewhat serious post ahead...
Cannabis does not 'cause' psychosis. An overload of dopamine in the brain is the cause.
Cannabis, or THC to be precise, attaches to specific cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Some of these receptors release dopamine into a particular part of the brain,
that when overloaded with dopamine, can and does cause psychotic episodes.
The latest research results, from studies conducted in New Zealand over a period of 36 years, have found a
gene pair anomaly in some people that in their words is a 'genetic vulnerability to cannabis'.
In normal people, this particular gene pair works normally. When affected by either our inbuilt cannabinoids, or external cannabinoids such as THC, the gene allows dopamine through, but shuts the tap off before the brain overloads on dopamine. The normal gene can pair a pairing of two good, or one bad and one good gene.
However, in people who have two 'bad' genes, this gene's ability to control the dopamine flow is impaired. When affected by
THC cannabinoids in particular, the gene (the receptor for the THC) can't stop the flow of dopamine.
This is fact. They've discovered the faulty gene pair and they know how it works.
![Embarassed :oops: :oops:](/styles/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
Just so you don't think I'm about to go on an anti-pot rant, scientists at another institute have shown how natural cannabinoids seek out and destroy GBH brain cancer cells, while leaving healthy ones intact.
On with the gene story...
The problem is that testing for the problem gene pair is not yet available to the public. But, if you consider that 35%, yes, 35% of the Australian population has at least tried cannabis, and only 1% of the population suffers from schizophrenia or psychosis, the faulty gene pair must be quite rare.
Further, they found in the study, that people in their early to mid teens who smoked at least on a monthly basis, and had the bad gene, had an 11x more likely chance of becoming schizophrenic by their 20's. Remember, this study spans from 1972 to now and followed 1000 subjects from an early age.
It can also be assumed that if you are beyond your teens and have not suffered any psychotic episodes, or schizophrenia in your life, then you don't have a defective gene pair.
Having said that, there are numerous other triggers associated with these conditions, and as has been anecdotally shown for many years, in some cases cannabis can actually relieve the effects of these conditions.
If you are in your mid to late teens, or early twenties and you have experienced bad psychotic episodes (not Police paranoia or bump in the night frights), or have been diagnosed with, or fear you may be schizophrenic, then you may have a bad gene pair. Problem is, there are no publicly available tests as yet.
Cannabis does NOT cause psychosis or schizophrenia in the general population. There must be an pre-existing underlying gene abnormality for it to trigger these conditions.
There have been some other studies that led to the conclusion that
cannabis causes psychosis and schizophrenia except they had no idea of the underlying gene problem. The studies were conducted on limited numbers, and in some cases on subjects that had already been diagnosed as schizophrenic or manic etc. with some having not smoked until after being diagnosed with their condition/illness. The studies were flawed and biased against cannabis at the beginning.
While some of the results of the New Zealand studies jumped to conclusions as their earlier findings were published, the discovery of this gene pairing provides a clear reason for looking at the study more closely.
I'll edit this post to provide links to relevent information if anyone is interested enough. Oh, and if you've read this far, there are far more benefits to ingesting cannabis than their are negatives. Sorry, I've hijacked and will stop now....
![Mr. Green :mrgreen: :mrgreen:](/styles/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![bongsmilie bongsmilie bongsmilie](/styles/smilies/bong7bp.gif)
![bongsmilie bongsmilie bongsmilie](/styles/smilies/bong7bp.gif)
...DISCLAIMER...
I read lots of stuff. I'm not an expert, just a parrot for the different studies I've read...