Why Pot Smokers Are Paranoid

TIME ^ | 6 April, 2011 | Maia Szalavitz

[AustralianConservative]

Paranoia is one of the most unpleasant "side effects" of marijuana. It's also a key experience shared by marijuana smokers and people with schizophrenia. But exactly how does smoking a joint cause the feeling that dark forces are conspiring to do you wrong?

New research in rats may help explain the source of this distress. The study, led by Steven Laviolette at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, involved training rats to fear the scent of either almond or peppermint. The scents were delivered to rats in a cage either with black-and-white striped walls or with black polka dots on a gray background. (The rats were not pre-tested for their taste in interior design.) One scent was accompanied by an electric shock to the rodents' feet, while the other scent was not.

At the same time, researchers experimented with the activity of the CB1 receptors in a certain region of the rats' brains. These cannabinoid receptors are activated by the main psychoactive component of marijuana, THC. In some rats, the scientists blocked CB1-receptor activity; in others, they used a marijuana-like drug to enhance it.

[mylife]

When I was a kid it grew on the roadside.

What makes it worse than beer?

Why is Pot the devil?
I am not condoning it. It makes people complacent like SOMA

[bigheadfred]

Sure, I’m paranoid.

But am I paranoid ENOUGH????

[Persevero]

“What makes it worse than beer?”

How it is used.

Most of us drink one beer or two with no ill effect; actually there are some positive medical effects. I am not arguing against this.

But who just takes one hit of a joint and then goes on? I’ve never seen it. They smoke until they are stoned. Particularly in the recent decades, the high THC content of pot just about guarantees it.

So what’s the difference?

1. Moderate alcohol use can actually be good for you.

2. Almost everyone gets stoned when they use pot. Most of us to not drink to the point of getting drunk.

I’ll bet the stuff by the side of the road was fairly low THC and you’d have to smoke a lot to get stoned. Pot you buy is cultivated for maximum THC content and can get you stupid very very quickly.

[Nate505]

I like the idea that “you’ve never seen it” must make it unheard of.

Plenty of people take just one hit off a joint. It’s all dependent on the potency of the pot and the tolerance of the user. Much like how I know many people who feel a psychoactive effect off just one or two beers.

[Minn]

Pot is pretty inane.

That makes no sense. A comment or a movie can be inane. It's hard to see how pot can be on its own; and it seems a strange description for a pothead. Do you mean "benign"?

[Persevero]

“I like the idea that “you’ve never seen it” must make it unheard of.”

I’m not going to pretend that I am an expert.

I speak from my own experiences, of course. Like you do I suppose.

I don’t see people smoking pot in the same manner that I see them drinking wine or beer, or even the occasional mixed drink.

For example, out to dinner, with various family members, some have a nice wine. One, two, maybe even three glasses over a long meal.

No one is drunk.

Vis a vis places and situations I have been when people smoke pot.

They sit and they smoke and they smoke. Sometimes they pass the bong or a joint in a circle, but they keep taking their turn until they are all stoned. They don’t spend 2 hours in conversation with food and interaction and get up normal like people with their dinners or picnics or whatever.

Yes I have also seen people just drink to get drunk.

But! I have never seen people just take a hit of pot and then go about their day. They always smoke until they are messed up.

That’s what I’ve seen.

[mylife]

I think my kidneys would like a toke before bedtime.

Seems I spend half my day winding up or winding down

I know drugs can be real bad, but Pot is just really lame as bad behavior goes.

I know it cuts peoples ambition short, but it NEVER results in violence or OD.
Lots of legal things do.

[WVKayaker]

Ignorance IS bliss, isn't it?

You repeat every possible dark side of something THAT YOU HEARD SECOND HAND, and speak as if it is the Gospel of Christ.

I've smoked pot, and was NEVER paranoid, except ONCE when a cop drove by and suddenly stopped and backed up. Then, the encounter straightened me up and left me sober. I gave him my license, answered his questios and drove on home safe AS ALWAYS

Pop another top, FRiend, and go silently into the night! I'd smoke it tonight if I had some, and I'd bet a lot of those reading this would join me!!!

YMMV!

[mylife]

It’s pretty inane professor.

Benign as well.

And I haven’t smoked pot in 35 years

[voveo]

If you are stupid and smoke pot you are stoned and stupid, if you are stupid and drink alcohol you are a dumb drunk. If you are smart and smoke pot you are stoned and smart, if you are smart and drink, you are a smart drunk. After the effect of the drugs wear off you are back to where you were, it was just a little vacation.

There are many brilliant people throughout history who had vices, Winston Churchill, Lewis Carrol, Thomas Edison, Sigmund Freud, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rush Limbaugh, James Madison, Pope Leo the XIII, Sir Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson and George Washington.

What people do in their private lives is their business, it only becomes a problem if government gets involved and tax payers have to pay for it. Or if it becomes a family issue, but then, that is a family issue and not the governments.

Get the government out of my life! Follow the Constitution...as written!

[WVKayaker]

A large-scale study released this week showed that the herb gingko biloba has no effect in preventing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. But alternative medicine aficionados may find hope in a new research touting the bennies of another “herb” in preserving memory.

Scientists from Ohio State University report that marijuana, contrary to the conventional wisdom, may help ward off Alzheimer’s and keep recall sharp. Their findings, released today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C.: chemical components of marijuana reduce inflammation and stimulate the production of new brain cells, thereby enhancing memory. ...
- http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=pot-joins-the-fight-against-alzheim-2008-11-19

[mylife]

Just dont smoke before going on the New River.

I heard 3 were lost the past week.

I am just stupid enough to raft that river sober in spring.

[mylife]

LoL! I dont believe that for a moment LoL

[mylife]

Amen

[WVKayaker]

Scientific American isn’t NORML’s blog! High Times did run the study, though...

[Minn]

2. Almost everyone gets stoned when they use pot. Most of us to not drink to the point of getting drunk.

Perhaps. But given the choice, I'd rather have the headlights coming at me at night controlled by a guy that smoked "until he got stoned" than a guy that just had a couple and isn't "drunk". The guy that's stoned knows it, but still has decent control of his faculties, no matter how stoned he is. When's the last time you saw a pothead stumbling around bouncing off of things, or spitting when he speaks?

The guy that "isn't drunk" because he only had two, and is at maybe .04, is kidding himself to some degree, and often isn't nearly skilled at controlling his vehicle as he thinks he is. If driving is in a person's near future, those two "harmless" drinks, when consumed, present a bigger danger to society than all the bong hits a guy could handle.

[TShaunK]

I get a kick out of alcholics or strong drinkers that talk about pot being a “gateway” drug.
Well the problem with drinker/drunks is that the habit they have you have long gone through the “Gateway”.Its wrecked more families fiends and people than pot ever will. And alcohol is pretty close to heroin as far as an addictive drug goes.
I know from own personal expereience.Been drink free for 15 years.But would have only lasted ten if I didn’t decide to smoke a joint one day and then probably a half a joint every six months...For years I craved alcohol after I stopped. I never crave pot.But maybe twice a year I smoke pot.And it serves as good release for booze craving I never got from anti deppresents.I know I’d be cak to being an everyday drunk if it wasn’t for smoking pot once or twice a year.

[WVKayaker]

I'm no longer in WV, but I have "been there, done that" on the New and Cheat. I prefer class 2-3 in my old age...

Adrenaline junkies are the worst kind (for reference, see: policemen, firemen, jet jockeys!)... I am not like this guy!

[RegulatorCountry]

When's the last time you saw a pothead stumbling around bouncing off of things, or spitting when he speaks?

I can certainly see a stoner getting too fascinated fiddling with the audio controls and piling into a stopped car in front of him. Lived through that one myself, as a passenger in that car in college.

[mylife]

I havent read either for decades.

There is a guy at work that brings in Popular mechanics.

Boy that brings back memorys of smoking and getting schmart LoL. Lots of fantasy speculation

We never got paranoid though