SCI/TECH: Smoking cannabis "doubles mental health risk"

Also, most Alcohol and Drug specialists are anti-criminalisation of drugs. The study leader was Prof David Fergusson at the Christchuch School of Medicine. Sure enough, the BBC article is sensationalist and not indicative of his actual position: here

Soft line needed on recreational users - professor
The following article was published in various forms in The Press (18 Oct), Christchurch Star (19 Oct), Wairapapa Times-Age (18 Oct), Nelson Mail (18 Oct) and Evening Standard (18 Oct)
Policies governing the use of cannabis need to avoid criminalising the large number of occasional recreational users who pose no risk to themselves or others, says a Christchurch medical researcher.

Professor David Fergusson, of the Christchurch School of Medicine, said although cannabis may have harmful effects on a minority of heavy or vulnerable users, there was little evidence to suggest the occasional use of cannabis was harmful.

"However, potentially large numbers of young people who use cannabis are, in theory at least, at risk of criminal prosecution for their actions.

"There is a clear need for policies releting to cannabis to avoid criminalising the majority of occasional recreational users who do not appear to pose a risk to themselves or anyone around them."

Professor Fergusson, who made the comments to the Health Select Committee inquiry into cannabis use, based his submission on the Christchurch Health and Development Study, which he heads.

The study tracked 1265 children born in Christchurch in mid-1977 until the age of 21.

Part of this research focused on the development of cannabis use from early adolescence (13 years) to young adulthood.

It found 70 percent of the cohort had used cannabis at least once, with 23 percent reporting using cannabis on more than 100 occasions. Cannabis use was more common among males and Maori.

Professor Fergusson said the debate about cannabis had tended to polarise popular views to produce black and white views of the health risks of the drug.

Although there was evidence of potentially harmful effects for regular and heavy cannabis users, for occasional users "we believe that a fair summation of the existing evidence is that cannabis use is likely to be no more harmful than alcohol use and may well be shown to less harmful than alcohol use."
The committee was investigating whether the legal status of the drug should be changed and how the risks associated with its use could be minimalised.

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A somewhat softer stance than the BBC article would imply


[edit on 2-3-2005 by Romeo]

[edit on 2-3-2005 by Romeo]

I agree with the study, I have seen it happen to people.

Agreed occasional use is unlikely to have long term effects. But frequent and habitual use can cause major problems. One problem is that in the UK the main form of cannibis being used is highly potent hybrids, this has been proven to have at least caused short term mental problems. I have seen heavy users suffer from depression, become paranoid and have massive mood swings. Yes I have seen people become addicted to it and seen what I can only describe as panic when they realised they cannot get any more from a supplier.

Everything in moderation people.

sorry to flood the thread but this is related. Illegal drug sales boom on Internet
"The vast majority of drugs sales by online pharmacies involved internationally controlled narcotics and so-called psychotropic substances, which act on the mind, the INCB said. Of those, around 90 percent were sold without the required prescription."
You see. Prohibition cannot win, only education. The quest for intoxication of the human mind has evolved over billions of years. It is as strong as the desire for sex. A few "rules" are not going to prevent it. Has prostitution ever been eradicated. What a joke.

The only people that get crazy from smoking weed (and they DO get craaaazy) are the ones that fail to see they all already became crazy a LONG LONG time before they started smoking pot. Plus theyre the people that do everything in excess.

They crashland, not becouse of the weed, but becouse of their messed up lives (which weed only emphasizes), go to the shrink for help, he puts them on pills, and make the things even worse.

After the "treatment", they become mostly alcohol addicts (hard ones!), at least the people i know/have known, becouse doctor tells them something like WEED BAAAD, ALCOHOL GOOD! The good doctor likes to have a drink or two now and again you know.

Back to square one boys and girls, you havent learned a thing

Its all just one big conspiracy.... Marijuana free's the mind to be able to think and be creative. Alcohol disables the mind to think? I guess this is the solution to keep the masses in line. Make all drugs that are beneficial to thought "Against the law" and the ones that disable legal. Go figure.....

romeo had some great points

criminalizing it just makes the wrong people rich...

I also believe that heavy use, can lead to mental problems... but, perhaps no more so, than rationalizing the many injustices in our world can do anyway...

it is ALL a method of avoiding reality... and the more you avoid reality, the more you develop a disjointed view of reality...

under this very real constuct...
most of America is insane... and probably the same the world over...

we all avoid the reality that this world is a choatic amalgam of hopes and fears against the many misunderstandings and injustices...
And in the end... we are just trying to enjoy the ride while we go to and from work... and avoid depressing ourselves with too much gruesome reality...

I have said it before... give us recreations and diversions, or humanity will create its own...
in some third world countries... it is considered fun for underage boys to torture animals (since they don't have much else to do). .. if only they could waste their mischief on sneaking roaches from their parents ashtrays... so much the better...
birth-learn-work-death... and that is the circle of life...
anything in between is welcome diversion....

first quesiton:
they tested 1000 people. 1000 people who smoke ganja everyday?
1000 people who smoke ganja once in a week?
1000 people who smoke ganja once a month?
or 1000 poeple who smoke ganja once a year?

anyway,
if your genes are "crazy" and you have mental health problems in your family, then ofcoure ganja and all "other drugs" can make that risk double or more. but that is nothing new. one guy that has mental problems in his family and is drinking alcohol, can go mental even if he doesnt smoke cannabis.

so the whole point of this "research" was exactly what?

nothing new here.

Some will say that those who frequent a site such as ATS may double their mental health risk. What can you do?

There may actually be some excitement in my future.

Originally posted by Bangin
Some will say that those who frequent a site such as ATS may double their mental health risk. What can you do?

hehe i agree with you!
frequent visitors of this site can possibly TRIPPLE their mental health risk,, increasing paranoia levels up high!
but then again, you only live once right?

The Metro (a free newspaper here in England) states that the average cannabis smoke smokes '70 cannabis cigarettes a week' whereas a heavy user smokes '350 cannabis cigarettes a week'.

I mean come on! Where are they getting these stats from?!

Originally posted by phixion
The Metro (a free newspaper here in England) states that the average cannabis smoke smokes '70 cannabis cigarettes a week' whereas a heavy user smokes '350 cannabis cigarettes a week'.

I mean come on! Where are they getting these stats from?!

now, if you smoke 350 cannabis cigarettes a week, you are really one HEAVY smoker. that means 50 cigarettes a DAY!

maybe they got this stats from their own experience?

This interesting article states that farmers in switzerland actually feed livestock hemp for its medicinal properties, which have been touted for a long time.... But have stopped some applications with cows, due to the chance of THC in milk... GOT MILK?

the pigs are flying high...

they are finding that it might even help parkinsons patients and MS sufferers
this link from the MS foundation states some of the possbile future teatments...
MS sufferers have hope

so i am thinking that medical use of MJ should be considered strongly.
not feared due to the few heavy users that go crazy...
as stated... anything done too much, can make ya looney....


[edit on 2-3-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

I think I should start off with this Quote:
"Today more than ever it is the duty of lawmakers and public officials to fight these poisons that are destroying our society, such as heroin, coc aine, and other narcotics. We must wipe out their sale and prevent their use in medical practice. The future health of our society diminishes as the number of physically ruined and mentally incompetent drug addicts increases."

These are not the words of John Ashcroft ! This hackneyed call to action was written by a doctor of the Third Reich in support of Hitler’s "Rauschgiftbekämpfung", or War on Drugs.
Instead, the chief focus of der Rauschgiftbekämpfung was an intense propaganda program against alcohol and tobacco, based on the “performance principle,” an extension of the work ethic under which no individual had the right to do anything that might diminish his productivity to the state—or her ability to bear future workers, soldiers, and mothers.
Today the crackdown on cannibis, opium, psilocybe, peyote,etc are all the result of a vicious proganada that was launched with the onset of Christianity and its early drive to wipe out all other " pagan practices". All pagan temples became church property, and Christians were legally entitled to beat and rob pagans at will. Informers filled the cities, and gangs of pious thugs roamed the countryside looking for pagan ceremonies disguised as picnics. Here began the war that has been raging for nearly two centuries and has promoted itself through constantly generating new propaganda.
Basically the war on drugs or the dope war is a war against pleasure.
The Popery Says-!!

The stand by the US government is similar in nature but has a different face. In all cases their is no denying the blatant misuse of power by the government and the denial of basic rights are all part of the supposed war on drugs. These injustices include asset seizure, racist enforcement, loss of religious freedom, suppression of raves, and outrageously long prison terms
without the scope for pardon or bail. How can the government form such legislation when some of our greatest leaders have been able to serve us due to their use of drugs like marijuana, ex: John F Kennedy.
Heck! even Coca-Cola was first developed with coc aine and chocolate with coca beans which have the same psychotropic effects tosay that they are only the last refuge of the desperate or morally weak is just ludarious. For centuries man has had narcotics and they were consumed with discretion. The idea that marijuana is the harbringer of corruption, vice and death is a fallacy, you are likely to die faster if you indulge in fast food than marijuana.
But to deny that these narcotics is a problem is also a grave mistake, their effect on the lives of children across the country is undeniable and I am sure everybody agrees that they should be kept away from children. Here is an article about how the "war on drugs" is going.
BUSTED: America's war on marijuana
Even the ACLU has noticed the injustice in the name of narcotics control;ACLU: The war on drugs is NOT WORKING
More groups that are working around the world for fair treatment and justice of users of cannibis etc:CANNABIS ACTIVISM

"Prohibition makes a crime out of things that are not crimes."

— Abraham Lincoln, 1840

OK, since the recent news topic got shut, i will post in this one instead, because its of the same nature.


Im going to lay this down, because this topic of discussion is something which means the world to me, and i have to say what i say, because i honestly would not be where i am now without it, and other compounds. It is our God given right, if you want me to put it that way, to use these substances for positive purposes. Fact is, you have a chemical in you now which is Class A/Schedule 1, but is infact the most profound experience inducing chemical there is... '___'. EVERYONE has experienced it to some extent when they dream, when they were born (and childhood), in lucid dreaming and other "mystical" states..

"I believe that God left certain drugs growing naturally upon our planet to help speed up and facilitate our evolution." - Bill Hicks


I am very annoyed that there are still people today who consider Cannabis a drug, especially those who continually promote distortions of the facts, and outright lies, like the government and our ever complient corporate media. There is simply NO logic behind Cannabis being illegal; Millions use it on a daily basis, and will continue too, despite any classification the government gives it. Ever since it became an illegal substance, there has been absolutely no evidence to show that its status has benefited individuals or society as a whole. Infact, i would argue that it has done FAR more damage, putting innocent people in jail, costing billions to enforce, and causing some people to go crazy out of fear of both the law, and the information the brain recieves whilst in this heightened state. Yes, heightened. All psychoactive compounds connect you/open you up to more information/dimensions, which can be used for healing not only of yourself, but others aswell.

Cannabis, and other psychedelic plants (and fungus!) have been used for thousands of years, and are still used today. The Shamans and various indiginous people living in the Amazon know how to combine various plants for a variety of healing purposes. Big Pharma has a long history of trying too, or succeeding in stealing various plants molecular structures and combinations for profit, and patenting it, when the knowledge was not theirs to begin with, and never will be.

A great example of this is Curare (en.wikipedia.org...). Amazonian hunters, according to the mainstream view, discovered this (like all the others) by trail and error, and experimentation. I will tell you now for a fact, this is a OUTRIGHT LIE;

There are forty types of curare in the Amazon, made from seventy plant species. To produce it, you must mix several plants and boil them for 72 hours, whilst avoiding the fragrant but deadly vapors. The final product is not dangerous unless its injected under the skin. Even eating it does nothing. This is beyond trail and error, everyone should be able to see that. Their explanation is they get this information from induced states through Ayauscha etc, psychedelics. They have a mind blowing amount of information, and can produce visible results with it.. yet its all attributed to mysticism and experimentation, when it clearly is more than that.


For those who don't know, the history of Cannabis being an illegal compound is a very interesting one. I suggest you all watch this documentary, which details this trail through its legal status history, all be it happening in the last 100 years!

Google Video Link

Once you have finished that, you will probably be feeling how i am feeling right now as i write this post... very annoyed that the mainstream perception of this plant is so backwards, and is nothing more than the result of propaganda for one mans own gain. That man being Harry J Anslinger.


This "study" should make you laugh, because if you remember, Gordon Brown spoke recently about how he thought Cannabis should be put back up to Class B. What very nice timing for this "study" to come out..

Fact is, anyone who goes "crazy" through using Cannabis is because of external influences, and not Cannabis itself. Cannabis is merely a conscious state altering compound that helps you percieve more information that you would not normally pay attention too. All psychedelics work in this way. There is nothing "out there" that can't be seen, heard or experienced that isn't already within you right now. But through childhood trauma and conditioning, which can be losely translated into "just being alive on Earth in the modern world", all this streams of information are stopped by your ego. Conditioning is what builds the ego, "the door you must walk through", and psychedelics provide the key to helping you unlock it.. but not walking through it;

On a serious note, psychedelics are not the same as alcohol for example. Alcohol works in a completely different way, a very negative one at that, by actually taking away information from your perspective, aswell as poisoning the body and mind. But, it "helps" millions "get away" from the daily grind of work life, it helps them escape their ego.. thats why you see so many idiots being roudy and noisey, and being all "sexy" when drunk, because deep down they want to be heard and loved, like all of us.

That is the reason why alcohol is legal, and widely available, and Cannabis is not. Cannabis is the mildest of all psycedelics, and is a fantastic way for someone to begin the process of deconditioning themselves and escaping the ego. But sadly, people end up going "crazy", because they have no one to guide them through the process, except their ego, which latches onto the most convienient explanation.. the one which states "you are crazy. you can't experience these states. its not real".. the one which is put forward by the state and media..


Every time you hear Cannabis being talked about in a negative light, just remember that it is not true. If you haven't experienced a psychedelic state, then sorry, but you have no grounds to even attempt to answer back to that statement i made. You can't argue against something which you have not experienced and lived for yourself. Using psychedelics is more than just using a "drug".. alcohol is a drug, cannabis is a herb. Big difference.

Cannabis is not a gateway drug. It does not force its users to do anything. It is the persons choice whether they proceed. To link Cannabis to the beginning of a heroin junkie is just an ouright fallacy, and is a line of propaganda that has been around for decades, but entirely untrue.


"Psychedelic drugs cause paranoia, confusion, and total loss of reality in politicians that have never taken them."
- Timothy Leary


Thank you

[edit on 27-7-2007 by shrunkensimon]

So now I know what's wrong with me! Smoking the weed!
What? Who said that?

A Reminder

2e.) Illegal Activity: Discussion of any illegal activities such as drug use, drug paraphernalia, hacking, sexual relations with minors, etc. are strictly forbidden. Terms & Conditions

You may discuss the study and related topics but not personal drug use or other personally incriminating behaviour. Otherwise this thread will also find itself in the trash bin.
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Yes, remind away I understand you have too, but seriously.. why be a part of it. Stand up.

Originally posted by Intelearthling
Pot is illegal because I don't need to be around a bunch of stoned out dopers at work or driving down the road while I'm around.

Hmm...must be the same reason that alcohol is illegal, right? I mean surely you don't want to be a round a bunch of drunk alcoholics at work or driving down the road while you're around...right? Your argument makes loads of sense, lol.

Originally posted by shrunkensimon
.. why be a part of it. Stand up.

I can discuss the benefits of medical use, the shady "scientific studies", the refer madness scam, the dangers of use, the other industrial uses for the plant. the politics of legalisation and/or prohibition, the conspiracy of the Dupont's and other corps at the turn of the century, the inherent racism that prohibition grew out of, the comparisons with other jurisdictions that tolerate its use, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT MY OWN PERSONAL USE, OR HOW TO USE IT, OR WHY I USE IT, OR HOW COOL IT IS TO USE, OR HOW F'ED UP I GOT LAST NIGHT, ETC...

Understand the difference?

Or would you prefer to see ATS get into legal trouble with the risk of it disappearing off of the web for good?
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edit: spelling

[edit on 7/27/2007 by Gools]

Yes i understand, but i don't write how where or when i may have used substances. But i don't include the experiences in that, for that is something i have a right to share with people.

Beh