Posted on 07/16/2014 4:44:01 AM PDT by AustralianConservative
*The largest ever study of the effects of the main psychoactive component of cannabis suggests that it can cause paranoia in vulnerable individuals*
To discover whether cannabis really does cause paranoia in vulnerable individuals, we carried out the largest ever study of the effects of THC (∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the drug’s principal psychoactive ingredient). We recruited 121 volunteers, all of whom had taken cannabis at least once before, and all of whom reported having experienced paranoid thoughts in the previous month (which is typical of half the population). None had been diagnosed with a mental illness. The volunteers were randomly chosen to receive an intravenous 1.5mg dose of either THC (the equivalent of a strong joint) or a placebo (saline). To track the effects of these substances, we used the most extensive form of assessment yet deployed to test paranoia, including a virtual-reality scenario, a real-life social situation, self-administered questionnaires, and expert interviewer assessments.
The results were clear: THC caused paranoid thoughts. Half of those given THC experienced paranoia, compared with 30% of the placebo group: that is, one in five had an increase in paranoia that was directly attributable to the THC. (Interestingly, the placebo produced extraordinary effects in certain individuals. They were convinced they were stoned, and acted accordingly. Because at the time we didn’t know who had been given the drug, we assumed they were high too.)
THC also produced other unsettling psychological effects, such as anxiety, worry, lowered mood, and negative thoughts about the self. Short-term memory was impaired. And the THC sparked a range of what psychologists call “anomalous experiences”: sounds seemed louder than usual and colours brighter; thoughts appeared to echo in the individuals’ minds; and time seemed to be distorted.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I’m suddenly reminded of the movie “Reefer Madness”
That is very interesting. The value of double blind studies is to eliminate bias by preventing everyone involved from knowing which is the study group and which is the control. I would have thought that in a study of a psychoactive drug, it would be immediately apparent which group had received the placebo.
This is yet more evidence that marijuana is not as harmless as its legalization advocates have claimed. More such evidence will continue to accumulate as marijuana is legalized in more jurisdictions.
Paranoia - just one of those myths created to scare young folk straight so they will give up pot.
Won’t work. The kids were ALREADY a little nuts when they took up the smoking of rope. Maybe it’s genetic, maybe it’s environmental, but it takes a certain twist of personality to commence and continue the use of such an odd chemical combination, that has the capability to interact with the critical thinking centers of the mind, and not in a favorable way.
Many of these youth would have been paranoid even without the pot as a contributing factor.
When I first saw it, I thought it was over-the-top hyperbolic. Now, I’m not so sure. In view of current knowledge, it only seems slightly exaggerated.
I can absolutely testify to that being true. I smoked truck loads of reefer when I was a teen, and sometimes I would become so paranoid I’d just hide in the house!
Me too. (-;
but duuuuuuuudddde... it’s pure mother nature man, 100% safe and stuff man... inhaling this doctored, unfiltered weed is safer that anything else man.. you’re just a hater man.. it’ll cure everything man, it’s like, you know, perfect stuff man. it’s non addictive man, and just because I can’t live without it doesn’t mean I’m addicted man..
wait, wha...
Ouch.
I haven’t been this stunned since the revelation about the dog who bit the man.
As my Psych professor told my class, “It may be natural, but so is Cyanide.”
It’s just an herb man, if God did not want us to use it he would not have put it in the earth.
Go eat some toadstools.
Anyone wondering how the Nanny State has managed to take over our lives might do well to consider the consequences of three or four generations of paranoid people.
Ping to review paranoid responses.
Quit thinking about me.
So we should drink Hemlock?
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