DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA

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DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA

analysis of U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration Demand Reduction Section May 2014 The Dangers and Consequences of Marijuana Abuse

analysis of DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA: (2.651966 secs.)

DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA

"While recent findings suggest partial recovery of verbal memory functioning within the first three weeks of adolescent abstinence from marijuana, complex attention skills continue to be affected. Not only are their thinking abilities worse, their brain activation to cognitive task is abnormal."50

Many of these effects of using marijuana affect persons of all ages, not just youth.

o Memory, speed of thinking, and other cognitive abilities get worse over time with marijuana use, according to a study published in the March 14, 2006 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that frequent marijuana users performed worse than non-users on tests of cognitive abilities, including divided attention and verbal fluency. Those who had used marijuana for 10 years or more had more problems with their thinking abilities than those who had used marijuana for 5-to-10 years. All of the marijuana users were heavy users, which was defined as smoking four or more joints per week.51

o Australian researchers report that long-term, heavy cannabis use may be associated with structural abnormalities in areas of the brain which govern memory, emotion, and aggression. Brain scans showed that the hippocampus was 12 percent smaller and the amygdale 7 percent smaller in men who smoked at least 5 marijuana cigarettes daily for almost 10 years. Dr. Mura Yucel, the lead researcher stated that "this new evidence plays an important role in further understanding the effects of marijuana and its impact on brain functions. The study is the first to show that long-term cannabis use can adversely affect all users, not just those in the high-risk categories such as the young, or those susceptible to mental illness, as previously thought."52

o A two-year study by the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre, at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia found that cannabis users can be as aggressive as crystal methamphetamine users, with almost one in four men and one in three women being violent toward hospital staff or injuring themselves after acting aggressively. Almost 12 percent were considered a suicide risk. The head of the Emergency Department at St. Vincent's Hospital, Gordian Fulde, said that "most people still believed marijuana was a soft drug, but the old image of feeling sleepy and having the munchies after you've smoked is entirely inappropriate for modern-day marijuana. With hydroponic cannabis, the levels of THC can be tenfold what they are in normal cannabis so we are seeing some very, very serious fallout."53

o Carleton University researchers published a study in 2005 showing that current marijuana users who smoke at least five "joints" per week did significantly worse than non-users when tested on neurocognition tests such as processing speed, memory, and overall IQ.54

o U.S. scientists have discovered that the active ingredient in marijuana interferes with synchronized activity between neurons in the hippocampus of rats. The authors of this November 2006 study suggest that action of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, might explain why marijuana impairs memory.55

.......

o According to an Australian study, there is now conclusive evidence that smoking cannabis hastens the appearance of psychotic illnesses by up to three years. Dr. Mathew Large from the University of New South Wales reports that "...in addition to early cannabis smoking bringing on schizophrenia it brings it on early by an average of 2.7 years early ' earlier than you would have otherwise developed it had you not been a cannabis smoker. The risks for older people is about a doubling of the risk." "For young people who smoke cannabis regularly, instead of having around a one percent chance of developing schizophrenia during their life they will end up with something like a five percent chance of developing schizophrenia." Philip Mitchell, head of Psychiatry at the University stated that while "this research can't distinguish about whether cannabis causes schizophrenia or brings it out in vulnerable people...it makes it very clear that cannabis is playing a significant role in psychosis."56

o Doctors at Yale University documented marijuana's damaging effect on the brain after nearly half of 150 healthy volunteers experienced psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, when given THC, the drug's primary active ingredient. The findings were released during a May 2007 international health conference in London. 57

o A pair of articles in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry reflects that cannabis use can trigger schizophrenia in people already vulnerable to the mental illness and assert that this fact should shape marijuana policy.58

o Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at London's Institute of Psychiatry and consultant at the Maudsley Hospital in London, wrote an editorial which appeared in The Independence on Sunday, on March 18, 2007, in which he states that the British Government's "mistake was rather to give the impression that cannabis was harmless and that there was no link to psychosis." Based on the fact that "...in the late 1980s and 1990s psychiatrists like me began to see growing numbers of young people with schizophrenia who were taking large amounts of cannabis." Murray claims that "...at least 10 percent of all people with schizophrenia in the UK would not have developed the illness if they had not smoked cannabis." By his estimates, 25,000 individuals have ruined their lives because they smoked cannabis. He also points out that the "skunk" variety of cannabis, which is very popular among young people in Great Britain, contains "15 to 20 percent THC, and new resin preparations have up to 30 percent."59

o Dr. John MacLeod, a prominent British psychiatrist states: "If you assume such a link (to schizophrenia with cannabis) then the number of cases of schizophrenia will increase significantly in line with increased use of the drug." He predicts that cannabis use may account for a quarter of all new cases of schizophrenia in three years' time.60

o A study by scientists at the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia on long-term marijuana use and the increased risk of psychosis confirms earlier findings. "Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had six or more years since first use of cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis (such as schizophrenia), " McGrath wrote in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry Journal. "They were also four times as likely to have high scores in clinical tests of delusion."61 12

.......

o A study published in the March 2008 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry cited the harm of smoking marijuana during pregnancy. The study found a significant relationship between marijuana exposure and child intelligence. Researchers concluded that "prenatal marijuana exposure has a significant effect on school-age intellectual development."62

o A study by doctors from NIDA found that people who smoked marijuana had changes in the blood flow in their brains even after a month of not smoking. The marijuana users had PI (pulsatility index) values somewhat higher than people with chronic high blood pressure and diabetes, which suggests that marijuana use leads to abnormalities in the small blood vessels in the brain. These findings could explain in part the problems with thinking and remembering found in other studies of marijuana users.63

summary: drug_related = 100%, drugwar_propaganda = 100%, reefer_madness = 60%

I thought the text was interesting because of these details:

amphetamines cannabis chemicals drug related drugs drugwar propaganda euphoric stimulant gateway government prohib illegal drugs intoxicant methamphetamine plants prohibition agency prohibitionist propaganda theme1 propaganda theme2 propaganda theme3 propaganda theme4 propaganda theme5 reefer madness school stimulant tobacco use is abuse various drugs youth

analysis of article text

    prohibitionist     prohibition_agency     drugwar_propaganda     legalization     drug_reformer
    reform_referenda     cannabis     stimulant     narcotic     hallucinogen

incarceration/prison mentioned? NO - the issue of prison or incarceration was NOT mentioned in this article .

propaganda analysis

EXP - explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda) GRP - hated group (propaganda_theme1) MAD - madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2)
SOC - survival of society (propaganda_theme3) USE - gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4) KID - children (propaganda_theme5)
WAR - demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6) TOT - total prohibition (propaganda_theme7) DIS - dissent opposed (propaganda_theme8)

asserted: $drug_related at 100% ($prohibition_agency $illegal_drugs $prohibitionist) asserted: $drugwar_propaganda at 100% ($propaganda_theme1 $propaganda_theme2 $propaganda_theme3 $propaganda_theme5 $propaganda_theme4) asserted: $propaganda_theme1 at 100% ("heavy users" "users" "cannabis smoker" "cannabis users"), 14 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme2 at 90% ("violent" "inappropriate" "harm" "injuring" "blood pressure" "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES" "effect on the brain" "damaging" "DANGERS" "DANGERS OF" "impairs" "problems" "abnormal" "abnormalities" "schizophrenia" "mental illness" "paranoid" "hallucinations" "aggression" "psychotic" "psychosis" "delusions" "delusion" "suicide" "performed worse" $reefer_madness), 42 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme3 at 50% ("American"), 2 hits asserted: $use_is_abuse at 100% ("cannabis use" "cannabis users" "marijuana use" "marijuana users" "use of the drug"), 14 hits asserted: $gateway at 55% ("leads to"), 1 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme4 at 100% ($use_is_abuse $gateway) asserted: $propaganda_theme5 at 80% ("Child" "adolescent" "youth" "young people"), 8 hits asserted: $illegal_drugs at 100% ($cannabis $stimulant) asserted: $drugs at 90% ($various_drugs) asserted: $prohibitionist at 55% ($government_prohib) asserted: $government_prohib at 55% ("Robin Murray" "Murray"), 3 hits asserted: $prohibition_agency at 55% ("NIDA"), 1 hits asserted: $chemicals at 100% ($amphetamines $methamphetamine) asserted: $plants at 100% ($cannabis $tobacco) asserted: $euphoric_stimulant at 100% ($methamphetamine) asserted: $intoxicant at 100% ($cannabis) asserted: $stimulant at 100% ($amphetamines) asserted: $methamphetamine at 100% ("methamphetamine" "crystal methamphetamine" "crystal"), 3 hits asserted: $amphetamines at 100% ("speed" $methamphetamine), 2 hits asserted: $cannabis at 100% ("MARIJUANA" "cannabis" "THC" "tetrahydrocannabinol" "skunk" $reefer_madness), 54 hits asserted: $reefer_madness at 60% ("cannabis is playing a significant role in psychosis" "cannabis was harmless and that there was no link to psychosis" "cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis" "schizophrenia who were taking large amounts of cannabis" "schizophrenia with cannabis" "cannabis smoking bringing on schizophrenia" "cannabis causes schizophrenia" "cannabis use can trigger schizophrenia" "cannabis." Murray claims that "...at least 10 percent of all people with schizophrenia" "cannabis) then the number of cases of schizophrenia" "cannabis use may account for a quarter of all new cases of schizophrenia" "marijuana use and the increased risk of psychosis" "psychosis."56 o Doctors at Yale University documented marijuana" "cannabis hastens the appearance of psychotic" "MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL" "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA" "mental illness and assert that this fact should shape marijuana"), 17 hits asserted: $tobacco at 100% ("cigarettes"), 1 hits asserted: $various_drugs at 90% ("drug"), 3 hits asserted: $youth at 80% ($propaganda_theme5) asserted: $school at 100% ("school-age" "University"), 6 hits

Sentence-By-Sentence Analysis

(1) DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA "While recent findings suggest partial recovery of verbal memory functioning within the first three weeks of adolescent abstinence from marijuana, complex attention skills continue to be affected .

re: "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES", "DANGERS", "DANGERS OF" - Prohibitionist propaganda claims that horrible dangers are caused by "drugs." (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "adolescent" - Prohibitionists play on parental fears by exaggerating the dangers to children of drugs. Adults must be jailed (reason prohibitionists), because kids might be corrupted with drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) ) re: "MARIJUANA: PART 2: MENTAL", "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA" - The German experience, however, raises the question of who needs treatment at all. Jewish neurologist Arnold Merzbach studied hundreds of Jewish children during the first eighteen months of the Nazi regime. In the first half of 1933 he found "restlessness, irritability, and increased squabbling. Some youths were refusing to eat; the more intelligent ones were sleeping fitfully and given to brooding." Similar behavior continued throughout the year, "as well as many neurotic symptoms." He noted, "older children thought themselves objects of special attention when outdoors."51 We typically find Jewish adults, too, drawing into themselves, exhibiting despair, and developing problems in relating with people as one formerly supportive group after another (employers, insurers, landlords, police) prevented them from living normally in society. These sorts of Jewish behavior mimic the "drug user personality," suggesting that the behavior may be a response to persecution from society rather than an expression of someone's inherent personality -- particularly since most users of socially approved drugs such as alcohol and nicotine do not exhibit "drug user symptoms" despite those drugs' potency and danger. In many cases, the proper course of treatment of drug users may simply be to cease persecuting them. (Drug Warriors and their Prey, Richard Miller, pgs.173-174)

(3) The study found that frequent marijuana users performed worse than non-users on tests of cognitive abilities, including divided attention and verbal fluency .

re: "performed worse" - It is prohibition, claim prohibitionists, that saves people from drug crazed, whacked out, high flying drug users. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "marijuana users" - Prohibitionists try to hammer in the idea that 'all use is abuse.' The rhetoric of prohibition needs to deny that many people can use currently illegal drugs without abusing them. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(5) All of the marijuana users were heavy users, which was defined as smoking four or more joints per week.51 o Australian researchers report that long-term, heavy cannabis use may be associated with structural abnormalities in areas of the brain which govern memory, emotion, and aggression .

re: "heavy users", "users" - The rhetoric of prohibition will try to use labeling and guilt by association to link drugs and drug users with hated groups. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) ) re: "abnormalities", "aggression" - Drugs, scream prohibitionists, cause all bad things in life: crime, violence, insanity, etc. If not for prohibition (i.e., jailing drug users), then criminality, violence and psychotic behavior would explode upon the land, the prohibitionist assures us. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis use", "marijuana users" - "This strategy equates the use and abuse of drugs and implies that it is impossible to use the particular drug or drugs in question without physical, mental, and moral deterioration." [W.White,1979] (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(10) Almost 12 percent were considered a suicide risk .

re: "suicide" - Drugs, claim the prohibitionist, cause insanity, violence, and terrible sickness. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(14) The authors of this November 2006 study suggest that action of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, might explain why marijuana impairs memory.55 11 ....... o According to an Australian study, there is now conclusive evidence that smoking cannabis hastens the appearance of psychotic illnesses by up to three years .

re: "impairs", "psychotic" - The rhetoric of prohibition asserts that insanity, crime, and violence are caused by drugs, or are controlled by prohibition. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis hastens the appearance of psychotic" - Central to the demonizing of cannabis users is the insinuation cannabis "causes" mental illness, or that cannabis prohibition somehow contains or limits mental illness.

(16) Mathew Large from the University of New South Wales reports that "...in addition to early cannabis smoking bringing on schizophrenia it brings it on early by an average of 2.7 years early ' earlier than you would have otherwise developed it had you not been a cannabis smoker .

re: "cannabis smoker" - Prohibition rhetoric often attempts to associate hated groups with targeted drugs. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) ) re: "schizophrenia" - Prohibition propaganda rarely misses an opportunity to link crime, violence, and insanity with "drugs". The propagandist insinuates that prohibited drugs cause evil, and if it weren't for "drugs" bad things would not exist. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis smoking bringing on schizophrenia" - Classic 'Reefer madness' claims cannabis causes (violent) mental illness.

(18) "For young people who smoke cannabis regularly, instead of having around a one percent chance of developing schizophrenia during their life they will end up with something like a five percent chance of developing schizophrenia."

re: "schizophrenia" - Drugs, the prohibitionist explains, are a wicked bane on modern man. If not for the noble drug war (i.e. jailing drug users), exclaims the propagandist, then people will run amok, and violence, death, psychosis, and plague shall cover the land. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "young people" - "Chemicals have long been inextricably linked in prohibitionist literature with the ... corruption of young people." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(21) Based on the fact that "...in the late 1980s and 1990s psychiatrists like me began to see growing numbers of young people with schizophrenia who were taking large amounts of cannabis."

re: "schizophrenia" - Prohibitionists claim use of currently illegal drugs causes crime, death, illness, lunacy, mania, melancholy, and all means of sin and degradation. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "young people" - "Since the Harrison Act of 1914, the user and the seller of illicit drugs have both been characterized as evil, criminal, insane, and always in search of new victims, the victims are characterized as young children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) ) re: "schizophrenia who were taking large amounts of cannabis" - Also, taking cannabis, "MAKES FIENDS OF BOYS IN 30 DAYS"! (Hearst newspapers) http://tinyurl.com/2ern46

(22) Murray claims that "...at least 10 percent of all people with schizophrenia in the UK would not have developed the illness if they had not smoked cannabis."

re: "schizophrenia" - drug war rhetoric transforms drugs users into scapegoats -- (Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey) (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(24) He also points out that the "skunk" variety of cannabis, which is very popular among young people in Great Britain, contains "15 to 20 percent THC, and new resin preparations have up to 30 percent."59 o Dr .

re: "young people" - Prohibitionists forever claim that children are corrupted by drugs, and this is why adult users must be punished harshly. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(25) John MacLeod, a prominent British psychiatrist states: "If you assume such a link (to schizophrenia with cannabis) then the number of cases of schizophrenia will increase significantly in line with increased use of the drug."

re: "schizophrenia" - Prohibitionist propaganda claims that horrible dangers are caused by "drugs." (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "use of the drug" - The rhetoric of prohibition will assume that "use" and "abuse" are identical. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "schizophrenia with cannabis", "cannabis) then the number of cases of schizophrenia" - Also, taking cannabis, "GOADS USERS TO BLOOD-LUST"! (Hearst newspapers) http://tinyurl.com/2ern46

(26) He predicts that cannabis use may account for a quarter of all new cases of schizophrenia in three years' time.60 o A study by scientists at the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia on long-term marijuana use and the increased risk of psychosis confirms earlier findings .

re: "schizophrenia", "psychosis" - It is prohibition, claim prohibitionists, that saves people from drug crazed, whacked out, high flying drug users. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis use", "marijuana use" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "cannabis use may account for a quarter of all new cases of schizophrenia", "marijuana use and the increased risk of psychosis" - Classic 'Reefer Madness' proclaimed pot would turn nice boys into crazed murderers, and turn good girls into tramps. Modern forms of Reefer Madness rhetoric couch the same conclusion in scientific-sounding language.

(27) "Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had six or more years since first use of cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis (such as schizophrenia), " McGrath wrote in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry Journal .

re: "schizophrenia", "psychosis" - Drugs, claim the prohibitionist, cause insanity, violence, and terrible sickness. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis" - Classic 'Reefer Madness' proclaimed pot would turn nice boys into crazed murderers, and turn good girls into tramps. Modern forms of Reefer Madness rhetoric couch the same conclusion in scientific-sounding language.

(28) "They were also four times as likely to have high scores in clinical tests of delusion."61 12 ....... o A study published in the March 2008 Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry cited the harm of smoking marijuana during pregnancy .

re: "harm", "delusion" - Drugs, scream prohibitionists, cause all bad things in life: crime, violence, insanity, etc. If not for prohibition (i.e., jailing drug users), then criminality, violence and psychotic behavior would explode upon the land, the prohibitionist assures us. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "American" - O'Brien: "The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again." (Orwell, 1984) (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) ) re: "Child", "Adolescent" - Prohibitionists are champions of "the child", "kids", "children", etc. Only continued or increased punishments of all adults caught using "drugs" will send the correct "message" to children. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(29) The study found a significant relationship between marijuana exposure and child intelligence .

re: "child" - "The inflaming of this fear about the fate of our own children [makes] it difficult if not impossible for most Americans to take a careful and reasoned look at our drug policies."[W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(30) Researchers concluded that "prenatal marijuana exposure has a significant effect on school-age intellectual development."62 o A study by doctors from NIDA found that people who smoked marijuana had changes in the blood flow in their brains even after a month of not smoking .

re: "NIDA" - Power is addictive, and it corrupts. And those who have power fear losing it. -- Richard A. Viguerie

(31) The marijuana users had PI (pulsatility index) values somewhat higher than people with chronic high blood pressure and diabetes, which suggests that marijuana use leads to abnormalities in the small blood vessels in the brain .

re: "blood pressure", "abnormalities" - Prohibitionist propaganda claims that horrible dangers are caused by "drugs." (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "marijuana users", "marijuana use" - Prohibitionist propagandists repeatedly assert that "use is abuse." Details about "using" as opposed to "abusing" drugs are ignored. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "leads to" - The rhetoric of prohibition exploits ignorance of the effects of drugs. We are told that the substance in question must be bad, for is it not evident that it 'leads to' the harder (more ceremonially evil) stuff? (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) )

MAPInc Bookmarks:

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Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

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Bot's analysis of: "The Dangers and Consequences of Marijuana Abuse" the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Demand Reduction Section, May 2014
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analysis of article text

incarceration/prison mentioned? NO - the issue of prison or incarceration was NOT mentioned in this article .

propaganda analysis

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Propaganda