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Why do you insist the negative (which is based on studies sweetie) is the absolute truth?

I am saying that I have seen people who have been diagnosed with drug induced psychosis after smoking pot, whether you have the DSM IV is none of my concern. The information is there. Is there scientific evidence to satisfy you? Probably not, but as I already explained, upon drug cessation, the psychosis disappeared in at least 4 cases that I personally know of. That is proof enough for me ;)

You seemed pretty positive in your assertion that smoking pot CANNOT cause psychosis, I simply wondered what you based such a certain statement on

I have also worked at a jail and have no idea what you are talking about as far as drug treatment being an alternative to incarceration in 90% of cases... what are you backing up those statements with? I see no citation...

New findings on marijuana's damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors say.

British doctors took brain scans of 15 healthy volunteers given small doses of two of the active ingredients of cannabis, as well as a placebo.

One compound, cannabidiol, or CBD, made people more relaxed. But even small doses of another component, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produced temporary psychotic symptoms in people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors said.

The results, to be presented at an international mental health conference in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, provides physical evidence of the drug's damaging influence on the human brain.

"We've long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works," said Dr. Philip McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King's College, London.

In analyzing MRI scans of the study's subjects, McGuire and his colleagues found that THC interfered with activity in the inferior frontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with paranoia.

"THC is switching off that regulator," McGuire said, effectively unleashing the paranoia usually kept under control by the frontal cortex.

In another study being presented at the conference, a two-day gathering of mental health experts discussing the connections between cannabis and mental health, scientists found that marijuana worsens psychotic symptoms of schizophrenics.

Doctors at Yale University in the U.S. tested the impact of THC on 150 healthy volunteers and 13 people with stable schizophrenia. Nearly half of the healthy subjects experienced psychotic symptoms when given the drug.

While the doctors expected to see marijuana improve the conditions of their schizophrenic subjects — since their patients reported that the drug calmed them — they found that the reverse was true.

"I was surprised by the results," said Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University's School of Medicine. "In practice, we found that cannabis is very bad for people with schizophrenia," he said.

While D'Souza had intended to study marijuana's impact on schizophrenics in more patients, the study was stopped prematurely because the impact was so pronounced that it would have been unethical to test it on more people with schizophrenia.

"One of the great puzzles is why people with schizophrenia keep taking the stuff when it makes the paranoia worse," said Dr. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at King's College.

Experts theorized that schizophrenics may mistakenly judge the drug's pleasurable effects to outweigh any negatives.

Understanding how marijuana affects the brain may ultimately lead experts to a better understanding of mental health in general.

"We don't know the basis of paranoia or anxiety," said McGuire.

"It is possible that we could use cannabis in controlled studies to understand psychoses better," he said. McGuire theorized that could one day lead to specific drugs targeting the responsible regions of the brain.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/01/health/main2746434.shtml
Any comments?

ACUTE SYMPTOMS OF CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS
International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)
Often the combination of symptoms makes one suspicious that schizophrenia is present but at the same time there is an affective component. There may be the suspicion that the condition, either in part of whole, is feigned for reasons that are unclear because the pattern of symptoms do not fall easily into the usual criteria for psychosis. Drug taking is often denied, or the amount that is admitted by the patient is so little that one cannot say that this accounts for the current symptoms. Worse still, patients may not even consider Cannabis as an illicit or dangerous drug and so do not mention using it. Hallucinations are vague and delusions may be transitory with little in the way of thought disorder. There is often a lack of volition and a history of gradually deteriorating social ability and contact with others, including significant others. This history will often be verified by relatives and close friends who may be either completely ignorant of the drug taking, or confirm that there has been some in the past but believe that there has been little drug taking recently. There is often a depressive component with suicide attempts in the past but nothing recent or, if there is, then they are only ineffectual pleas for help. The person has usually lost his or her job some months or weeks before due to their poor performance at work. There is often very poor memory and concentration, which may be marked at the time of presentation. Paranoid delusions may be present and quite severe which can be the most alarming psychotic feature and result in hospital admission. If confronted with aggressive and authoritarian staff, who indicate verbally or non-verbally, that they do not believe the patient, the patient may become violent or simply leave against medical advice. There is a slow and gradual effect of cannabis and the symptoms continue to worsen for some time after the person stops using it. Thus by the time of presentation the person may be so disorganised and confused that they can’t even arrange their next “cone” or “joint”. Over the following few days the symptoms ease quickly. The improvement is easily credited to the neuroleptics and/or the antidepressants, which may in fact have contributed to the improvement. Symptoms such as the paranoia, hallucinations and depression fade until the patient is allowed to go on leave from the hospital and, a worsening of the symptoms may follow this. More often than not the nursing staff are the first to become suspicious that drugs have been taken when the patient is on leave from the hospital.

It could even be that the drug screen only indicated small dose drug taking or even absent. The International Classification of Disease indicates the following symptoms due to Cannabis.

“There must be dysfunctional behaviour, as evidenced by at least one at of the following:

(1) Apathy and sedation

(2) Disinhibition

(3) Psychomotor retardation

(4) Impaired attention

(5) Impaired judgement

(6) Interference with personal functioning.

C. At least one of the following signs must be present:

(1) Drowsiness

(2) Slurred speech

(3) Pupillary constriction (except in anoxia from severe overdose, when pupillary dilatation occurs)

(4) Decreased level of consciousness (e.g. Stupor, coma)

F12.0 Acute intoxication due to use of cannabinoids F12.0 DCR-10
A. The general criteria for acute intoxication (F1x.0) must be met.

B. There must be dysfunctional behaviour or perceptual disturbances including at least one at least one of the following:

(1) Euphoria and disinhibition

(2) Anxiety or agitation

(3) Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation

(4) Temporal slowing (a sense that time is passing very slowly, and/or the person is experiencing a rapid flow of ideas)

(5) Impaired judgement

(6) Impaired attention

(7) Impaired reaction time

(8) Auditory, visual or tactile illusions

(9) Hallucinations, with preserved orientation

(l0) depersonalization

(11) derealization

(12) Interference with personal functioning

increased appetite
dry mouth
conjunctival injection
tachycardia.”
[3] DSM IV also has similar but less complete information under the heading of Cannabis Induced Psychotic Disorder and refers the reader to a general description of “ Sunstance­Induced Psychotic Disorder”. That is the difference in the phenomenology of Cannabis Psychosis and other substance induced psychosis is not made, however this is now rather dated being 1994 when published.[4]

It can be seen from this that the range of symptoms is quite extensive and not confined to the core symptoms mentioned at the beginning.

CHRONIC SYMPTOMS OF CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS
Patients are left with the well-recognised and permanent symptoms of memory loss, apathy, loss of motivation and, paranoid ideation. These symptoms known as “ the Amotivational Syndrome” in the past are usually permanent.[5] If Cannabis using resumes then the acute symptoms redevelop. The chronic state can also be arrived at without a preceding psychotic episode. After Cannabis started to be widely used about 20 years ago, for permanent damage to occur it was felt by some that Cannabis had to be heavily used over at least three years [6]. However, there is accumulating evidence that smaller amount will do damage also and in animals “ deficits on tasks dependent on frontal lobe function have been reported in cannabis users” [7]. It is very difficult to conduct research in this area, as it is not acceptable to harm humans by doing trials with damaging substances such as Cannabis. However there is accumulating evidence of the psychological consequences of using Cannabis [8]. It is logical that to get the permanent “ Amotivational Syndrome” small amounts to damage have to accumulate incrementally. All this is in addition to the recognised danger of a recurrence of a pre-existing illness, such as Schizophrenia or Manic-depressive disorder. There are suggestions that Cannabis “ caused schizophrenia in young people and (or) enhanced the symptoms, especially in young people poorly able to cope with stress or in whom the antipsychotic therapy was unsuccessful”. [9] Caspari found “patients with previous cannabis abuse had significantly more rehospitalizations, tended to worse psychosocial functioning, and scored significantly higher on the psychopathological syndromes "thought disturbance" (BPRS) and "hostility" (AMDP). These results confirm the major impact of cannabis abuse on the long-term outcome of schizophrenic patients”

http://www.priory.com/psych/cannabis.htm
All this did was confirm what I already knew.

I still say that psychosis is not caused by pot alone.

I like to look at this point more from a Sociologists point of view. Are there not kids packing guns to school nowadays, gangs, other issues that we did not have to deal with as children. Are these people overall happy with themselves? Most people dislike something about their appearance and society in general has become more critical of that.

Also I would like to ask Sassyaquarius. When were drug tests, and bloodwork analysts last updated to include some of the new drugs that are out there today?

Also I would like to hear what a psychiatrist has to say on your claims. Obviously you work with them so ask their opinion, let me know.....sincerely I would like to.

Also is it hard enough to acknowledge that I am not a psychotic? I smoke pot on a semi regular basis and would always choose it over alcohol.

Also I would like to hear what a psychiatrist has to say on your claims.

have you ever read thomas szasz?? try him, his books might enlighten you