Cecil,
Most of the information on your post “What are the long term health effects of marijuana?” I would agree with, but one part isn’t correct. I worked for over 20 years in psychiatric/chemical dependency units and occasionally we would get a patient who was experiencing a true “cannabis psychosis”. These would often be long-time pot smokers who prided themselves in not using any other drugs other than marijuana and their drug screens would verify that. They were people with no history of mental illness. Marijuana affects the dopamine level in the brain, and dopamine imbalances are the culprits in many other psychotic episodes. Admittedly, these were pretty rare occurrences, but often once a pot smoker has one of these psychotic episodes, they are very prone to having subsequent ones if they go back to smoking dope as usual. They tended not to believe us when we told them marijuana caused their psychotic episode, but would definitely believe us when they woke up in the psych unit the second time. You can find more information about it in some medical and psychiatric books under “cannabis psychosis”. Don’t get me wrong, I agree completely with your assertion that cannabis isn’t nearly as harmful as tobacco or alcohol, and think it’s ridiculous that we’re still jailing people for possession of small amounts, etc., but the truth is that, while uncommon, cannabis psychoses do occur. Thanks
BC Tx
Welcome to the SMDB, B.C.
A link to the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_225.html