Newsgroup: it.fan.culo
Titolo: Ahia!!!

Dio come sono depresso!!!
Cannabis link to mental illness strengthened  
 
23:01 21 November 02 
 
NewScientist.com news service 
 
The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and
schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new
studies.
The studies provide "little support" for an alternative explanation
- that people with mental illnesses self-medicate with marijuana -
according to Joseph Rey and Christopher Tennant of the University of
Sydney, who have written an editorial on the papers in the British
Medical Journal. 
One of the key conclusions of the research is that people who start
smoking cannabis as adolescents are at the greatest risk of later
developing mental health problems. Another team calculates that
eliminating cannabis use in the UK population could reduce cases of
schizophrenia by 13 per cent.
Until now, say Rey and Tennant, there was "a dearth of reliable
evidence" to support the idea that cannabis use could cause
schizophrenia or depression. That lack of good evidence "has
handicapped the development of rational public health policies,"
according to one of the research groups, led by George Patton at the
Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. 
The works also highlights potential risks associated with using
cannabis as a medicine to ease the symptoms of muscular sclerosis,
for example. 
Pharmacological effect 
Patton's team followed over 1600 Australian school pupils aged 14 to
15 for seven years. Daily cannabis use was associated with a
five-fold increased risk of depression at the age of 20. Weekly use
was linked to a two-fold increase. The regular users were no more
likely to have suffered from depression or anxiety at the start of
the study.
The reason for the link is unclear. Social consequences of frequent
cannabis use include educational failure and unemployment, which
could increase the risk of depression. "However, because the risk
seems confined largely to daily users, the question about a direct
pharmacological effect remains," says Patton. 
In separate research, a team led by Stanley Zammit at the University
of Cardiff, UK, evaluated data on over 50,000 men who had been
Swedish military conscripts in 1969 and1970. This group represents
97 per cent of men aged 18 to 20 in the population at that time.
The new analysis revealed a dose-dependant relationship between the
frequency of cannabis use and schizophrenia. This held true in men
with no psychotic symptoms before they started using cannabis,
suggesting they were not self-medicating.
Genetic factors 
Finally, researchers led by Terrie Moffitt at King's College London,
UK, analysed comprehensive data on over 1000 people born in Dunedin,
New Zealand in 1972 and 1973. 
They found that people who used cannabis by age 15 were four times
as likely to have a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder (a milder
version of schizophrenia) at age 26 than non-users.
 
But when the number of psychotic symptoms at age 11 was controlled
for, this increased risk dropped to become non-significant. This
suggests that people already at greater risk of later developing
mental health problems are also more likely to smoke cannabis. 
The total number of high quality studies on cannabis use and mental
health disorders remains small, stress Rey and Tennant. And it is
still not clear whether cannabis can cause these conditions in
people not predisposed by genetic factors, for example, to develop
them.
"The overall weight of evidence is that occasional use of cannabis
has few harmful effects overall," Zammit's team writes.
"Nevertheless, our results indicate a potentially serious risk to
the mental health of people who use cannabis. Such risks need to be
considered in the current move to liberalise and possibly legalise
the use of cannabis in the UK and other countries."
Journal references: British Medical Journal (vol 325, p1195, p1199,
p1212, p1183) 
 
 
Emma Young
 

 Dio come sono depresso!!!
ma non schizofrenico. quindi che c'entra?
e aggiustati quelle giarrettiere.
	-p-

e aggiustati quelle giarrettiere.
Nahhh se le sfillo si rovinano sulle fibbie degli anfibi!
MMAX