XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: drjohn@NOSPAM.hotpotmail.com   
      
   Noticed at Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:17:07 +0000: agnon informed us:   
      
   > On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:58:38 -0800, Pete nospam Zakel wrote:   
   >   
   >> In article  agnon    
   >> writes:   
   >>   
   >>>Fair enough.  I know many mentals, and many cannabis users, and I   
   >>>firmly think that there is a clear link.   
   >>   
   >> The link may be that they are self-treating.   
   >   
   > For most people that is probably the case.   
   >   
   > There's a few people who have existing, known, mental health problems   
   > whose problems are probably made worse by cannabis   
      
   CBD is an anti-psychotic, so this could be a case of self medication.   
   There used to be a poster here (u.p.d) who found cannabis helped his   
   schizophrenia symptoms. Unfortunately, these days, most of the weed   
   available is high-THC low-CBD "skunk" which can indeed have that effect.   
   In Holland, where there's greater choice, you could avoid the high THC   
   stuff and avoid the problem.   
      
   > There might be a few people with underlying mh problems whose condition   
   > is brought to the surface by cannabis use, especially heavy cannabis   
   > use.   
      
   Yes, I've seen research to that effect. The cannabis triggers the first   
   episode. If they didn't use cannabis, they would still have become ill,   
   just a bit later.   
      
   > There's a possibility that people with no underlying mh problem have a   
   > mh problem that's caused by cannabis use, especially if that use is   
   > heavy, and especially if they are young when they start, but the   
   > evidence is far from clear about this.   
      
   It does worry me that very young kids are using lots of weed. Their brains   
   aren't ready for drugs, of any kind. Look at the effect even a cup of tea   
   has on some youngsters.   
      
   > Note that even though I think cannabis may cause mh problems I'm still   
   > strongly in support of legalizing all drugs.  I'm very much against   
   > piss- poor reporting like that in the Mail, which makes common sense   
   > harm reduction harder.   
      
   --   
   Dr John Watson   
   Baker Street   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)