# Longterm health effects of marijuana **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955 "2011-03-16T19:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/1 "2011-03-16T19:58:24Z")
> **[What are the long term health effects of marijuana?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341666/what-are-the-long-term-health-effects-of-marijuana)** Good column - last update was in 1997, though. Time for another update? Also, it looks like the first paragraph of Cecil’s answer should be broken at the italicized words _“The ‘amotivational syndrome,’”_ as the other particular health concerns of pot smokers similarly got their own paragraphs. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/2 "2011-03-16T21:36:25Z")
I think the last update was 2006: [Still smokin’: What are the long-term effects of marijuana? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2648/still-smokin-what-are-the-long-term-effects-of-marijuana) I’ll mention the typo problem so they can fix it. Thnx. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/3 "2011-03-16T21:42:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Good column - last update was in 1997, though. Time for another update? Daaaang! I was supposed to be working on reasearch for the update but I … you know, at a glance, “Good column” looks kinda like “Gollum.” what? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/4 "2011-03-16T21:56:57Z")
Fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/5 "2011-03-17T03:59:08Z")
Thanks! Good to see both now. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/6 "2011-03-18T20:25:02Z")
There was a BBC doku recently that adressed the risk of several drugs, listing them by their dangers (the ten or twenty most dangerous drugs?). They said that Marijuana while generally low risk for causing psychosis and schizophrenia, (about 1%), doubled the risk in narrow age of teenage years (13-17 years) and even more so in people with previous risk for schizophrenia (genetically). So their advice was to to smoke Hash during the teen years, because the risk increase was too high. They presume that when during teenage time the brain is partially rewired, the influence of Hash is much more disruptive than at other times. ---
**Author:** ![Marthacares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@Marthacares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marthacares)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/7 "2011-03-22T21:54:05Z")
Definately time to update answer again. "Two of the major compounds in marijuana - THC and CBD - have cancer-fighting properties, according to scientists researching them."[http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110320%2FA\_NEWS%2F103190305](http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110320%2FA_NEWS%2F103190305) ---
**Author:** ![panzersiddhartha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f0a364/32.png) [@panzersiddhartha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panzersiddhartha)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/8 "2011-04-04T13:58:25Z")
Constanze - There is an old joke that goes around and around in the medical, health and drug agency world. You choose something, let it be carrots or mescaline, then you say that you have found that the users have about 1 % chance of psychosis and schizophrenia and that it should therefore be avoided. The joke is of course that this applies to roughly 1 % of everyone, with or without something that does not heighten the percentage. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longterm-health-effects-of-marijuana/574955/9 "2011-04-04T15:11:31Z")
> [@panzersiddhartha](#): > > Constanze - There is an old joke that goes around and around in the medical, health and drug agency world. You choose something, let it be carrots or mescaline, then you say that you have found that the users have about 1 % chance of psychosis and schizophrenia and that it should therefore be avoided. The joke is of course that this applies to roughly 1 % of everyone, with or without something that does not heighten the percentage. Um, you seem to have misunderstood me. What the doku said was: under normal circumstances, there’s a 1% chance of schizophrenia research shows that teens who smoke marijuana double that chance therefore, it’s advisable to not smoke marijuana during teen times (when your brain is partly rebuilding and therefore apparently more vulnerable than at other times); because you don’t know beforehand if you are in that risk percentile to start with.