Carol Forsloff - While Oregon and California are seeking to legalize marijuana for recreational use, mental health researchers have determined that for schizophrenics marijuana can make the mental illness worse.
Dr. Cecile Henquet, an expert in both the study of marijuana use and the psychosis known as schizophrenia, of Maasstrict University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and a team of researchers, looked at a group of 42 individuals who were diagnosed with schizophrenia who were also daily marijuana users and compared these individuals with 38 individuals without mental illness.
The participants in the study were then asked to document their daily activities and their moods twelve times daily for six days.
Results showed that initially schizophrenic patients felt an improved mood and good feelings but several hours later found they had more hallucinations and felt more vulnerable than prior to their taking marijuana.
Researchers believe the chemical compound THC is at the core of the problem when schizophrenics take marijuana and responsible for their having worse symptoms when they take marijuana.
Previous research has demonstrated a greater impact on symptoms associated with schiophrenia to be worsened for those who are at risk for the mental illness.
In this most recent study, the negative symptoms appear within hours after taking marijuana which makes the user want to use more and more of the drug marijuana in order to feel good, and that can lead to abuse of the drug.
Some of this may explain why schizophrenic patients have high rates of marijuana use and also suggests counseling patients against using the drug because of the impact on their symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry.
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