Cannabis Smokers At Risk Of Personality Disorder Syndrome

[Hairy]

this is a ridiculous article. i smoked pot for years with no adverse effects whatsoever, in fact it helped me quite a lot with anxiety. it has never stopped me progrssing in my career, social relationships, or other areas. i also stopped very easily (in thailand). i know very successful, well adjusted people who smoke regularly. i know a couple of freaks who smoke too, but it's my feeling that they had personality disorders to begin with and weed just exacerbates them. some people can't handle it, just like some people can't hold their alcohol. but overall, marijuana is a benign drug, if done in moderation.

Yep. I used to be one of those anti-drug crusader types until I noticed that dam_n near everyone I knew used and enjoyed pot socially, and nearly all of them suffered no serious effects from it. One of them founded a high-tech startup worth a quarter-billion dollars. Most are average people in average jobs.

The only person I know who had any serious problems was someone who smoked so much that he couldn't focus on his Ph.D. research and ended up as an ABD. He quit smoking and is in good shape again now.

[Neeranam]

ha there are a lot of anti-weed fanatics on this thread. i find you guys hilarious. find something worthy of putting your fury into- marijuana is so harmless and makes the majority of it's users so happy, insinuating that they should go to jail or that it's some evil ruiner of lives is just totally ignorant. sure, if you have a personality disorder, cannot discipline yourself, or are unable to take something in moderation, stay away from ALL drugs, including alcohol, cigarettes, etc. but it's funny to see people blaming this medicinal herb for their own problems.

I find it amusing that you are always posting on the health forum about your psychological illneses and for help in coming off xanax.

[teatree]

I'm not sure, but it seems that Canabis use gives rise to an inability to discuss the negative aspects of the weed without launching into a discussion of the negative aspects of alcohol.

If we can disscuss Canabis without discussing alcohol we might get an understanding of the topic under discusion rather than wandering off into what ought to be the basis of another thread.

The comparisons with alcohol are made because even the most rabid opposer to cannabis seems to fine with the fact that alcohol is freely available and legal. This highlights their hypocrisy and gives them something to think about, and they need to think again about the issue when they are stating that cannabis users should be jailed.

[rick75]

I am not anti- weed, I was a regular smoker loved the stuff still occasionaly love the stuff, but for those on here to say there is no links between mental health problems and dope are just plain stupid.

Here is a small extract from an article on the study the link is below if you would like to read more

Posted Wed Jun 4, 2008 11:47am AEST

A new Australian study says long-term, heavy cannabis use causes brain damage that is equivalent to mild-traumatic brain injury or premature ageing.

The research is published today in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The study also found that all users are at risk, and the more you smoke, the more your brain shrinks.

Doctors have known for years there is nothing "soft" about the drug cannabis. Professor Jon Currie is the director of addiction medicine at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.

"This is a very exciting study because it proves for the first time what we have been really worried out. That brain problems are real and that people who smoke cannabis over a long term do get problems." he said.

The study conducted at the University of Melbourne took MRI pictures of the brains of 15 men who had smoked more than five joints daily for more than 10 years.

It found the parts of their brains that regulate memory and emotion, the hippocampus and the amygdala, were significantly smaller than those of non-users.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/04/2264668.htm

[junki3korean]

jesus guys and girls.....still debating on if weed is good or bad for your mental health?

Lets just wrap it up as too much weed for some people may fuc_k there brains up......Make them paranoid or very hungry..

lets just leave it as that and go out and get drunk or stoned tonight......ITS CHRISTMAS who cares ~.^

[Geekfreaklover]

jesus guys and girls.....still debating on if weed is good or bad for your mental health?

Lets just wrap it up as too much weed for some people may fuc_k there brains up......Make them paranoid or very hungry..

lets just leave it as that and go out and get drunk or stoned tonight......ITS CHRISTMAS who cares ~.^

Word.

[Groongthep]

I worked For the Department of Psychiatry in the States for many years. There is absolutely no link between borderline personality and cannabis use.

Absolute nonsense.

Department of Psychiatry where in the States? The Ridgemont High School Department of Psychiatry? There is no official US government Department of Psychiatry. Psychiatric departments are only found at medical schools. Wherever you got the idea that there is no link between borderline personality (disorder) and heavy cannabis use is ludicrous. There is volumes of evidence linking chronic marijuana use with personality disorders and abnormal behavior. Here's a link to the highly respected Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) citing many references to studies showing negative consequences to cannabis use. JAMA page Especially look at the bibliography towards the bottom.

So you worked for the "Department of Psychiatry" in the States, Huh? How many bong hits did you take before thinking anyone was going to buy that line of BS?

[girlx]

I find it amusing that you are always posting on the health forum about your psychological illneses and for help in coming off xanax.

really? news to me- post a link to one of these posts please? i don't take xanax, except maybe once or twice a year when i need it for anxiety. in fact, weed helps me with that better than xanax. i had a parent who was addicted to xanax and forcefed them to me when i was a kid, is that what you are referring to? and do you expect that to prove some kind of point?

[LooseCannon]

The beauty about the dope smoker is that they (we/me) don't give a <deleted> about what the 'man' has to say about the 'evil weed'.

I first smoked hashish back in 1969 & since then have been continually bombarded with 'reefer madness', schizophrenia, brain shrinkage, low sperm count, blah blah blah ad nauseum. The only people that went 'nuts' after smoking dope where the people that had problems before they ever started smoking.

Mankind developed quite well, thank you very much, for a couple thousand years before the western world decided smoking dope was evil.

More to do with 'free thinking' & control than concern for my health.

[sgunn65]

As someone who has worked with drug and alcohol users for 15 years let me put my personal experience. I used cannabis for 16 years and had little problems with it. However the other drugs got me in the end!!

Since working in the field I have only ever had 2 clients sectioned (taken into psychiatric care against their will) and both were solely cannabis users. I have seen people die from Heroin and Crack too.

The thing with cannabis is that it will exacerbate already existing conditions, some you may not know you had. With the stronger versions of cannabis, more common now, this can have adverse effects. As with all illegal drugs you enter a lottery when you use. Most will be ok but some won't.

I think the problem is that cannabis is widely regarded as harmless when it is not. Much of this opinion comes from my generation who used cannabis with 2-6% THC back in the 70's and 80's. Now Canada produces Super Skunk with 25% THC. It is a new drug and should not be compared with the old stuff we enjoyed.

All drugs have benefits. Cannabis is excellent for MS suffers and Glaucoma. It can be fun. But it can also bite the hand that rolls.

[H2oDunc]

I agree with girlx. This is such a ridiculous article. I worked For the Department of Psychiatry in the States for many years. There is absolutely no link between borderline personality and cannabis use.

Chronic cannabis use can exacerbate the symptoms of schizophrenia ,but by no means causes it.

Just another ridiculous, and baseless "study".

Cannabis is a drug of addiction just like alcohol.

I have personally seen lives destroyed because of this drug.

Like alcohol, if used in moderation it is fine. The problem is some people cannot drink or smoke in moderation.

I believe that people with emotional disorders are drawn to such drugs as a temparary form of self medication.

What out and out total bollo^&s I'm sick of reading in the UK papers about how smoking cannabis MADE someone do this or that. Cannabis does not make anybody do anything of the sort. Its not addictive nor does it make you go onto other HARDER drugs. Its just propaganda to try to frighten people. Scumbags use this and alcohol as an excuse for their behaviour. The people I know who use a variety of drugs are hard working members of the community who's only crime is to take a drug that the Government deems illegal. I would legalise all drugs and take away the control from the criminals. The so called drugs war that has been going on for the last 50 years has been an abject failure. Drugs now are cheaper than ever. There is so many lies in the media about drugs that having a sensible debate is impossible. If you put the same standards that the anti drug Nazis use then alcohol should have been banned years ago. Yet it is freely available and regulated by law. Alcohol and tobacco kill more people than ALL illegal drugs but as they are taxed they are forgotten.

I also speak from the bad side of drugs experience. I found my best friend dead in bed, he had been there 3 days because of heroin. He died because the drugs he bought happened to be purer than he was used to. The average content of heroin is around 16%, the rest is crap. From battery acid to brick dust. That is the cause of death for most heroin users. Up till a few years ago you could get heroin from the NHS for addicts but that was stopped. Immediately Brown heroin, or street heroin appeared. I would love to see a sensible, balanced debate on this but it wont happen. Just like the Global warming Nazis the anti drugs Nazis are blinkered and refuse to listen to reason.

[bkkjames]

For the benefit of other posters, please allow me to space your paragraphs for you...

What out and out total bollo^&s I'm sick of reading in the UK papers about how smoking cannabis MADE someone do this or that. Cannabis does not make anybody do anything of the sort. Its not addictive nor does it make you go onto other HARDER drugs. Its just propaganda to try to frighten people. Scumbags use this and alcohol as an excuse for their behaviour.

The people I know who use a variety of drugs are hard working members of the community who's only crime is to take a drug that the Government deems illegal. I would legalise all drugs and take away the control from the criminals. The so called drugs war that has been going on for the last 50 years has been an abject failure. Drugs now are cheaper than ever. There is so many lies in the media about drugs that having a sensible debate is impossible.

If you put the same standards that the anti drug Nazis use then alcohol should have been banned years ago. Yet it is freely available and regulated by law. Alcohol and tobacco kill more people than ALL illegal drugs but as they are taxed they are forgotten.

I also speak from the bad side of drugs experience. I found my best friend dead in bed, he had been there 3 days because of heroin. He died because the drugs he bought happened to be purer than he was used to. The average content of heroin is around 16%, the rest is crap. From battery acid to brick dust. That is the cause of death for most heroin users.

Up till a few years ago you could get heroin from the NHS for addicts but that was stopped. Immediately Brown heroin, or street heroin appeared. I would love to see a sensible, balanced debate on this but it wont happen. Just like the Global warming Nazis the anti drugs Nazis are blinkered and refuse to listen to reason.

Edited December 26, 2008 by bkkjames

[MJP]

You know what. I've pondered this drugs thing for a while now and then I look at myself.

I rail against 'narcotics' but I have my own health problems caused by my own 'drugs'. One was being a workaholic. The other was bad living, by which I mean poor 'on-the-go' diet and lack of regular exercise.

I reckon I'm in a worse physical condition than most junkie's. Laid up in bed after getting out of hospital since October.

The real killers seem to be;

Alcohol - not my bag, never has been, but I've seen the damage it does

Cigarettes - guilty as charged

Fatty, sugary gross 'fast food' - was part of my busy work schedule lifestyle

I'm now crippled with diabetes.

Funny how Ronald Mc£$£$£$ can flog obesity in a bun to kids . . .

Edited December 26, 2008 by MJP

[Birdman]

For the benefit of other posters, please allow me to space your paragraphs for you...

What out and out total bollo^&s I'm sick of reading in the UK papers about how smoking cannabis MADE someone do this or that. Cannabis does not make anybody do anything of the sort. Its not addictive nor does it make you go onto other HARDER drugs. Its just propaganda to try to frighten people. Scumbags use this and alcohol as an excuse for their behaviour.

The people I know who use a variety of drugs are hard working members of the community who's only crime is to take a drug that the Government deems illegal. I would legalise all drugs and take away the control from the criminals. The so called drugs war that has been going on for the last 50 years has been an abject failure. Drugs now are cheaper than ever. There is so many lies in the media about drugs that having a sensible debate is impossible.

If you put the same standards that the anti drug Nazis use then alcohol should have been banned years ago. Yet it is freely available and regulated by law. Alcohol and tobacco kill more people than ALL illegal drugs but as they are taxed they are forgotten.

I also speak from the bad side of drugs experience. I found my best friend dead in bed, he had been there 3 days because of heroin. He died because the drugs he bought happened to be purer than he was used to. The average content of heroin is around 16%, the rest is crap. From battery acid to brick dust. That is the cause of death for most heroin users.

Up till a few years ago you could get heroin from the NHS for addicts but that was stopped. Immediately Brown heroin, or street heroin appeared. I would love to see a sensible, balanced debate on this but it wont happen. Just like the Global warming Nazis the anti drugs Nazis are blinkered and refuse to listen to reason.

Thank's James - could it come together with a summary next time?

[mrtoad]

I agree with girlx. This is such a ridiculous article. I worked For the Department of Psychiatry in the States for many years. There is absolutely no link between borderline personality and cannabis use.

Chronic cannabis use can exacerbate the symptoms of schizophrenia ,but by no means causes it.

Just another ridiculous, and baseless "study".

Cannabis is a drug of addiction just like alcohol.

I have personally seen lives destroyed because of this drug.

Like alcohol, if used in moderation it is fine. The problem is some people cannot drink or smoke in moderation.

I believe that people with emotional disorders are drawn to such drugs as a temparary form of self medication.

What out and out total bollo^&s I'm sick of reading in the UK papers about how smoking cannabis MADE someone do this or that. Cannabis does not make anybody do anything of the sort. Its not addictive nor does it make you go onto other HARDER drugs. Its just propaganda to try to frighten people. Scumbags use this and alcohol as an excuse for their behaviour. The people I know who use a variety of drugs are hard working members of the community who's only crime is to take a drug that the Government deems illegal. I would legalise all drugs and take away the control from the criminals. The so called drugs war that has been going on for the last 50 years has been an abject failure. Drugs now are cheaper than ever. There is so many lies in the media about drugs that having a sensible debate is impossible. If you put the same standards that the anti drug Nazis use then alcohol should have been banned years ago. Yet it is freely available and regulated by law. Alcohol and tobacco kill more people than ALL illegal drugs but as they are taxed they are forgotten.

I also speak from the bad side of drugs experience. I found my best friend dead in bed, he had been there 3 days because of heroin. He died because the drugs he bought happened to be purer than he was used to. The average content of heroin is around 16%, the rest is crap. From battery acid to brick dust. That is the cause of death for most heroin users. Up till a few years ago you could get heroin from the NHS for addicts but that was stopped. Immediately Brown heroin, or street heroin appeared. I would love to see a sensible, balanced debate on this but it wont happen. Just like the Global warming Nazis the anti drugs Nazis are blinkered and refuse to listen to reason.

That's fine about what you read in the papers, but I can tell you for certain that Cannabis is a significant problem for those that can not tolerate it. I've worked in Psychiatry for the past 15 years, although a little more diversified these days , and from my time working in the community and also on Acute admission wards, nothing could be further from the truth. Cannabis being a gateway drug, is an often quoted and expressed view, I'm not convinced that it is, but then it's like a lot of things. As mentioned those who may have an existing problem, say Schizophrenia for example, the use of Cannabis can cause untold problems.

Alcohol, just because people drink alcohol, doesn't mean they will act like a tit, commit a crime or go on to become an alcoholic. In the end some will, the majority wont.

I really don't know what the answear is, but I do agree that there maybe should be some form of legalising by the governemnt.

In respect of cannabis causing personality disorders, I think that is total BS, this is a chicken and egg theory.

[junkofdavid2]

Not directly Thailand related but interesting:

Cannabis smokers at risk of personality disorder syndrome: study

Researchers at the Protestant Bethanien Clinic...

I may be wrong, but this seems like a Christian organization. Do you believe they could come out with the opposite statement stating that cannabis had no detrimental effects?

[uptou]

I've never really been a drug man.Maybe i find it hard enough being a p!ss head.

One thing i seem to notice is that if i'm out having a drink & i get talking to someone whos had a good smoke,its like they are on slow motion & i'm on fast forward.

[Gravelrash]

This may explain something. I have a pretty dire situation brewing with the ball-and-chain. Things are not good. I think this may well have something to do with it.

Personally I hate the stuff and have seen it destroy many friends in the west. I have tried so hard to get her to stop. But now this menace threatens my family. TBH, I'm on the edge right now, despair doesn't really describe the emotion.

We have been happy for six years, she had everything, more than people (farang) in the west could hope for after a lifetimes hard work. But I can see it all falling apart now.

In my younger days I smoked, and really couldn't stop. It took a 4 week overseas trip where it wasn't available for me to give it up. Take her on a holiday where she can't get it and she will get over the habit. When she returns she will have broken it, and it isn't like tobacco where you get cravings, but she will still need to decide she prefers life without it.

[Birdman]

This may explain something. I have a pretty dire situation brewing with the ball-and-chain. Things are not good. I think this may well have something to do with it.

Personally I hate the stuff and have seen it destroy many friends in the west. I have tried so hard to get her to stop. But now this menace threatens my family. TBH, I'm on the edge right now, despair doesn't really describe the emotion.

We have been happy for six years, she had everything, more than people (farang) in the west could hope for after a lifetimes hard work. But I can see it all falling apart now.

In my younger days I smoked, and really couldn't stop. It took a 4 week overseas trip where it wasn't available for me to give it up. Take her on a holiday where she can't get it and she will get over the habit. When she returns she will have broken it, and it isn't like tobacco where you get cravings, but she will still need to decide she prefers life without it.

If you want, you can stop any time, without any physical problems.

IT IS ONLY UP TO YOU!! - because Cannabis does not make physical addicted - nicotine does...

on the contrary, it opens the mind - just take a DEEPER look into Indian Sadhus.

Contrary, and again for all this people, who still do not realise it and who, mostly, never smoked cannabis, but have this superficial prejudice, cigarettes, the #1 "drug" in this world, and alcohol, #2.

[bkkdawg]

How long did they have the Holme's working on this ?