Does Marijuana CAUSE Depression and Anxiety in Teens?

[Skip]

A new study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, suggests that daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause depression and anxiety, and have an irreversible long-term effect on the brain.

Teenagers who are exposed to cannabis have decreased serotonin transmission, which leads to mood disorders, as well as increased norepinephrine transmission, which leads to greater long-term susceptibility to stress

I think the methodological flaw is obvious here. Unless they measured the teens before they ever smoked marijuana, they have no base line to judge against. It's quite likely that teens, who suffer from depression and anxiety in greater numbers than the overall population, are more attracted to marijuana for the very reason that it INCREASES seratonin transmission.

So rather than saying that marijuana is the CAUSE of depression and anxiety, once again it is the vilified marijuana that is reliving the symptoms of their depression and anxiety, not causing it!

So their erroneous assumption completely invalidates their conclusions! Fortunately the article sets it right: it says, this study, "suggests that daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause depression and anxiety..."

The operative word is "suggests", cause they haven't (and can't) prove the cause of depression & anxiety because it was already there before they used marijuana.

Here's another study from a couple of years ago that shows that low doses of cannabis INCREASES the level of serotonin and maybe useful for treating depression. However this article says:
"Excessive cannabis use in people with depression poses high risk of psychosis."

Notice how in the past they assumed the depression is PRE-EXISTING, not an effect of the cannabis. But now that has changed as the propaganda war against marijuana has heated up.

Let's not put the cart before the horse here. Marijuana isn't causing Depression and Anxiety. Those are pre-existing conditions. In some circumstances marijuana can exacerbate these pre-existing conditions. It only proves that marijuana is NOT for everyone!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091217115834.htm

 

[pipeline]

This has been brought up time and time again.... These guys just are looking for ways to put down this blessed plant..

Association DOES NOT PROVE Causation..... Any idiot knows that shit....

I'm tired of it... They're trying to exploit the fact that not everyone thinks criticly about what they read...

 

[BurmeseDragon]

That is SO STUPID, I mean you cannot conduct a study without ACKNOWLEDGING ENVIRONMENTAL effects, influences...........like social restraints, the fact is man society will push it as FAR AS THEY CAN!

I'd bet in more lax communities, such as California teens don't have much to fret about as far as the ganja! But man put them in some Bible Belt and smoking weed is well, get ready for a Drill Sargent telling you that you are nothing!

I mean you are going to feel as anxious and depressed being into trouble, it's something I remember very well from being young. It had nothing to do with weed, cannabis helped me separate for some while that it wasn't my fault. But people don't like justifying that growing up around crazy people influence me!

One thing about drugs is certain, environment is more powerful than drugs. I don't think drugs can remove most people from very bad environments....I don't think eating shrooms and smoking a doobie is going to elevate your mind out of a war zone!

People do hate cannabis users, they give plenty of influence to feel very depressed and extraordinarily anxious! You know they don't care about you, if they are so willing to say they were right and that cannabis is bad.....that you only deserve the most negative life that includes nasty prison!

That is a horrible study and I bet many 'professionals' force this idea onto kids and mismanage information.

 

[fatcat0491]

that website doesnt seem too Note wprth look at this


Minimal Relationship Between Cannabis And Schizophrenia Or Psychosis, Suggested By New Study (Oct. 22, 2009) — Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia ... > read more

Long-Term Cannabis Users May Have Structural Brain Abnormalities (June 3, 2008) — Long-term, heavy cannabis use may be associated with structural abnormalities in areas of the brain known as the hippocampus and amygdala, according to a new article in the Archives of General ... > read more

Regular Cannabis May Increase Risk Of Stroke In Young Users (Feb. 24, 2005) — Regular users of cannabis could be putting themselves at risk of stroke, while they are still young, indicates a case report, published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and ... > read more

Cannabis Could Increase Risks Of Psychotic Illness By 40 Percent (Aug. 1, 2007) — Cannabis could increase risk of psychotic illness later in life by 40 per cent. There is now enough evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a .


Lol BULLSHIT on all accounts

 

[SpasticGramps]

This study would make fantastic toilet paper for wiping my bum!

Cannabis is not for everyone. Just a science should not be practiced by everyone.

 

[inthelight]

from reading the title my first thought was this...."from my experience? FUCK NO" lol

 

[theJointedOne]

yes what the above post said,and that is coming from a person who has the worst of the worst panic/anxiety dissorder and i was told by "doctor" i would have this the rest of my life. I tell you that cannabis is one of many things that HELPS my problem!!

ganja for life

funny cuz i am bumpin bushman cannabis, it is all about doctors and weed and i then found this thread, nice

heerb is the healing

 

[THC123]

jeeez when i was a kid MJ cured me from despression.

Without it i wouldn't have gotten my diploma

 

[jayburtonboy]

the only depression ive experienced is having no weed

 

[BeardedClam]

the only depression ive experienced is having no weed

AMEN,
My thoughts exactly, Depression and Anxiety?
Only when you run out and your hookup got busted..

 

[quest]

Yep, I kept smoking until I was cured.

 

[Skip]

Pot helped me through so many things in my youth that were pre-existing. I kept smoking until I was cured.

Amen!

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

.....Before I first found cannabis they said that I was maladjusted......since I have become well adjusted....

 

[Quiet_Riot]

pipeline>>"Association DOES NOT PROVE Causation..... Any idiot knows that shit.... "

No, not everyone knows this, unfortunately. This is why this form of propaganda can keep living. Because someone outthere is not thinking and living for them selfes. Boykot the news...

 

[theJointedOne]

yeah gypsy you tell em!!!!


also it seems cannabis is a great alternative to pharma type drugs in mental health cases beyond anxiety and depression including insomnia, ptsd and more. I know for ptsd a friend I have was prescribed heavy doses of zoloft which many people think is a soft drug but only b/c it does not have the narco effects but it still disrupts brain actvity and electrode stimulation. Cannabis works on this same level but it is about 10k times better with 0 side effcts. Zoloft makes you a zombie with no drive or ups and downs.

Long live the sacred herb!!!

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Yeah, they try to make claims that Cannabis causes various psychological disorders, and they present cases of crazy folks who supposedly have schizophrenia or depression brought on by Cannabis, but how do we know they didn't have it to begin with?

Its like the old stereotype of the delusional lazy stoner. I mean sure, plenty of lazy/crazy people smoke cannabis, but they were probably that way to begin with. I know plenty of folks who are approaching senior citizen status, been chiefin for decades, and are perfectly sane and ajusted.

 

[RicoT]

the only depression ive experienced is having no weed

Haha, ain't that the truth.

 

[CalcioErba2004]

Let's see,

Calcio before herb-pissed off that the world, pissed off at myself, pissed off with my family, pissed off with God, pissed off with people, pissed off in general

Calcio after herb-positive(for the most part), love nature and the natural world, made amends with God, made amends with family, pretty good all around.

It is habit forming and teenager are still growing human beings. Can it mess with the development of the brain? Possibly but if a person is lazy and unmotivated on pot, more than likely they weren't motivated and lazy to begin with. I have never seen a straight A student go sour because he/she smoked pot. Hell I know several people who were Valedictorians and Salutatorians who fuckin smoke everyday! I personally would not want my children smoking until they are 18. Daddy is gonna fuck their world up on that day!

 

[kmk420kali]

THIS JUST IN!!!!!
Aspirin causes headaches in teens--
A new study, done by dyslectic Politicians, has found that those kids who were taking aspirin daily, seemed to have headaches!!
BAN IT!!!!

 

[ICETOKER]

I started to smoke when i was 20...And now i suffer from manic depressive disorder that lies in my father´s family. And the best treatment for me is my homegrown........what does that say!!

Icetoker