Jamaica: Ganja and crime (shocking new suggestion that pot may be related to crime in some way)

The Jamaica Gleaner ^ | November 27, 2005

[Stoat]

Ganja and crime
published: Sunday | November 27, 2005

The scientific debate in Jamaica about the dangers of marijuana use is often obfuscated by a subtle cultural bias based in part on a support of Rastafarians who claim that the herb is a sacramental part of their religious practice, but also by years of its use in folk medicine.

Now comes Dr. Winston De La Haye, director of the detoxification unit at the University Hospital of the West Indies and president of the Psychiatry Association of Jamaica, who believes that the use of ganja may well be a major contributing cause to the level of crime and violence in the society.

Dr. De La Haye points out that marijuana contains tetrahydro cannabinol which has been proven to exacerbate aggressive behaviour. If this is so, and given the wide use of ganja in Jamaica, the doctor's warning certainly deserves serious consideration and further objective assessment.

He contends that the drug can drive a person mad and, with understandable prudence, asks: Why take a chance?

We note that Professor Fred Hickling, another respected expert, while not disagreeing with Dr. De La Haye's bottom line warning about the dangers of using the drug, defuses the argument by listing a number of other social causes of violence such as poverty and despair, a position that can readily be conceded without in any way detracting from what might be a significant breakthrough in lessening the degree of violence in Jamaica.

Other causes of violence there may well be, but if smoking ganja is like throwing gasolene on smouldering coals, the unequivocal condemnation of its use may be worth trying, backed up with a strong public education campaign to bring home to the populace, especially the youngsters, that by smoking ganja, they may be playing with fire in more ways than one.

This suggestion runs counter to the present popular attitude that the use of ganja should be decriminalised, supported by the recommendations of the National Commission on Ganja which was set up in November 2000.

But in light of Dr. De La Haye's pronouncement, a renewed debate about marijuana use would seem to be in order, one that is non-emotional and focused, not on the general question of whether marijuana is good or bad, but whether it is indeed a contributory cause to violent behaviour.

Certainly there has developed in Jamaica an almost knee-jerk violent reaction to 'dissing' or other relatively minor provocations which needs some explanation. Dr. De La Haye has provided one such possible reason and we think his warning should be heeded.

[muawiyah]

We have lives elsewhere. Just post your comments to us and we'll be back at you if they are meaningful.

[muawiyah]

Prohibition still reduced the amount of booze consumed.

BTW, the Union Corse (Corsican Union) was into organized crime up and down the Mississippi and it's tributaries LONG before the Sicilian Mafia moved into Chicago and New York.

In fact, they were into organized crime before personal duels were prohibited by law ~ and speaking of that, plenty of petty arguments between/among consenting adults were settled by dueling, and the taxpayers were saved millions of bucks in needless criminal charges and phony damage suits.

Time to bring it back Fur Shur.

[JTN]

the research gradually builds showing the connection between cannabis use and mental impairment.

"A review of the literature suggests that the majority of cannabis users, who use the drug occasionally rather than on a daily basis, will not suffer any lasting physical or mental harm. Conversely, as with other ‘recreational’ drugs, there will be some who suffer adverse consequences from their use of cannabis. Some individuals who have psychotic thought tendencies might risk precipitating psychotic illness. Those who consume large doses of the drug on a regular basis are likely to have lower educational achievement and lower income, and may suffer physical damage to the airways. They also run a significant risk of becoming dependent upon continuing use of the drug. There is little evidence, however, that these adverse effects persist after drug use stops or that any direct cause and effect relationships are involved."

Iversen, Leslie L., PhD, FRS, "Long-Term Effects of Exposure to Cannabis," Current Opinion in Pharmacology, Feb. 2005, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 71.

The results of our meta-analytic study failed to reveal a substantial, systematic effect of long-term, regular cannabis consumption on the neurocognitive functioning of users who were not acutely intoxicated. For six of the eight neurocognitive ability areas that were surveyed. the confidence intervals for the average effect sizes across studies overlapped zero in each instance, indicating that the effect size could not be distinguished from zero. The two exceptions were in the domains of learning and forgetting.

...

These results can be interpreted in several ways. A statistically reliable negative effect was observed in the domain of learning and forgetting, suggesting that chronic long-term cannabis use results in a selective memory defect. While the results are compatible with this conclusion, the effect size for both domains was of a very small magnitude. The "real life" impact of such a small and selective effect is questionable. In addition, it is important to note that most users across studies had histories of heavy longterm cannabis consumption. Therefore, these findings are not likely to generalize to more limited administration of cannabis compounds, as would be seen in a medical setting.

...

In conclusion, our meta-analysis of studies that have attempted to address the question of longer term neurocognitive disturbance in moderate and heavy cannabis users has failed to demonstrate a substantial, systematic, and detrimental effect of cannabis use on neuropsychological performance. It was surprising to find such few and small effects given that most of the potential biases inherent in our analyses actually increased the likelihood of finding a cannabis effect.

Grant, Igor, et al., "Non-Acute (Residual) Neurocognitive Effects Of Cannabis Use: A Meta-Analytic Study," Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (Cambridge University Press: July 2003), 9, pp. 687-8.

Current marijuana use had a negative effect on global IQ score only in subjects who smoked 5 or more joints per week. A negative effect was not observed among subjects who had previously been heavy users but were no longer using the substance. We conclude that marijuana does not have a long-term negative impact on global intelligence.

...

Although the heavy current users experienced a decrease in IQ score, their scores were still above average at the young adult assessment (mean 105.1). If we had not assessed preteen IQ, these subjects would have appeared to be functioning normally. Only with knowledge of the change in IQ score does the negative impact of current heavy use become apparent.

Fried, Peter, Barbara Watkinson, Deborah James, and Robert Gray, "Current and former marijuana use: preliminary findings of a longitudinal study of effects on IQ in young adults," Canadian Medical Association Journal, April 2, 2002, 166(7), p. 890.

Isn't "Dueling Studies" fun?

[muawiyah]

You have an association, not a cause and effect relationship.

What's going on is that the murder/homicide rate in the US correlates best with the percentage of young men 18 to 25 present in the population.

Number of young guys goes up, the rate goes up. Number of young guys goes down, the rate goes down.

MJ use most likely correlates with the same number and for the same reason ~ this is the core age group that commits the murders and blows the weed.

[muawiyah]

Since when has MJ use in Nederland dropped below that of the US?

[muawiyah]

Not a real good argument. After all, sex with your sister was legal for far longer than it's been illegal.

[eleni121]

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/medical/HOME.HTM#acute

Acute effects of marijuana use

anxiety, dysphoria, panic and paranoia, especially in naive users; cognitive impairment, especially of attention and memory, for the duration of intoxication;
psychomotor impairment, and probably an increased risk of accident if an intoxicated person attempts to drive a motor vehicle, or operate machinery; an increased risk of experiencing psychotic symptoms among those who are vulnerable because of personal or family history of psychosis; an increased risk of low birth weight babies if cannabis is used during pregnancy.

Chronic effects
The major health and psychological effects of chronic heavy cannabis use, especially daily use over many years, remain uncertain. On the available evidence, the major probable adverse effects appear to be:

respiratory diseases associated with smoking as the method of administration, such as chronic bronchitis, and the occurrence of histopathological changes that may be precursors to the development of malignancy.
development of a cannabis dependence syndrome, characterised by an inability to abstain from or to control cannabis use;
subtle forms of cognitive impairment, most particularly of attention and memory, which persist while the user remains chronically intoxicated, and may or may not be reversible after prolonged abstinence from cannabis.

The following are the major possible adverse effects of chronic, heavy cannabis use which remain to be confirmed by further research:

an increased risk of developing cancers of the aerodigestive tract, i.e. oral cavity, pharynx, and oesophagus;
an increased risk of leukemia among offspring exposed while in utero;
a decline in occupational performance marked by underachievement in adults in occupations requiring high level cognitive skills, and impaired educational attainment in adolescents;
birth defects occurring among children of women who used cannabis during their pregnancies

Drug legalizers take heart. All this coming soon near you...legally!

[JTN]

Prohibition still reduced the amount of booze consumed.

Wrong again.

Alcohol consumption decreased immediately at the start of prohibition, but almost as immediately began to increase. By the end of prohibition, alcohol consumption was at nearly pre-prohibition levels. Furthermore, problem drinking increased.

Irving Fischer, a prominent prohibitionist, stated

I am credibly informed that a very conservative reckoning would set the poisonous effects of bootleg beverages as compared with medicinal liquors at ten to one; that is, it requires only a tenth as much bootleg liquor as of pre-prohibition liquor to produce a given degree of drunkenness. The reason, of course, is that bootleg liquor is so concentrated and almost invariably contains other and more deadly poisons than mere ethyl alcohol.

This ,BTW, was his explanation for why people were actually getting drunker. Also, alcohol consumption did not increase after the repeal of prohibition.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

What you will not hear from these perpetual masturbaters is that this “ganga” thing is related to the anti-caucasian and racist Rasafarian religion in Jamaica.

Their ideology is that white men are devils. Marcus Garvey in the early 1900's said an African King would become the black messiah. Ras Tafari was crowned King Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and proclaimed to be their messiah in 1930.

According to the Rastafarian pagans, Ras Tafari did not die in 1975, but went to another dimension. He is called “Jah” and considered to be a god. A pagan perversion of Christian theology.

Of course all of this lunacy is centered around smoking the ganga weed.

That is partly why these feminized males will defend pot smoking, drug abuse and deviant use of their anatomy and are not safe to have around children...

IT IS THEIR RELIGION THEY ARE DEFENDING!

Now, I have heard all the sanctimonious crap on this thread, but not one of these pot head jerks ever bothered to check that I have actually advocated full legalization of marijuana and other illicit drugs for adults (*with a few qualifying conditions) and still do.

*The qualifying conditions make them crap their pants better than the baby laxative in their heroine, but hey, I don't want them around really...

[muawiyah]

"nearly" does not mean "same as" or "higher than". The numbers you show are not rates either ~ but the population increased in that period.

Why oh why do you MJ advocates have to bugger up every statistic you find? Could it be that your brains are addled?

[muawiyah]

Without touching on their use of MJ, the rastaferians ALSO pointed Haile being the last "Lion of Judah". It is noteworthy that there's a Biblical prophecy that when the last LOJ goes down, Ethiopia turns into a desert.

And, when Haile went down, the Northern core of the country was turned into a desert by its new Communist masters.

They undoubtedly believe other stuff as well.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Good post...

see #127...

[PaxMacian]

Unfortunately, following precedent it will probably be legal before herb.

[eleni121]

Just posting the awful truth about marijuana.

Some here would rather play the game of rebellion than the game of reason.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

And, when Haile went down, the Northern core of the country was turned into a desert by its new Communist masters.

Yep. Bunch of pot smoking know nothings ‘let it all go down, man.’

[PaxMacian]

Reads like one of those pharmaceutical company disclaimers on the ads they show on TV.

[muawiyah]

Several years back we got all sorts of requests at USPS for permission to mail samples of automotive paint to various African destinations.

We investigated. Seems modern auto paint is a prestige item to "huff".

This is going on in places where marijuana grows wild everywhere. You just reach down and get what you want, yet these guys want to "huff" paint.

Dopers are immune to logic.

[eleni121]

Yup..pretty bad stuff. I've seen it do its dirty work close up over the years and the effects are not pretty.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Some here would rather play the game of rebellion than the game of reason.

Some are here to ruin the country.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Several years back we got all sorts of requests at USPS for permission to mail samples of automotive paint to various African destinations.

We investigated. Seems modern auto paint is a prestige item to "huff".

This is going on in places where marijuana grows wild everywhere. You just reach down and get what you want, yet these guys want to "huff" paint.

Dopers are immune to logic.

I don't have any use for them.

The opposition by the Leftists to Western military operations in Afghanistan, something once considered previously a subject of serious inquiry by Left leaning feminist groups because of concern for the treatment of women under the Taliban, has been displaced by the neo-pagan New Age mysticism and the 1960s' psychedelic drug culture permeating the political Left. A great source for lot of opium and hashish coming into the West is and/or was from Afghanistan.

Astrology arises from the pagan Chaldean cults of Babylon. We now know Babylon as Iraq. The Tigris-Euphrates Valley is the cradle of human civilization and has never known freedom in all of history. Is it coincidence? Is it coincidence the Neo-Pagan, New Age mystery cults of Leftist politics are so animated in their opposition to bringing freedom and the Judaic principles of justice to Iraq? Is it coincidence that many domestic social issues are being driven by cultic Leftist advocacy of unnatural, phantasmagoric perversity?

It is no coincidence Islamic pagans hate Israel, Jews, Christians and Western Civilization. The entire basis of Western Civilization is Mosaic Law, something both the Neo-Pagan Left and the pagan Islamic thugs cannot abide and wish to destroy.

This is also why many times you will see the same liberal-tarian advocates of drug use, sexual perversions and the anti-Christians (who can only really hate Jews by proxy, because it is not fashionble) here on those threads.

Some of them are not at all anything remotely Republican.