New research has shown that smoking high strength skunk or smoking cannabis for many years greatly increases the risk of psychosis.
They say that they\’ve solcved the causality problem:
Dr Di Forti said the study helps to disprove a popular hypothesis that mental health problems were linked with cannabis because people who were already ill were attracted to drugs in an attempt to ease their symptoms.
She said: "There is no evidence that people who develop psychosis have used cannabis because they were already ill. Other studies have shown people who smoking cannabis quite heavily had no psychotic symptoms before they started."
Anyone with enough medical (or statistical) knowledge to tell whether this is in fact true or not?
Anyone with enough medical (or statistical) knowledge to tell whether this is in fact true or not?
I could, but I’m just too chilled maaaaaan…….
Not the expert view you asked for, but it seems reasonable to me, because there’s a differentiation between skunk and resin users.
But look at the way the Telegraph’s headline inverts the message, turning this from the article body: “people who had a psychotic episode … 18 times more likely to use skunk.” into this: “Skunk smokers 18 times more likely to be psychotic”.
The real question is, will people who have psychosis and have been heavy skunk smokers be able to sue the government for forcing resin into short supply and creating the conditions that led to the development of skunk?
One thing that troubles me in all of this, is the general perception that mental health problems tend to go unreported and untreated unless the sufferer reaches a stage where he begins causing problems in society. I get the impression that mental illnesses in the UK are like an iceberg. Most of it goes un-noticed. If that is the case, then this kind of analysis is fraught with difficulties.
Can anyone help.. My son is 23. He is suicidle and extremely depressed and very frightened. He has smoked Skunk since late teens , although he has given up over the last year . His father killed himelf on the day after my son’s 14th birthday and our family fell to peices. His father was given Seroxat to help him when he had made a suicide attempt 3 monts before but because of the 8 month NHS waiting list for phsyciatric care died before any help was offered. I dont want to loose my son! There were articles regarding a treatment using Canibasol(?) as a nasal spray to counteract the emotions caused due to misuse. Does anyone know anything about this. (Sorry about spellings)