Misslizard wrote:
Based on our own laboratory research, during which we have given thousands of doses of marijuana to people – carefully studying their brain, behavioral, cognitive and social responses – we have never seen a research participant become violent or aggressive while under the influence of the drug, as Berenson alleges. The main effects of smoking marijuana are contentment, relaxation, sedation, euphoria and increased hunger. Still, very high THC concentrations can cause mild paranoia, visual and/or auditory distortions, but even these effects are rare and usually seen only in very inexperienced users.Based on our own laboratory research, during which we have given thousands of cigarettes to people – carefully studying their brain, behavioral, cognitive and social responses – we have never seen a research participant die of lung cancer while under the influence of tobacco, as my political enemy alleges. The main effects of smoking tobacco are contentment, relaxation and decreased hunger. Still, very strong cigarettes can cause a mild cough and nausea, but even these effects are rare and usually seen only in very inexperienced users.
Word for word this could have been written in the 50s by scientists paid by the tobacco lobby and it is all technically correct, but as usual, is deliberately misleading. These guys are more interesting for what they don't say than what they actually do say. There are thousands of documented cases of people committing horrendously violent crimes while high on cannabis. My side believes this may be a result of cumulative use of cannabis - these guys
don't want to know and they certainly don't want you to know.
This part is worth responding to though:
It is also worth noting that 10-fold increases in marijuana use in the UK from the 1970s to the 2000s were not associated with an increase in rates of psychosis over this same period, further evidence that changes in cannabis use in the general population are unlikely to contribute to changes in psychosis.Firstly, we aren't concerned with psychosis specifically, as these scientists probably know, but have crafted a clever straw man to attack instead. We need a new name for this problem, how about "cannabis induced mental disorder".
Secondly, as the same sort of people continually remind us when they talk about the sorry state of mental health care provided by the NHS, psychosis and mental health conditions in general are extremely difficult to diagnose and measure in a population. They say, rightly, that increased levels of psychosis would likely turn up in statistics as increased homelessness or an increase in violent crimes or bright children dropping out of school and onto meaningless lives - not as a measured increase in psychosis - due to subjective diagnostic criteria and the fact that many sufferers end up in prison, dead or worse before a psychiatrist even looks at them.
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Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!
12 Aug 2019, 4:46 pm
