3.+Facts+Relating+Marijuana+Use+To+Schizophrenia


 * ==== · Teens who smoke marijuana are at a greater risk of developing schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms in the future====
 * ==== · The Brain Scan was is the first medical evidence linking marijuana and schizophrenia ====
 * ==== · ﻿ The more cannabis smoked at age 18, the more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. If you are a heavy smoker at age 18, you are **6 times** more likely to be diagnosed rather than if you had not smoked at all ====
 * ==== · ﻿ If you start smoking marijuana before the age of 16, your chances of developing schizophrenia/psychosis is **quadrupled** ====
 * ==== · People who have used the drug for 6 or more years were twice as likely to suffer from delusions compared to those who never used it====
 * ==== · The younger you start smoking, the greater your chance of developing a schizophrenia like disorder====
 * ==== · People who experience marijuana psychosis (a temporary break with reality while high) have a **50% chance** of developing schizophrenia within 3 years====
 * ==== · Use is linked to the development of schizophrenia, but not a sole cause====
 * ==== · Marijuana is said to cause **8%** of all schizophrenia====
 * ==== · If parents could prevent their children from trying marijuana until the age of 18, they decrease the risk of schizophrenia====
 * ==== · Researchers in the Netherlands recruited psychiatric patients who were all regular pot smokers, and monitored their actions for 12 days. The results showed that schizophrenia sufferers were more sensitive to the effects of the pot====
 * ==== · People with schizophrenia who smoke pot require more hospitalization, respond less well to medication, and have more trouble with memory tests====
 * ==== · THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) seems to be the culprit====
 * ==== · A 2005 study found similarities between the brains of schizophrenic adolescents and adolescents who smoked marijuana. The arcuate nucleus is underdeveloped in both patients====
 * ==== · First case of cannabis induced psychosis reported 150 years ago====
 * ==== · Cyril D’Souza and colleagues have been giving THC intravenous to normal and psychotic subjects. Normal subjects experienced brief psychotic symptoms, and psychotic subjects experienced an increase in psychotic symptoms====


 * There is evidence for an association between cannabis and psychosis. It is clear that cannabinoids can cause acute transient psychotic symptoms or an acute psychosis. Also it is clear that cannabis can exacerbate psychosis in individuals with an established psychotic disorder. However, whether cannabis causes a persistent de novo psychosis independent of any other risk factors is not supported by the existing literature. More likely, cannabis is a component cause that interacts with other factors (e.g., genetic risk) to induce psychosis.** (Malik & D'Souza, 2006)