What is the connection between marijuana and schizophrenia?

Hello richard Berryessa,

Marijuana use and schizophrenia:  I'll leave you with this cut-and-paste from the blog on MTV's Web site that accompanied their True Life: I Have Schizophrenia documentary last week.

Ken Duckworth, M.D., the medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) had this to say about the topic, referring to one of the young adults featured in the documentary:

Q: Josh smokes a lot of marijuana. How does smoking marijuana generally affect someone with schizophrenia?

Dr. Duckworth: "Josh smoking marijuana raises his risk for trouble in several ways. Marijuana raises the risk that a person will develop schizophrenia in the first place-one estimate says 10% of people with schizophrenia smoked marijuana heavily before age 15. We also know that people who use marijuana who also have schizophrenia do not do as well when it comes to the important elements of being independent, like holding down a job, maintaining personal relationships, or keeping an apartment. Finally marijuana may make hallucinations worse. Narcotics Anonymous, Smart Recovery and AA are helpful pieces to the puzzle for many people with co-occurring substance issues. Most kids associate using alcohol with normal life and social interaction, so this is a real challenge in treatment for younger people with the illness."

There you have it.  If a person wants to make sure he or she never recovers from schizophrenia, by all means marijuana use will achieve this goal.   If a person would love to develop schizophrenia, heavy marijuana use would certainly be a factor in making this happen.

Sorry to be truthful, that's just the way the cookie crumbles. 

Of course, no one makes these choices consciously, but marijuana is a drug, and drug use is never a good idea.  I knew a guy who smoked pot to the tune of thousands of dollars a year, and while he may not have developed schizophrenia, he couldn't get through daily events, or major occasions, without smoking a bowl first.  Marijuana isn't harmless.  This guy was a daily pot smoker, and his brain was fried.  FRIED.  He was fired from every job he ever held, by the way.  Not a ringing endorsement of the benefits of marijuana use.

Respectfully,

Chris

Mr.Berryessa, I believe I've always had schizophrenia. I also believe it manifested into full blown psychosis because of pot. I started smoking pot at age 13 because my "friends" were all doing it. We smoked before school, at lunch, sometimes between classes and at night. It seemed like I was high all the time. Then one night while out partying I had my first hallucination-voices. 

   The last time I got high was 23 years ago. I hope I never forget that day. Some people I knew turned me on to some weed. Almost immediately my paranoia increased ten fold. The voices were loud as hell. I left the party and was yelling at the top of my lungs as I walked down the city streets.

    The reason I say I don't want to forget that day is because it's a reminder of how damaging marijuana is. I still hear voices to this day. I hear em as I write this.

    I believe smoking pot or any illegal drug is dangerous. I'm paying the price for being stupid, for the rest of my life. They used to say drugs kill. They do. A part of me died because of drugs. I paid the price, now I have to live my life out the best I can inspite of my illness. Some days it's hard as hell, I'm able to maintain a fairly "normal" life. But any day without drugs and alcohol is a day worth living.

Hello richard Berryessa,

My original answer to your question mysteriously disappeared after the upgrades were made to to the Connection site.

I quoted Dr. Ken Duckworth, the NAMI medical director, who posted answers to a blog in response to MTV's documentary, True Life: I Have Schizophrenia.

Here is the question, and his response:

Josh smokes a lot of marijuana. How does smoking marijuana generally affect someone with schizophrenia?

Dr. Duckworth: Josh smoking marijuana raises his risk for trouble in several ways. Marijuana raises the risk that a person will develop schizophrenia in the first place-one estimate says 10% of people with schizophrenia smoked marijuana heavily before age 15. We also know that people who use marijuana who also have schizophrenia do not do as well when it comes to the important elements of being independent, like holding down a job, maintaining personal relationships, or keeping an apartment. Finally marijuana may make hallucinations worse. Narcotics Anonymous, Smart Recovery and AA are helpful pieces to the puzzle for many people with co-occurring substance issues. Most kids associate using alcohol with normal life and social interaction, so this is a real challenge in treatment for younger people with the illness.

To sum up, if you unintentionally wanted to develop schizophrenia, you'd make the choice to smoke marijuana heavily.  If you had schizophrenia, and somehow weren't concerned about your recovery, you'd continue to smoke marijuana.

I understand that some people decide to try drugs; no one is immune from making this choice.  However, marijuana isn't a harmless drug.  I knew a guy whose brain was fried from smoking so much weed, and he couldn't get through any important meetings or events without smoking a bowl first.  By the way, this guy was fired from every jobv he ever had.  Sad, sad.

Respectfully,

Chri