Somehow, cannabis has been an on-going theme of our summer and now news of cannabis and mental illness keep the theme alive.
Apparently there is a link between smoking pot and developing psychosis at a younger age. On an anecdotal level, there is a pretty powerful testimony of the link in a recent story about new therapies for depression. In the context of "deep brain stimulation" therapy (only used in severe cases not responding to treatment), mental health victim Sean Miller recounts the marijuana-mental breakdown link in his own experience:
Miller first became depressed in his early 20s, and then again at 27; the second bout of the disease, he says, occurred after he smoked a single marijuana joint while vacationing in Thailand, and was marked by anxiety and fear and brought about his first thoughts of suicide. In both cases, he was helped by antidepressants, though he experienced sexual side effects that led him to explore alternative therapies like meditation.
The depression resurfaced again at 36 after he smoked marijuana with some friends. "It was the dumbest thing I ever did," he now says. “I couldn’t function.”
I don't actually smoke anything, so I thought "phew," but our summertime theme here continues. We've discussed the risks and benefits of growing, considered becoming entrepreneurs, but we don't care for jail. My mom made a case for going organic; a local law enforcement officer told her there is no benefit to organic in this field. "The people on the other end don't care and you'll get a bigger plant with conventional fertilizer."
As a native Californian, I've always been warned against hiking in parts of northern California in fear of stumbling onto a well-armed farm. We've now been warned about our own little area of the Sierra. Authorities estimate there were sixty plantations in our area this year. Helicopters have been busy moving bundles of pot from the farms to a well-armed truck waiting at our local dump. If you get out a good pair of binoculars or a telescope, you might even notice that six big armed men ride around with those bundles (not that anyone here would spy with a telescope or anything).
Technorati Tags: cannabis, depression, Rebuild from Depression
