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Friday, January 06, 2012

Marijuana May Both Trigger And Suppress Psychosis

Researchers uncover connections between marijuana and the psychoses of schizophrenia

It’s a familiar experience for most marijuana smokers — that sudden discovery of great meaning, humor or intensity in what they would ordinarily find to be mundane situations and sensations. It’s part of why people seek out marijuana, but this undue attention to what ordinarily seems insignificant is also part of the psychotic experience of schizophrenia— and new research finds that the two main ingredients in marijuana have opposing effects on it.
The study examined 15 normal men who had previously smoked cannabis only a few times. Researchers exposed the men to each of the two most psychoactive ingredients in marijuana — delta-nine tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) and compared their effects to a placebo while the participants performed a mental task.

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