Misinformation by Above The Influence

I started to write a post poking at the side effects of marijuana and comparing them to other drugs (you know, you can overdose on Tylenol, but not weed).

I thought to myself “I bet that site on all those commercials makes a good case against marijuana use.” So I head to abovetheinfluence.com to research what they have to say.

Sigh. Now my post is on hold while I talk about misinformation.

It seems that a major issue with educating others about the exponentially lower risks associated with marijuana use as compared to others is that we have to contend with “experts” who spread poor information.

Now, they aren’t coming out with lies straight up; rather, they are twisting words and adding opinions to their “facts” so as to fit their needs.

Look at this partial list of side effects taken from their marijuana page.

• Impaired judgment and motor coordination
• Shortened attention span and distractibility
• Anxiety and panic attacks
• Increased heart rate
• Increased risk of heart attack
• Increased risk for schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals
• Impaired judgment
• Problems with memory and learning
• Lowered motivation
• Decreased alertness and coordination
• Addiction

Most of these, if you really think about them, are pretty harmless. I mean, you know what else will increase your heart rate? Jogging. You should stop doing that.

However, the one about “anxiety and panic attacks” and “Increased risk for schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals” really caught my attention. Not because the wording is a little vague and subjective (”…in vulnerable individuals”), but because these are pretty serious side effects.

Above the Influence was kind enough to cite their sources. As such, I thought it appropriate to look into them. This is what prompted the abrupt change in my tongue and cheek post.

Elusive Data
Before we continue, you have to be very careful with taking the results of any study, either for or against marijuana use for a few reasons. First, no research is 100% accurate. There are always problems with participation.

You should also be mindful of the many variables involved in studies relating to the mental state of the populus, especially in such social drugs as marijuana, alcohol and tobacco. There are simply so many factors that come into play that no study can take into account.

Most importantly, very few studies are conducted simply for the truth anymore. More often, they are the result of an initiative put forth by a company with something to gain. This is true for either side of any argument. As such, they will usually nitpick the information gathered to fit the needs of an argument. It’s sad, but that’s the truth.

That being said, these studies do help us gleam just a bit of information, and are often handled and managed by people smarter than me.

I’m not saying you should ignore these types of studies, but that you should take a hard look before using them to back a strong statement.

Back to my post.

The first study I looked at was “Cannabis use and mental health in young people: cohort study.”

I’m going to try to keep my thoughts in line on this post, but the information is all over the place. Please stick with me.

This study’s objective was:

To determine whether cannabis use in adolescence predisposes to higher rates of depression and anxiety in young adulthood.

The results were:

Some 60% of participants had used cannabis by the age of 20; 7% were daily users at that point. Daily use in young women was associated with an over fivefold increase in the odds of reporting a state of depression and anxiety after adjustment for intercurrent use of other substances (odds ratio 5.6, 95% confidence interval 2.6 to 12). Weekly or more frequent cannabis use in teenagers predicted an approximately twofold increase in risk for later depression and anxiety (1.9, 1.1 to 3.3) after adjustment for potential baseline confounders. In contrast, depression and anxiety in teenagers predicted neither later weekly nor daily cannabis use.

And the conclusion:

Frequent cannabis use in teenage girls predicts later depression and anxiety, with daily users carrying the highest risk. Given recent increasing levels of cannabis use, measures to reduce frequent and heavy recreational use seem warranted.

Before we continue, let’s make sure we see the numbers correctly.

• 1601 people participated.
• 60% had used cannibis before (apprx. 960)
• 7% of that were daily users (apprx. 67 people)

This is where things get funny. We are talking about 67 people out of 1601 that use daily. That’s 4%.  Throughout the study, we don’t see numbers as much as we see vague statements like “frequent” or “most.” I wish they would have been a little more strict with the use of numbers as opposed to such words.

The study also seems to place emphasis on women with statements like:

A strong association between daily use of cannabis and depression and anxiety in young women persists after adjustment for intercurrent use of other substances

and

Frequent cannabis use in teenage girls predicts later depression and anxiety, with daily users carrying the highest risk.

We know that women are more prone to depression than men anyway. (Read this for more info on that).

We also “know” that:

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.

6.7%. That’s more than the daily users in our study in question. Sure, these numbers are from different contenents, and from different companies, but at least we are starting to see more of a truthful outlook.

By the end of the study we see statements like (emphasis is mine):

Possible explanations for the high degree of depression and anxiety found in young women who used cannabis often include underlying characteristics that predispose to both anxiety and depression, self medication of pre-existing depressive symptoms, and an adverse effect of cannabis on mental health. The association with cannabis use persisted after adjustment for concurrent use of alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit substances as well as indices of family disadvantage—findings consistent with a more direct relation. We considered self medication with cannabis but found no prospective relation between depression and anxiety in adolescence and later frequent cannabis use, consistent with an earlier report.

and

Cannabis use in young people remains a controversial area, and absence of good data has handicapped the development of rational public health policies. These findings contribute to evidence that frequent cannabis use may have a deleterious effect on mental health beyond a risk for psychotic symptoms. Strategies to reduce frequent use of cannabis might reduce the level of mental disorders in young people.

So, after reading through all of this, and attempting to understand as much as I can (I don’t pretend to completely do so), I feel that:

• The numbers in regular users are pretty low, especially if we are going to start talking about the number of people inflicted with depression.
• Because depression is more prevalent in women than men, this study seemed a little inconclusive with those statements; which was further promoted with words like “may” and “might.”

Hell, read it for yourself. It all seemed a bit inconclusive to me. Perfect for use in an agenda.

The next study I looked at was “Cannabis Use and Age at Onset of Schizophrenia.” Keep in mind that this is the source cited for the statement by Above The Influence:

Increased risk for schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals

The objective of this study:

The purpose of the study was to assess the independent influences of gender and cannabis use on milestones of early course in schizophrenia.

Read that carefully. Something is already amiss.

Method of study:

In this population-based, first-contact incidence study conducted in The Hague, the Netherlands, patients (N=133) were interviewed with the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History, and key informants were interviewed with the Instrument for the Retrospective Assessment of the Onset of Schizophrenia. Milestones of early course were 1) first social and/or occupational dysfunction, 2) first psychotic episode, and 3) first negative symptoms.

Wait, we are studying the onset of Schizophrenia, as it related to the first episode? We are then tying that into marijuana use? I thought we were finding out if marijuana induced the actual breakdown. Hmmm…must be my mistake.

Results:

Male patients were significantly younger than female patients at first social and/or occupational dysfunction, first psychotic episode, and first negative symptoms. Cannabis-using patients were significantly younger at these milestones than were patients who did not use cannabis. Multivariate analyses showed that cannabis use, but not gender, made an independent contribution to the prediction of age at first psychotic episode: male cannabis users were a mean of 6.9 years younger at illness onset than male nonusers. In contrast, age at first social and/or occupational dysfunction and the risk of developing negative symptoms before the first contact with a physician for treatment of possible psychotic disorder were predicted by gender, but not by cannabis use.

I see.

And the conclussion:

The results indicate a strong association between use of cannabis and earlier age at first psychotic episode in male schizophrenia patients. Additional studies examining this possibly causal relationship are needed.

Wait a minute. I think you should read that one more time. So it’s not that marijuana causes Schizophrenia, but that those who suffered from the illness suffered their first psychotic episode earlier?

And at the end of all of it, we get:

…Additional studies examining this possibly causal relationship are needed.

Possibly casual? OK, I’m done with that. It’s obvious I’m going to be reading a lot of studies in my small quest for weed knowledge, so I better learn to understand them a little better.

Keep your wits about you friends. If you are ever to have a productive conversation about the legalization of marijuana, you will be up against studies like these.

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