DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA

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DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: 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: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA: (2.718223 secs.)

DANGERS OF MARIJUANA: MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA

There is mounting evidence that the use of marijuana, particularly by adolescents, can lead to serious mental health problems. o According to Nora Volkow, the Director of NIDA, "Regular marijuana use in adolescence is known to be a part of a cluster of behaviors that can produce enduring detrimental effects and alter the trajectory of a young person's life ' thwarting his or her potential. Beyond potentially lower IQ, teen marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug 8

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use, mental health problems, etc. Given the current number of regular marijuana users (1 in 15 high school seniors) and the possibility of this increasing with marijuana legalization, we cannot afford to divert our focus from the central point: regular marijuana use stands to jeopardize a young person's chances of success ' in school and in life."39

o A major study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in August 2012 provides finding that long-term marijuana use started in teen years does have a negative effect on intellectual function. The more dependent the person becomes on marijuana, the more significant the impairment. The impairment was significant in five different cognitive areas, especially executive function and processing speed. Participants who used cannabis heavily in their teens and continued through adulthood showed a significant drop in their intelligence quotient (IQ) - an average of eight points. Those who started using marijuana regularly after age 18 showed minor declines. Those who never used marijuana showed no decline. Even after stopping cannabis use, neuropsychological deficits were never recovered among those who started smoking during their teen years.40

o A small study by doctors at Northwestern University and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School found that the size and shape of two brain regions involved in emotion and motivation may differ in young adults who smoke marijuana at least once a week (than those that do not). The findings suggest that recreational marijuana use may lead to previously unidentified brain changes and highlight the importance of research aimed at understanding the long-term effects of low to moderate marijuana use on the brain. "The study raises a strong challenge to the idea that casual marijuana use isn't associated with bad consequences," Dr. Hans Breiter, one of the study authors stated.41

o People with mental illness are seven times more likely to use marijuana weekly than people without mental illness according to researchers at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who studied U.S. data. Researchers also found that individuals with mental illness were ten times more likely to have a cannabis use disorder. Among those with mental illness reporting weekly cannabis use, rates of use were particularly elevated for those with bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and other substance use disorder.42

o The University of Maryland's School of Public Health released a report in June 2013 that connected student marijuana use and problems with academic retention and performance. The study followed 1,200 college freshmen over a ten year period and found that substance abuse, especially marijuana use, contributed to college students skipping more classes, spending less time studying, earning lower grades, dropping out of college, and being unemployed after college. "On average (marijuana use) increases your risk of having academic problems," says Amelia Arria, Director for the Center of Young Adult Health and Development. "I don't think people are really putting this together with the possible effect it could have on long-term success. It's something to consider."43 o "Nearly one in ten first-year college students at a mid-Atlantic university have a Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) according to a NIDA-funded study of drug use conducted by investigators from the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland." "Students who had used cannabis five or more times in the past year ' regardless of whether or not they met the criteria for CUD ' reported problems related to 9

.......

their cannabis use, such as concentration problems (40.1 percent), regularly putting themselves in physical danger (24.3 percent), and driving after using marijuana (18.6 percent)."44

o According to a report by Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on teens, depression and marijuana use: 45 o Depressed teens are twice as likely as non-depressed teens to use marijuana and other illicit drugs.

o Depressed teens are more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become dependent on marijuana. o Marijuana use can worsen depression and lead to more serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, anxiety, and even suicide.

o Teens who smoke marijuana at least once a month are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users.

o The percentage of depressed teens is equal to the percentage of depressed adults, but depressed teens are more likely than depressed adults to use marijuana than other drugs.

o Researchers from the University of Oulu in Finland interviewed over 6,000 youth ages 15 and 16 and found that "teenage cannabis users are more likely to suffer psychotic symptoms and have a greater risk of developing schizophrenia in later life."46

o John Walters, then the Director of ONDCP, Charles G. Curie, then the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and experts and scientists from leading mental health organizations joined together in May 2005 to warn parents about the mental health dangers marijuana poses to teens. According to several recent studies, marijuana use has been linked with depression and suicidal thoughts, in addition to schizophrenia. These studies report that weekly marijuana use among teens doubles the risk of developing depression and triples the incidence of suicidal thoughts.47

o Dr. Andrew Campbell, a member of the New South Wales (Australia) Mental Health Review Tribunal, published a study in 2005 which revealed that four out of five individuals with schizophrenia were regular cannabis users when they were teenagers. Between 75-80 percent of the patients involved in the study used cannabis habitually between the ages of 12 and 21.48 In addition, a laboratory-controlled study by Yale University scientists, published in 2004, found that THC "transiently induced a range of schizophrenia-like effects in healthy people."49

o In a presentation on "Neuroimaging Marijuana Use and Effects on Cognitive Function" Professor Krista Lisdahl Medina suggests that chronic heavy marijuana use during adolescence is associated with poorer performance on thinking tasks, including slower psychomotor speed and poorer complex attention, verbal memory and planning ability. 10

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

I thought the text was interesting because of these details:

addiction aggrandizement cannabis drug propaganda agency drug related drugs drugwar propaganda gateway government prohib illegal drugs intoxicant legalization moral imperative plants prohibition agency prohibitionist propaganda theme1 propaganda theme2 propaganda theme3 propaganda theme4 propaganda theme5 propaganda theme7 reefer madness school use is abuse various drugs various illegal 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: $drug_related at 100% ($legalization $prohibition_agency $illegal_drugs $prohibitionist) asserted: $drugwar_propaganda at 100% ($propaganda_theme1 $propaganda_theme2 $propaganda_theme3 $propaganda_theme5 $propaganda_theme7 $propaganda_theme4) asserted: $propaganda_theme1 at 100% ("regular marijuana users" "regular cannabis users" "users" "cannabis users"), 8 hits asserted: $addiction at 60% ("Addiction" "dependent"), 3 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme2 at 90% ("neuropsychological deficits" "lower IQ" "motivation" "negative effect" "anxiety" "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES" "DANGERS" "danger" "DANGERS OF" "impairment" "problems" "depression" "schizophrenia" "schizophrenia-like" "mental illness" "health problems" "psychotic" "mental health problems" "detrimental" "suicide" "suicidal" $addiction $reefer_madness), 45 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme3 at 75% ("Public Health"), 1 hits asserted: $use_is_abuse at 100% ("substance abuse" "substance use" "drug use" "cannabis use" "cannabis users" "marijuana use" "marijuana users" "use marijuana" "abuse"), 36 hits asserted: $gateway at 85% ("times more likely to use" "can lead to" "lead to"), 5 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme4 at 100% ($use_is_abuse $gateway) asserted: $propaganda_theme5 at 100% ("teenagers" "teen" "teens" "teenage" "adolescents" "youth" "parents"), 20 hits asserted: $propaganda_theme7 at 100% ("legalization" "marijuana legalization" $legalization), 2 hits asserted: $moral_imperative at 100% ("we cannot"), 1 hits asserted: $illegal_drugs at 100% ($cannabis $various_illegal_drugs $addiction) asserted: $drugs at 95% ($various_drugs) asserted: $prohibitionist at 95% ($government_prohib) asserted: $government_prohib at 95% ("John Walters, then the Director of ONDCP" "John Walters" "Walters" "Nora Volkow" "Volkow"), 5 hits asserted: $prohibition_agency at 100% ("NIDA" "Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration" $drug_propaganda_agency), 2 hits asserted: $drug_propaganda_agency at 100% ("ONDCP" "Office of National Drug Control Policy" "Office of National Drug Control" "National Drug Control Policy"), 5 hits asserted: $legalization at 100% ("marijuana legalization" "legalization"), 2 hits asserted: $plants at 100% ($cannabis) asserted: $intoxicant at 100% ($cannabis) asserted: $cannabis at 100% ("MARIJUANA" "cannabis" "THC" $reefer_madness), 43 hits asserted: $reefer_madness at 60% ("schizophrenia were regular cannabis" "schizophrenia, anxiety, and even suicide. o Teens who smoke marijuana" "schizophrenia. These studies report that weekly marijuana" "cannabis users are more likely to suffer psychotic" "MARIJUANA: MENTAL" "marijuana, particularly by adolescents, can lead to serious mental" "marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug 8 use, mental" "marijuana weekly than people without mental" "marijuana. o Marijuana use can worsen depression and lead to more serious mental" "MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO MARIJUANA" "mental health problems, etc. Given the current number of regular marijuana" "mental illness are seven times more likely to use marijuana" "mental health dangers marijuana" "cannabis use disorder. Among those with mental" "mental illness were ten times more likely to have a cannabis" "mental illness reporting weekly cannabis"), 16 hits asserted: $various_drugs at 95% ("drug" "drugs"), 7 hits asserted: $various_illegal_drugs at 100% ("illicit drugs"), 1 hits asserted: $youth at 100% ($propaganda_theme5) asserted: $school at 100% ("school" "college" "University"), 16 hits asserted: $aggrandizement at 100% ("experts"), 1 hits

Sentence-By-Sentence Analysis

(2) Beyond potentially lower IQ, teen marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug 8 ....... use, mental health problems, etc .

re: "lower IQ", "problems", "health problems", "mental health problems" - 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: "marijuana use" - "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) ) re: "teen" - Drug war propaganda plays on parental fears for the well being of their kids. If drug users are not jailed, says the prohibitionist, then your children will surely suffer. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) ) re: "marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug 8 ....... use, mental" - 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)

(4) The more dependent the person becomes on marijuana, the more significant the impairment .

re: "impairment" - 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) )

(5) The impairment was significant in five different cognitive areas, especially executive function and processing speed .

re: "impairment" - 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) )

(6) Participants who used cannabis heavily in their teens and continued through adulthood showed a significant drop in their intelligence quotient (IQ) - an average of eight points .

re: "teens" - 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) )

(10) The findings suggest that recreational marijuana use may lead to previously unidentified brain changes and highlight the importance of research aimed at understanding the long-term effects of low to moderate marijuana use on the brain .

re: "marijuana use" - 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) ) re: "lead 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) )

(11) "The study raises a strong challenge to the idea that casual marijuana use isn't associated with bad consequences," Dr .

re: "marijuana use" - The rhetoric of prohibition will assume that "use" and "abuse" are identical. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(12) Hans Breiter, one of the study authors stated.41 o People with mental illness are seven times more likely to use marijuana weekly than people without mental illness according to researchers at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who studied U.S. data .

re: "Addiction" - Prohibition propaganda claims addiction is controlled by prohibition.

re: "mental illness" - 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: "use marijuana" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "times more likely to use" - Some drugs, claims the rhetoric of prohibition, are "gateways" to other, "harder" drugs. (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "marijuana weekly than people without mental", "mental illness are seven times more likely to use marijuana" - Central to the demonizing of cannabis users is the insinuation cannabis "causes" mental illness, or that cannabis prohibition somehow contains or limits mental illness.

(13) Researchers also found that individuals with mental illness were ten times more likely to have a cannabis use disorder .

re: "mental illness" - Prohibitionist propaganda claims that horrible dangers are caused by "drugs." (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis 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: "mental illness were ten times more likely to have a cannabis" - Classic 'Reefer madness' claims cannabis causes (violent) mental illness.

(14) Among those with mental illness reporting weekly cannabis use, rates of use were particularly elevated for those with bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and other substance use disorder.42 o The University of Maryland's School of Public Health released a report in June 2013 that connected student marijuana use and problems with academic retention and performance .

re: "problems", "mental illness" - Drugs, claim the prohibitionist, cause insanity, violence, and terrible sickness. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "Public Health" - 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: "substance use", "cannabis use", "marijuana use" - Any use of an illegal drug is deemed to be "abuse," weasels the propaganda of prohibition. (After all - it is illegal!) (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "mental illness reporting weekly cannabis" - Also, taking cannabis, "MAKES FIENDS OF BOYS IN 30 DAYS"! (Hearst newspapers) http://tinyurl.com/2ern46

(15) The study followed 1,200 college freshmen over a ten year period and found that substance abuse, especially marijuana use, contributed to college students skipping more classes, spending less time studying, earning lower grades, dropping out of college, and being unemployed after college .

re: "substance abuse", "marijuana use", "abuse" - Abusus non tollit usum. (Abuse is no argument against proper use.) -- Latin proverb (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(16) "On average (marijuana use) increases your risk of having academic problems," says Amelia Arria, Director for the Center of Young Adult Health and Development .

re: "marijuana use" - 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) )

(18) It's something to consider."43 o "Nearly one in ten first-year college students at a mid-Atlantic university have a Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) according to a NIDA-funded study of drug use conducted by investigators from the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland."

re: "Substance Abuse", "drug use", "Cannabis Use", "Abuse" - Abusus non tollit usum. (Abuse is no argument against proper use.) -- Latin proverb (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(20) Curie, then the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and experts and scientists from leading mental health organizations joined together in May 2005 to warn parents about the mental health dangers marijuana poses to teens .

re: "dangers" - 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: "Substance Abuse", "Abuse" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "teens", "parents" - Being a prohibitionist means you can never shed too many crocodile tears for the "children". (As you lustily jail or kill their parents for using drugs.) (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) ) re: "Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration" - Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit. -- Bertrand Russell

re: "mental health dangers marijuana" - Also, taking cannabis, "GOADS USERS TO BLOOD-LUST"! (Hearst newspapers) http://tinyurl.com/2ern46

re: "experts" - When dealing with drug abuse, crime... our surrogate parents, the experts, seem to provide easy and fast solutions. (Morris E Chafetz, M.D., "The Tyranny of Experts")

(21) According to several recent studies, marijuana use has been linked with depression and suicidal thoughts, in addition to schizophrenia .

re: "depression", "schizophrenia", "suicidal" - 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 use" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(22) These studies report that weekly marijuana use among teens doubles the risk of developing depression and triples the incidence of suicidal thoughts.47 o Dr .

re: "depression", "suicidal" - drug war rhetoric transforms drugs users into scapegoats -- (Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey) (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "marijuana use" - Any use of an illegal drug is deemed to be "abuse," weasels the propaganda of prohibition. (After all - it is illegal!) (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "teens" - Prohibitionists forever claim that children are corrupted by drugs, and this is why adult users must be punished harshly. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(23) Andrew Campbell, a member of the New South Wales (Australia) Mental Health Review Tribunal, published a study in 2005 which revealed that four out of five individuals with schizophrenia were regular cannabis users when they were teenagers .

re: "regular cannabis users", "users", "cannabis 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: "schizophrenia" - 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 users" - Any use of an illegal drug is deemed to be "abuse," weasels the propaganda of prohibition. (After all - it is illegal!) (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "teenagers" - "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 were regular cannabis" - 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.

MAPInc Bookmarks:

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?252 (Cannabis - Psychosis)
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