"Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity."
- Indian Hemp Drugs Commission 1894-95
'There is “no statistically significant increase” in psychosis-related
diagnoses in states that have legalized marijuana compared to those that
continue to criminalize cannabis, a new study published by the American
Medical Association concluded.
Researchers at Stanford
University, the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) carried out an analysis of more than 63 million
health insurance beneficiaries from 2003-2017 to address the idea that
cannabis reform could be linked to higher rates of psychosis, which
certain prohibitionists have cited to argue against legalization.
The
study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) Psychiatry, determined that, “compared with no legalization
policy, states with legalization policies experienced no statistically
significant increase in rates of psychosis-related diagnoses.”'
- Marijuana Moment
One of the most commonly used arguments to keep cannabis illegal is that it causes insanity. It is the argument that has had the most impact in terms of bringing about global prohibition of cannabis. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, in its Report of 1894-95, states that - "Over and over again the statistics of Indian asylums have been referred to in official documents or scientific treatises not only in this country, but also in other countries where the use of these drugs has demanded attention. Other alleged effects of the drugs have attracted but little attention compared with their alleged connection with insanity."
Reefer madness is repeatedly propagated through media, and cannabis opposition platform,s to convince society that the usage of the plant, even once, let alone over a sufficiently longer period of time, is sufficient to cause insanity. All kinds of acts performed by individuals are attributed to insanity caused by cannabis. Yet further examination of the details most often reveal that what is attributed to the plant is, most often, underlying psychological and pathological conditions that existed in the individual much before the usage of cannabis. The numerous cases of persons housed in mental asylums throughout India were examined by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, and documented in detail in its Report of 1895. In nearly all instances, the diagnosis of insanity was found to be made by unqualified persons, such as police men or clerks in courts. This incorrect diagnosis was sufficient to send most of the victims to asylums. Many were homeless persons, without any friends or family, who spent many years in the asylums and contributed to statistics that served to seed, and propagate, the world wide misinformation that cannabis caused insanity. This was quickly lapped up by those opposed to cannabis, and those who stood to gain from its prohibition, and drilled into the minds of society. This has been so effective worldwide that the number of otherwise educated persons, including those in the medical field, who believe that cannabis causes insanity are many.
A more evolved version of the propaganda, that cannabis causes insanity, is the one that says that not all cannabis causes insanity, rather it is cannabis with high delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content that causes insanity. If we go by this argument then there should have not been any case of cannabis induced insanity in the past, when natural cannabis with low levels of THC existed, before the advent of cannabis varieties specifically bred to produce high levels of THC. But that is not the case. As long as there has been opposition to cannabis, there has been the argument that it causes insanity. THC is, incidentally, one of the most medicinal compounds in the cannabis plant.
What the insanity is that cannabis causes is never clearly defined, rather it is a moving goal post. Some persons attribute schizophrenia, others bipolar disorders, still others neurotic behavior, hysteria, anxiety and mania. Acts of rage, sexual misdemeanors, inappropriate social behavior, are all labelled as insanity caused by cannabis. Why, even the very desirable behavior of a person who becomes placid, meditative, and sedate after consuming cannabis, a behavior notoriously labelled as 'stoned', is called insanity by many.
Alcohol, on the other hand, which is notorious across the world for its damage to mental health, and has been widely confirmed as a cause for insanity based on vast scientific evidence, continues to find widespread approval and the good will of all sections of society while cannabis bears the brunt of the misinformation.
The truth of the matter is that cannabis can be used as a treatment for many forms of mental illness. It is safe as compared to the toxic array of anti-depressants, sedatives, stimulants, and other synthetic medications that are forced upon persons with mental health issues, making them far worse with toxic side effects and highly addictive properties.The fact that the recommended treatment for cannabis abuse, if there is even such a thing, is counseling, and not the use of any drugs, indicates the nature of harm that is associated with cannabis. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission reported in 1895 that - 'And the fact that there is comparatively so little of excess in the use of hemp drugs, and that so many consumers, especially of bhang among the middle classes and of ganja among working people, retain their moderate habit and regularly have their accustomed dose twice or thrice a day, seems to show that this tendency is certainly not stronger in their case. While individual differences in strength of mind must always lead to difference in results, and hereditary mental instability is in certain cases a factor which must not be overlooked, the fact seems generally to be that excess is found (as in the case of alcohol) to be mainly confined to idle and dissipated persons, and to be often due to the force of example and foolish emulation in bad company. The man who takes these drugs regularly as a food accessory, or as a stimulant in hard work, does not seem to be prone to excess. Apparently also the tendency is much less towards that occasional excess which in the case of alcohol so frequently becomes habitual. The working man, for example, does not seem to have the same temptation to a debauch with ganja as with alcohol.'
In places where cannabis has been legalized for medical and/or recreational use, some of the leading conditions for which cannabis is used as treatment are post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and insomnia. It is also used to improve digestion, increase appetite, and reduce pain and fatigue. All these are factors that contribute significantly to mental health issues. Besides being used as treatment for these conditions, cannabis is used to wean persons off addiction to opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol, prescription synthetic pharmaceutical medication, and tobacco. Cannabis is used to treat brain cancer, epilepsy, autism and dementia.
Yet the fact remains that millions of persons worldwide, who have much better sense than others to use cannabis to manage their mental health, are wrongly labelled as insane, ostracized by society, isolated, and subjected to harsh and dangerous treatments and medication. This reflects the insane and inhuman state of our modern society's collective mind. To me, the biggest insanity in this world is the pursuit of material wealth and power, pursued at all costs, at the cost of all life on earth. These insanes - who prohibit the medicinal herb of the great god Siva, the herb of the poorest persons on earth, the sick, the needy, the aged and the ones in despair - roam around controlling this world, thinking that all their material wealth and power will save them from death, .
'Wonko the Sane laughed. It was a light easy laugh, and sounded like one he had used a lot before and was happy with. 'Ah yes,' he said, 'that's to do with the day I finally realized that the world had gone totally mad and built the Asylum to put it in, poor thing, and hoped it would get better.' This was the point at which Arthur began to feel a little nervous again. 'Here,' said Wonko the Sane, 'we are outside the Asylum.' He pointed again at the rough brickwork, the pointing and the guttering. 'Go through that door,' he pointed at the first door through which they had originally entered, 'and you go into the Asylum. I've tried to decorate it nicely to keep the inmates happy, but there's very little one can do. I never go in there now myself. If ever I am tempted, which these days I rarely am, I simply look at the sign written over the door and I shy away.' 'That one?' said Fenchurch, pointing, rather puzzled, at a blue plaque with some instructions written on it. 'Yes. They are the words that finally turned me into the hermit I have now become. It was quite sudden. I saw them, and I knew what I had to do.' The sign said: Hold stick near center of its length. Moisten pointed end in mouth. Insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum. Use gentle in-out motion. 'It seemed to me,' Said Wonko the Sane, 'that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a packet of toothpicks was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas AdamsRelated articles
Following are a set of articles and extracts with regard to this topic. Words in italics are the words of the author.
'Cannabis consumption rarely triggers episodes of acute psychosis in those who do not have a pre-existing psychiatric disorder, according to the results of a meta-analysis published in the journal Nature: Mental Health.
An international team of researchers from Switzerland and the United Kingdom reviewed the relationship between marijuana use and cannabis-associated psychotic symptoms (CAPS) in 162 studies involving over 210,000 cannabis consumers.
Researchers reported that the risk of psychosis “appears most amplified in vulnerable individuals,” particularly those with “pre-existing mental health problems” such as bipolar disorder. By contrast, they acknowledged, “[N]either young age of onset of cannabis use nor high-frequency use of cannabis or the preferred type of cannabis (strains high in THC, strains high in CBD) was associated with CAPS.”'
https://norml.org/news/2024/07/18/meta-analysis-cannabis-induced-psychosis-rare-in-those-without-pre-existing-mental-health-conditions/
Older adults who reside within a 30-minute drive of a licensed medical cannabis dispensary report experiencing fewer days of poor mental health, according to data published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Researchers affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh and with John Hopkins University in Baltimore assessed whether proximity to medical cannabis dispensaries was associated with self-reported changes in adult’s mental health.
They reported that local dispensaries were associated with “considerable mental health benefits for older adults.” Specifically, they determined, “[M]edical cannabis availability affected a 3.48 percentage point decrease in persons aged 65 and above reporting having any past-month poor mental health days, a nearly 10 percent decrease from a baseline of 36.3 percent.”
https://norml.org/news/2024/06/06/analysis-proximity-to-medical-cannabis-facilities-associated-with-perceived-mental-health-improvements-in-older-adults/
Amidst the growing cannabis reform across the West, there have been growing conversations surrounding cannabis-induced psychosis, suggesting that regular cannabis use and highly concentrated products may exacerbate mental health symptoms as access increases.
However, a recent study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy took a closer look at shifting cannabis policy following Canada’s cannabis legalization in October 2018, ultimately finding no association with legalization and increasing rates of cannabis-related psychosis.
https://hightimes.com/study/study-canadian-mj-legalization-has-no-association-with-increasing-psychosis-rates/
The cumulative use of cannabis over several decades is not associated with a significantly elevated risk of either psychiatric disorders, cognitive decline, or other adverse psychosocial outcomes, according to longitudinal data published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.
Investigators affiliated with the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado assessed the long-term impact of cannabis use on psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes in a sample of more than 4,000 adult twins. Subjects were assessed from 1994 to 2021.
The study’s authors concluded: “Broadly speaking, our results do not support a causal relationship between lifetime average cannabis frequency and most of the substance use, psychiatric, and psychosocial outcomes assessed here. Rather, genetic and familial confounding most likely explain the relationships between cannabis use and the negative outcomes associated with it. … The lack of within-pair effects, or small effects for those existing within-pair differences, in our primary outcome suggest that cumulative cannabis use does not have large, or lasting effects on many psychosocial outcomes.”
https://norml.org/news/2024/01/11/twin-study-lifetime-cannabis-exposure-not-linked-to-significant-changes-in-mental-health-or-other-psychosocial-outcomes/
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/young-people-at-risk-of-psychosis-saw-symptoms-surprisingly-improve-with-marijuana-use-study-finds/
'A team of investigators from Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom examined the association between cannabis use and incidences of psychotic disorders in clinically at-risk subjects. Researchers assessed subjects at baseline and then followed them for a period of two years.
They reported: “There was no significant association between any measure of cannabis use at baseline and either transition to psychosis, the persistence of symptoms, or functional outcomes.”
Authors concluded, “Our primary hypothesis was that cannabis use in CHR [clinically high risk] subjects would be associated with an increased rate of later transition to psychosis. However, there was no significant association with any measure of cannabis use. … These findings are not consistent with epidemiological data linking cannabis use to an increased risk of developing psychosis.”'
https://norml.org/news/2023/04/20/study-fails-to-identify-cannabis-exposure-as-a-risk-factor-for-the-development-of-psychosis/
There is “no statistically significant increase” in psychosis-related diagnoses in states that have legalized marijuana compared to those that continue to criminalize cannabis, a new study published by the American Medical Association concluded.
Researchers at Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) carried out an analysis of more than 63 million health insurance beneficiaries from 2003-2017 to address the idea that cannabis reform could be linked to higher rates of psychosis, which certain prohibitionists have cited to argue against legalization.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, determined that, “compared with no legalization policy, states with legalization policies experienced no statistically significant increase in rates of psychosis-related diagnoses.”
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-legalization-not-associated-with-increased-rates-of-psychosis-american-medical-association-study-of-63-million-people-finds/
My young friends, you ask after the school of suffering, the forge of destiny. Don't you know? No, you who are forever talking of the people and dealing with the masses, who wish to suffer only with them and for them, you do not know. I am speaking of solitude.
Solitude is the path over which destiny endeavours to lead man to himself. Solitude is the path that men most fear. A path fraught with terrors, where snakes and toads like in wait. The men who have walked alone, those who have explored the deserts of solitude: is it not said that they went astray, that they were evil or sick? And heroic deeds: do men not speak of them as though they had been the work of criminals - because they think it best to discourage themselves from taking the path of such deeds?
And Zarathustra himself - is it not said that he died in madness and that at bottom everything he said and did was madness? And when you heard such talk, didn't you feel the blood rushing to your cheeks? As though it might have been nobler and worthier of you to become one of those madmen, as though you were ashamed of your lack of courage?
- Zarathustra's Return, A Word to German Youth, 1919, If The War Goes On, Herman Hesse
Recreational development is a job not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind. - Aldo Leopold
What is it about marijuana that causes fear in people who don't use it? Is it the fear that they will lose control over the empires that they have built based on threats, manipulation and force? Is it the fear that individuals all over the world may become free to choose to take control over their means of medication, recreation and livelihood? Is it the fear that contented, healthy and peaceful individuals cannot be exploited and manipulated easily and so are dangerous to today's systems? Is it the fear that marijuana will make the individual more conscious of what is happening in the world and she will not quietly accept the status quo? Is it the fear of losing one's self-control and letting one's most deepest madness take over sometimes? Is it the fear of being labelled a non-conformist, insane or a criminal and ridiculed by society? Is it the fear of losing all your possessions in this world? Is it the fear of death? Is it the fear of the unknown, the void, the great spirit of the universe? If you examine your fears closely, you will probably realise that these things are bound to happen anyway...the plant may in fact help you handle your fears better...
Updated Oct 08, 2022 12:25:53pm
'Wonko the Sane laughed. It was a light easy laugh, and sounded like one he had used a lot before and was happy with. 'Ah yes,' he said, 'that's to do with the day I finally realized that the world had gone totally mad and built the Asylum to put it in, poor thing, and hoped it would get better.' This was the point at which Arthur began to feel a little nervous again. 'Here,' said Wonko the Sane, 'we are outside the Asylum.' He pointed again at the rough brickwork, the pointing and the guttering. 'Go through that door,' he pointed at the first door through which they had originally entered, 'and you go into the Asylum. I've tried to decorate it nicely to keep the inmates happy, but there's very little one can do. I never go in there now myself. If ever I am tempted, which these days I rarely am, I simply look at the sign written over the door and I shy away.' 'That one?' said Fenchurch, pointing, rather puzzled, at a blue plaque with some instructions written on it. 'Yes. They are the words that finally turned me into the hermit I have now become. It was quite sudden. I saw them, and I knew what I had to do.' The sign said: Hold stick near center of its length. Moisten pointed end in mouth. Insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum. Use gentle in-out motion. 'It seemed to me,' Said Wonko the Sane, 'that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a packet of toothpicks was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.' - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
'More people (22%) use cannabis for stress and mental health than for any other reason, Eaze’s data shows, putting a dent in the common perception that consumers are interested in weed mostly as a form of recreation. In fact, only 17% cited “fun” as their primary motivation, with 12% saying better sleep was the top goal.
“With our lifestyles shaken to the core over the past 18 months, it’s no surprise our relationship with cannabis has changed too,” Sheena Shiravi, vp of marketing at Eaze, said in a statement. “Today’s cannabis consumer recognizes the plant can support everyday activities like work and working out, and are integrating it throughout their lives to enhance connectivity, productivity, and wellbeing.” '
'Researchers with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Yale Law School, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation and others decided to investigate the issue, looking to see if the conclusions of an earlier 2013 study have held up in the years since as more state marijuana markets have been created or evolved.
In 2013, a study found that there was no relationship between state-level medical cannabis legalization and mental illness. The researchers followed the methodology of that study for an update, performing “a state-level longitudinal analysis using suicide rates from the National Center for Health Statistics and mental health morbidity rates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.”
“We found that recreational marijuana access was associated with a 6.29 percent reduction in suicide rates for males aged 40 to 49, but no other mental health outcomes were otherwise affected by liberalization of marijuana laws,” they said.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-legalization-is-not-associated-with-increased-mental-illness-or-suicide-new-study-finds-despite-opposition-claims/
'Researchers reported: “Epidemiological studies have repeatedly shown that individuals who use cannabis are more likely to develop psychotic disorders than individuals who do not. It has been suggested that these associations represent a causal effect of cannabis use on psychosis, and that psychosis risk may be particularly elevated when use occurs in adolescence. … This study, however, does not support these hypotheses, suggesting instead that observed associations are more likely due to confounding by common vulnerability factors.”
They concluded, “[T]he results suggest this association is likely attributable to familial confounds rather than a causal effect of cannabis exposure. … Our results suggest that the threat of potential harm to adolescents via meaningful increases in risk of long-term psychotic illness may be overstated. … Thus, clinical and public health interventions aimed at decreasing the prevalence and burden of psychotic illnesses may benefit from focusing their attention elsewhere.”'
https://norml.org/news/2021/09/30/twin-study-adolescent-cannabis-exposure-not-an-independent-cause-of-psychosis-in-adulthood
'His house was certainly peculiar, and since this was the first thing that Fenchurch and Arthur had encountered it would help to know what it was like.
What it was like was this:
It was inside out.
Actually inside out, to the extent that they had to park on the carpet.
All along what one would normally call the outer wall, which was decorated in a tasteful interior-designed pink , were bookshelves, also a couple of those odd three-legged tables with semi-circular tops which stand in such a way as to suggest that someone just dropped the wall straight through them, and pictures which were clearly designed to sooth.
Where it got really odd was the roof.
It folded back on itself like something that Maurits C. Escher, had he been given to hard nights on the town, which it is no part of this narrative's purpose to suggest was the case, though it is sometimes hard, looking at his pictures, particularly the one with all the awkward steps, not to wonder, might have dreamed up after having been on one, for the little chandeliers which should have been on the inside were on the outside pointing up.
Confusing.
The sign above the front door said, 'Come Outside,' and so nervously, they had.
Inside, of course, was were the Outside was. Rough brickwork, nicely done pointing, guttering in good repair, a garden path, a couple of small trees, some rooms leading off.
And the inner walls stretched down, folded curiously, and opened at the end as if, by an optical illusion, which would have had Maurits C. Escher frowning and wondering how it was done, to enclose the Pacific Ocean itself.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
Even if all the nations of the world legalized cannabis for all purposes - medicinal, intoxicant, food and industrial purposes - TODAY, a feat not impossible as all it takes is for the UN to change global drug laws and every nation to follow suit by changing their individual national drug laws with the same alacrity that all showed in embracing the fake pandemic Covid, it would still take at least a decade for cannabis to become truly pervasive significantly reducing the footprint of the following industries: the synthetic pharmaceutical drug industry for medicine; the global synthetic recreational drug industry, alcohol and tobacco for intoxicant; unsustainable rice, wheat and cotton as agricultural crops on current scales; the chemical fertilizer industry through organic farming of climate resistant cannabis; the petrochemical based non-biodegradable plastics and synthetics industries as industrial sources of raw materials. Even then much of the damage may be irrepairable, such as the omnipresent microplastics, and the contamination of land, water and air by synthetic pharmaceuticals, chemical fertilizers, fossil fuels and petrochemicals. But there is a chance that we could at least slow this down or even stall it. However, these industries - petrochemicals, synthetic pharmaceuticals, chemical fertilizers, alcohol and tobacco are the biggest industries in the world today. The world's rich to whom these industries belong, and the governments that they own and fund, will do all they can to prevent this, including the use of the arms industry who fear a peaceful world of cannabis as a threat to their existence as much as the rich and the governments. This means that what could take a decade if all are fully committed will most likely take much more time. The two years lost to the fake pandemic Covid were accelerated steps in the opposite direction to that which we should have been taking. Do we have that much time to change course? Will nature and human insanity give us the time? Today, all global leaders are floundering helplessly and aimlessly, with what is being proposed as solutions to the catastrophic problem being nothing more than cosmetic makeovers, while they work to consolidate their own positions and the rich strive to get richer. At a time when all possible options must be considered, no, pursued with great urgency, even then it may not be enough, we find humanity moving with determination like zombies towards the sixth extinction...What is overwhelmingly evident is the human delusion that man is the master of nature and an insane stubbornness to pursue natural ways...
Oct 08, 2022 12:07:53pm
'“This randomized clinical trial found that the efficacy and safety of daily treatment with CBD, 300 mg, for 4 weeks combined with standard care was superior to standard care alone for reducing the symptoms of emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and depression among frontline health care professionals working with patients with COVID-19,” authors concluded. “Cannabidiol may act as an effective agent for the reduction of burnout symptoms among a population with important mental health needs worldwide.”'
https://norml.org/news/2021/08/19/clinical-trial-use-of-cbd-associated-with-greater-emotional-wellness
'There is biological plausibility in clinical and preclinical studies that suggest the effectiveness of the use of pure pharmaceutical-grade CBD, as adjunctive therapy, for the control of symptoms associated with mental disorders such as schizophrenia and disorders related to the abuse of psychotropic substances. However, more rigorous clinical trials are required to make more precise recommendations on CBD to treat other mental disorders. Additionally, pure pharmaceutical-grade CBD is considered a safe treatment.'
https://europepmc.org/article/ppr/ppr381442
'The coastline runs west, and then turns north up to the misty bay of San Francisco, which the Guide describes as 'a good place to go. It's very easy to believe that everyone you meet there is also a space traveller. Starting a new religion for you is just their way of saying "hi". Until you've settled in and got the hang of the place it is best to say "no" to three questions out of any given four that anyone may ask you, because there are some very strange things going on there, some of which an unsuspecting alien could die of.' The hundreds of curling miles of cliff and sand, palm trees, breakers and sunsets are described in the Guide as 'Boffo. A good one.'
And somewhere on this good boffo stretch of coastline lay the house of this inconsolable man, a man who many regarded as being insane. But this was only, as he would tell people, because he was.
One of the many many reasons why people thought him insane was because of the peculiarity of his house which, even in a land where most people's houses were peculiar in one way or another, was quite extreme in its peculiarness.
His house was called The Outside of the Asylum.
His name was simply John Watson, though he preferred to be called - and some of his friends had reluctantly agreed to do this - Wonko the Sane.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
'Discussion: There is substantial heterogeneity across studies in dose, method of drug delivery, length of treatment, patient age, whether patients with cannabis use/CUD were included or excluded, and whether patients were using antipsychotic medication.
Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence for an effect of THC or CBD on symptoms, cognition, and neuroimaging measures of brain function in schizophrenia. At this time, research does not support recommending medical cannabis (THC or CBD) for treating patients with schizophrenia. Further research should examine THC and CBD in schizophrenia with and without comorbid CUD and consider the role of CBD in mitigating symptom exacerbation from THC.'
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.694394/full
'While it is true that the revised provision, as was the case in the prior language, states that federal funds cannot be used to pay for marijuana, the spokesperson initially avoided commenting on the new deletion of the broader prohibition on grants going to entities that otherwise allow patients to use medical cannabis to treat substance use or mental disorders.
“You can see from our recent press releases that SAMHSA’s priorities are to expand opportunities for people to get into treatment, as well as to grow the behavioral health workforce,” he added in response to a follow-up question. “Funds from SAMHSA, a federal agency, cannot be used to purchase a federally prohibited substance.”'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/federal-agency-loosens-marijuana-related-grant-funding-restrictions-for-mental-health-treatment/
' It wasn't all the pastoral delights that were making Arthur feel so cheery, though. He had just had a wonderful idea about how to cope with the terrible lonely isolation, the nightmares, the failure of all his attempts at horticulture, and the sheer futurelessness and futility of his life here on prehistoric Earth, which was that he would go mad.
He beamed again and took a bite out of a rabbit leg left over from his supper. He chewed happily for a few moments and then decided formally to announce his decision.
He stood up straight and looked the world squarely in the fields and hills. To add weight to his words he stuck the rabbit bone in his hair. He spread his arms wide.
'I will go mad!' he announced.'
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Trilogy of Five, Douglas Adams
https://www.theonion.com/nervous-biden-rushes-past-intimidating-circle-of-senato-1847304606
CBD effectively prevented SB-induced changes in the forced swim test without altering spontaneous locomotion. This phytocannabinoid also partially reversed LPS-evoked IL-6 increase in both the hypothalamus and hippocampus. In addition, CBD prevented endotoxin-induced increase in BDNF and NGF levels in the hippocampus of SB animals.
Conclusions
Apparently, CBD prevents both behavioral and neuro-immunological changes associated with LPS-induced SB, which reinforces its potential use as an antidepressant which modulates neuroinflammation. This opens up potentially new therapeutic avenues in MDD [Major depressive disorder].'
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43440-021-00301-8
May 10, 2021 5:36:51pm
Seven detention officers have now been fired for their alleged involvement in Scott's death. Scott’s family says he had schizophrenia and was experiencing a mental health crisis while in custody. Officers said he began behaving strangely at the jail and they strapped him to a bed, used pepper spray and covered his face with a spit mask. The Collin County medical examiner has yet to release an official cause of death.'
https://abcnews.go.com/US/death-marvin-scott-texas-jail-advocates-point-disparities/story?id=76833227
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178120333564?via%3Dihub
Apr 30, 2021 4:50:52pm
"A true knowledge of causation of insanity can only be obtained from a very careful investigation of particular cases and their antecedents, and an extensive knowledge of the social peculiarities and practices of individuals and communities. Observations, such as Drs. Wise and Coates have recorded, contribute more to the elucidation of the causes of insanity than any number of "tables" which have an appearance of precision, but are really most inaccurate and unworthy of trust. Statement No. 10 shows the usual large proportion of cases attributed to the use of ganja and spirits. The remarks of Drs. Coates and Wise would go to show that Indian hemp is in many cases erroneously credited with madness otherwise caused. It would also appear that this drug has little or no influence as an incentive to crime; and the figures given in Statement No. 10 show that the proportion of ganja-caused insanity among criminals is less than among non-criminal lunatics. No doubt, as Dr. Wise states, thieves and murderers smoke hemp in order to nerve themselves to criminal deeds previously resolved on, but the drug does not appear specially to arouse any homicidal or criminal propensities." (J. Campbell Brown, Inspector General Hospitals, Bengal.—Annual Report on Asylums, 1872.) [Many acts of violence committed by persons intoxicated either with bhang or ganja represent merely the uncontrolled action of the animal passions. The controlling power of the higher nervous centres once removed, by hemp drugs, alcohol, or anything else, the individual will either become quarrelsome and violent, or melancholic and maudling. There is not in my opinion any specific property in hemp drugs which incites to violence or crime.—J. H. T. W.]
Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895, https://digital.nls.uk/74464868
'You hear that people go insane from using weed. There is, in fact, a form of insanity caused by the excessive use of weed. The condition is characterized by ideas of reference. The weed available in the U.S. is evidently not strong enough to blow your top on and weed psychosis is rare in the States. In the Near East, it is said to be common. Weed psychosis corresponds more or less to delirium tremens and quickly disappears when the drug is withdrawn. Someone who smokes a few cigarettes a day is no more likely to go insane than a man who takes a few cocktails before dinner is likely to come down with D.T.'s' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
'I had never been able to drink before when I was on the junk, or junk sick. But eating hop is different from shooting the white stuff. You can mix hop and lush.
At first I started drinking at five in the afternoon. After a week, I started drinking at eight in the morning, stayed drunk all day and all night, and woke up drunk the next morning.
Every morning when I woke up, I washed down benzedrine, sanicin, and a piece of hop with black coffee and a shot of tequila. Then I lay back and closed my eyes to piece together the night before and yesterday. Often, I drew a blank from noon on. You sometimes wake up from a dream and think, "Thank God, I didn't really do that!" Reconstructing a period of blackout you think, "My God, did I really do it?" The line between saying and thinking is blurred. Did you say it or just think it?' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
'After ten days of the cure I had deteriorated shockingly. My clothes were spotted and stiff from the drinks I had spilled all over myself. I never bathed. I had lost weight, my hands shook, I was always spilling things, knocking over chairs, and falling down. But I seemed to have unlimited energy and a capacity for liquor I never had before. My emotions spilled out everywhere. I was uncontrollably social and would talk to anybody I could pin down. I forced distastefully intimate confidences on perfect strangers. Several times I made the crudest sexual propositions to people who had given no hint of reciprocity.' - Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
Officially sponsored myth 9 - '"There is a connection between junk and insanity. Addicts turn into maniacs when they cannot get junk."
Actually, I have never seen or heard of an insane addict. For some reason, the two conditions do not occur together.'
- Junky, William S Burroughs, 1977, originally published in 1953
'Ganja is used for smoking by simply crushing the dry leaves and mixing them with tobacco in the proportion of two parts of the former to one part of the latter. Majum and halva are generally eaten in sweetmeats. An infusion of the withered flowers of the hemp plant is occasionally made and mixed with pepper, poppy-seed, and fried Bengal gram, the preparations being either diluted and drunk under the name of "ramras," or made up into pills and swallowed, or dissolved in jaggery water and milk or expressed juice of the cocoanut and drunk under the name of "bhang." The generality of the consumers are said to be Mahomedans, many of whom are idle and disreputable men of the lower classes, as also Bairaghis, Gosayis, Rajputs, and a few other Hindus. It is represented that where the quantity consumed is below 2½ tolas weight, it does not produce any bad effects; but where this is exceeded, stupefaction or even temporary insanity is the result. In the Lunatic Asylum, Bangalore City, instances were to be met with of patients affected by excessive use of ganja. The Excise Commissioner is, however, not aware of any instances in which crime was excited under its influence or permanent insanity was produced by it.'
https://ravingkoshy.blogspot.com/2020/06/memorandum-on-hemp-drugs-in-mysore.html
'A single execution carried out dispassionately by prosperous and educated men with the approval and participation of Christian minister and presented as something necessary and even just, perverts and brutalizes men more than thousands of murders committed by uneducated working people under the influence of passion. An execution such as Zukhovsky proposed to arrange, which was to arouse in men a sentiment of religious emotion, would have the most depraving influence imaginable.
Every war, even the briefest, with the expenditure usual to war, the destruction of crops, the plundering, the licensed debauchery and murders, the sophisticated excuses as to its necessity and justice, the exaltation and glorification of military exploits, patriotism and devotion to the flag, the feigned solicitude for the wounded, and so on, does more to deprave people in a single year than millions of robberies, arsons, and murders committed in hundreds of years by individual men under the influence of passion.' - Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays
'India had no legislation regarding narcotics until 1985. Cannabis smoking in India has been known since at least 2000 BC and is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda, which dates back a few hundred years BC. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, an Indo-British study of cannabis usage in India appointed in 1893, found that the "moderate" use of hemp drugs was "practically attended by no evil results at all", "produces no injurious effects on the mind" and "no moral injury whatever". Regarding "excessive" use of the drug, the Commission concluded that it "may certainly be accepted as very injurious, though it must be admitted that in many excessive consumers the injury is not clearly marked". The report the Commission produced was at least 3,281 pages long, with testimony from almost 1,200 "doctors, coolies, yogis, fakirs, heads of lunatic asylums, bhang peasants, tax gatherers, smugglers, army officers, hemp dealers, ganja palace operators and the clergy."'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotic_Drugs_and_Psychotropic_Substances_Act,_1985
'“People in the high concentration group were much less compromised than we thought they were going to be,” said co-author Kent Hutchison, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder who also studies alcohol addiction. “If we gave people that high a concentration of alcohol it would have been a different story.”
One reason that higher THC blood levels didn’t translate to higher highs could be that the body’s finite number of cannabinoid receptors, which THC molecules bind to, become saturated regardless of whether higher- or lower-THC products are used. Any excess THC in consumers’ blood plasma, in that case, would be metabolized and not contribute to further impairment'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/do-highly-potent-marijuana-concentrates-get-users-more-high-not-exactly-study-finds/
'The THC fallacy persists despite everyone’s best efforts. Both Instagram influencers as well as cannabis entrepreneurs and advocates have tried to explain that the THC number is, at best, a rough estimate (and a number that, depending on the lab that came up with it, might be inflated or suspect).
With this much momentum, it’s unlikely science will change anything. It will take a long time for buyers to adjust their habits and realize THC content isn’t like alcohol by volume on a beer label after all. Until they do, connoisseurs can take advantage of the market inefficiency, and take home superior pot with lower THC levels at a reduced price. It will just require a little more work on the consumer’s end. '
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisroberts/2020/06/16/science-reveals-the-cannabis-industrys-greatest-lie-youre-buying-weed-wrong-and-so-is-everyone-else/
'Cannabis is the drug that most brings people into contact with the criminal justice system, accounting for more than half of all drug law offences cases, based on reports from a total of 69 countries over 2014–2018 The predominance of cannabis-related cases in the statistics reflects the drug's large global market. ATS were the next biggest drug category (responsible for 19 per cent of cases), followed by cocaine (11 per cent) and opioids (7 per cent). Almost 90 per cent of suspects were men.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_1.pdf
Liberal states had higher past-year CU (cannabis use), but lower
CUD(cannabis use disorder) prevalence among users, compared to
conservative states. Researchers and policy makers should consider how
the broader policy environment, independent of MCL, may contribute to CU
outcomes.'
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095539591830272X
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