Cannabis and schizophrenia
The 2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference was recently held in London (May 1-2) and has ignited much controversy about marijuana leading to psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia. But behind all the smoke, the broad claims and scary titles, many of the articles focus on only two studies: D’Souza’s on THC and schizophrenia and McGuire’s MRI scans of the brain. Without going into the details of their experiments, let’s just look at what they claim to have found.
These are the symptoms of schizophrenia discovered by Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza:
"Δ-9-THC produced schizophrenia-like positive and negative symptoms, altered perception, increased anxiety, produced euphoria, disrupted immediate and delayed word recall, impaired performance on tests of attention and working memory without impairing orientation."
What this looks like is a list of positive and negative symptoms of getting high. Altered perception can be said of many substances, without it having to be psychotic. Increased anxiety often comes with altered perception, since some people get worried when everything looks unfamiliar. It seems absurd to classify euphoria as a sign of madness. Meanwhile, impairment of attention and working memory comes hand in hand with most intoxicants, including alcohol. The study reports that these symptoms get more severe in people already diagnosed with schizophrenia, but if those are the symptoms being searched for, it seems essentially like saying that schizophrenic people get high too.
The results from Prof. Philip McGuire scans:
"THC attenuated [weakened] activation in the left temporal cortex compared to placebo… THC attenuated activation in the right inferior frontal cortex and its effect in this region predicted the severity of psychotic symptoms induced by THC. THC attenuated activation in the auditory cortex while subjects listened to speech."
Now, it’s well known that weed effects the auditory cortex, that’s why so many musicians smoke and so many smokers like to listen to music while high. The weakened auditory cortex while listening to speech is likely tied to the weakened left temporal cortex, which is responsible for sentence formation. Being high, similar to other types of intoxication, can make it hard to concentrate on long stories and sometimes you forget to finish your, what was I saying? The scan, in this case, backs up what could be easily hypothesized from the symptoms with a rudimentary knowledge of neurology. Meanwhile, the weakened activation of the right inferior frontal cortex, the region associated with face recognition, thus also with the ability to read emotions and acting appropriately in social situations, is just a part of a body of other visual hallucinations/attenuations, the most desired aspect for most users, and is what understandably accounts for the paranoia and general whackiness often experienced by smokers. Linking it with schizophrenia, which only recently has been connected to impaired face recognition, is tentative at best. So, much of the recent press on the matter seems to have blown a few carefully worded findings way out of proportion. Smoking weed does not make you schizophrenic, just because being high is kind of similar to it.
2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference: Programme and Abstract book [pdf]
Before commenting on a research article, perhaps reading it might be a good idea. D’Souza’s research actually involved diagnosed schizophrenics and the effects cannabis had on their psychosis. A good friend of ours committed suicide due to hallucinations and paranoia. He was a schizophrenic and regular marijuana user, and one of the most brilliant men we have yet to meet. Dr. D’Souza’s research is important because cannibus acts as a catalyst for the schizophrenic brain. A person with no symptoms may develop symptoms after cannibus use. This is not to say that cannibus causes schizophrenia, but rather that it encourages symptoms in a schizophrenic brain, which has not YET shown any symptoms. The perception of marijuana as a “happy high” encourages those who are depressed to use it, when in fact, as Dr. D’Souza has shown, it can cause worsening of symptoms of some mental illnesses, long after the duration of the drug use.
Comment by Anonymous — May 3, 2007 @ 1:52 am
You don’t know much about weed, do you, Anonymous? My argument is that what D’Souza considers symptoms of schizophrenia (i.e. altered perception, increased anxiety, produced euphoria, disrupted immediate and delayed word recall, impaired performance on tests of attention and working memory) are just symptoms of getting high. Should we say that finding more things funny, is also a symptom of schizophrenia? Or how about impaired hand-eye coordination? A lot of symptoms of alcohol use can then be symptoms of schizophrenia, and sleep deprivation, and hunger.
I think you understand what I’m saying. Someone with no symptoms but with a history of schizophrenia will probably develop them whether he smokes weed or not, and it’s even harder to tell if these symptoms could point to THC just acting on the same brain regions, temporarily. I’m sorry about your friend who killed himself. But, I think it would be hard to honestly separate what caused what, his schizophrenia, his marijuana use, his genius, and his suicide. Just throwing it out there like that, seems like an appeal to pity, a logical fallacy. I mean, what are you saying? That weed made him kill himself? You are familiar with the fact that antidepressants make you kill yourself too, that’s why they have a warning label saying so. Also, Felix Guattari’s work on schizoanalysis might be of interest.
Lastly, no real smoker thinks of marijuana use as a “happy high”, only children and non-smokers. Even if you watch movies like Half Baked, you’ll see that they address all the negative aspects of weed addiction. It’s a straw man that you’re arguing with here. All D’Souza said, if you break it down, is that weed makes you paranoid and stupid, which is true, but not crazy.
Comment by alexei — May 3, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Surely you’ve encountered people who can’t smoke pot because it makes them paranoid? What do you think is going on there?
This is research unrelated to any drug control effort. If you think otherwise, maybe you figure out why you’re being so parinoid.
I smoked every day for years btw. I can’t anymore without crawling out of my skin.
Comment by Velvet Elvis — May 28, 2007 @ 4:25 am
Hmm, I didn’t say anything about this research being related to a drug control effort, but now that you mention it, maybe it is. Could it be that the researchers had some kind of anti-pot prejudice when setting out the parameters of their experiment, defining what characteristics make you insane, you know, euphoria and such? That’s a dreadful thought, since scientists are the smartest people we have. How will we know the truth if they start pushing their hidden agendas cloaked in technical jargon. But then it’s you who’s paranoid for putting the thought in my head. Also, you’re not implying that I use cannabis, are you? Hugs not drugs, no hope in dope, be cool - stay in school, I’m not a chicken, you’re a turkey. USA! USA!
Comment by alexei — May 28, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Instead of making assertions founded in speculation and personal preference, why not make some use of this amazingly insightful research. How might we be able to make use of this connection between the sensation of getting high and the experience of living with schizophrenia? Couldn’t this be a prime opportunity to safely and reasonably accurately emulate the condition, thus provide a more empathic provision of treatment? I can think of a laundry list of possible ways in which this may be useful, many of which would be quite controversial considering the legal nature of the plant, but revolutionary nonetheless. Cheers!
Comment by Crazy for Cocoa Puffs — August 14, 2007 @ 11:01 am