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for those of you pro weed--talk to a long time user with a fried brain or see some mri's of long time users---rarely do stoners do just weed--btw--i worked in the drug/alcohol/substance abuse field-----what we really need is more drivers with impaired faculties behind the wheel--or are u pro weed people gonna take away allthe car keys of users
Exactly, and nothing is ever totally benign or immune from being abused... so how should we choose? Yet the "anti-this, that, and the other thing" folks never really address this basic issue.
And BTW, folks with a history of metal instability in their family are probably the last ones I want dreaming up public legislation! Just sayin'...
What's metal instability?
Just sayin'.
By the way, your post is cruel. This sort of snide remark shows true ignorance of the complex issue of what I am sure you meant to say - MENTAL "instability" - ie, mental illness.
Kathryn, your post is quite an eye-opener, & especially timely here in Colorado. I never knew weed could cause such damage. Thanks for the info. You & your family have my sympathies for all you've gone through with your brother.
What d'ya know Kathryn, we have something in common after all!
My brothers symptoms sound somewhat similar to your brothers. He went off to university aged 17, the friends he made in halls of residence (dorms?) seem to have had access to copious amounts of marijuana, and my brother (unbeknownst to the family) spent more time stoned than not during that time. We don't definitively know what his medical diagnosis is because he refuses to acknowledge that there's anything wrong with himself, the psychiatrists that his college friends coerced him into seeing can't speak to us because of Doctor/Patient confidentiality (and my brothers refusal to give the doctors permission to speak to us). If he was a physical danger to himself or others there would be other options open, but he's never threatened suicide and he's never physically attacked anyone.
I was compelled to leave my job (and career) in April and move home to help my parents cope with him, my mother was on the point of leaving my dad because they were in an impossible situation trying to cope with him and both have developed health problems because of it. As parents they couldn't kick him out because he clearly couldn't cope for 2 seconds in the real world, but living with him is an oxy-moron. You can't have a life living with somebody like this. We've had the shame of having the police out because of his behaviour's effect on those around him, but there's nothing they can do because he hasn't physically harmed anyone and he hasn't threatened suicide.
It's probably impossible for me to explain to the uninitiated just how traumatic trying to live with somebody in this state of mind is. The only real term I could use to describe his behaviour would be 'self-righteous indignation', but that phrase is so under-descriptive that it doesn't even come close to capturing it.
As an example, I inadvertently left the toilet seat up once last year when I was home visiting, and my brother went absolutely crazy over it. I heard banging and smashing of things upstairs indicative of somebody in a terrifying fit of rage, he came flying down the stairs with the blood vessels in his eyes so red they looked ready to pop, he was screaming that I was trying to poison him with germs, he made derogatory remarks about me which were egregiously offensive and totally out of proportion to my 'crime' (as he see's it). When my mother backed me up, he refused to speak or even look at her (while living in the same house) for a year and a half, this was her 'punishment' for having failed to discipline me (a 28 year old guy) for having left the toilet seat up.
One of the side effects of his behaviour was that my mother was having difficulty sleeping at night (understandably). However, upon becoming aware of this fact my brother started brandishing it like a weapon. Even though he refused to speak or look at her, he would stride around the house pontificating of how 'lazy' and 'senile' she was, and regularly implied that my mothers increasing health problems were the results of her failure to take enough exercise and eat enough protein. (She's not over-weight and has a more balanced diet than 99% of the population.)
As I'm typing this I'm overtly aware of the fact that I'm not going to be able to explain in words just how horrible he is to be in the same house as. I can't convey the emotions that any normal person feels when confronted by someone who finds fault in absolutely everything and everyone (most of the time without the remotest justification), and who is so irrationally angry and vindictive about it. When he says something particularly cutting, he starts smiling when he realises that its hurt the other persons feelings.
The only way I can maybe express it is by saying that there have been several times that I considered getting a knife from the kitchen, walking up the stairs and stabbing him to death. The amount of pain the murder trial and a life in prison would have caused me and my family, would pale in comparison with the prospect of having to spend the rest of our lives in his company.
In a choice between him having died of a drug overdose or turning into the monster that he has become, his death would have infinitely preferable. At least then we'd have a natural period of grief and a chance to have a life afterwards. We're an extremely caring, loving family, but whatever my brothers condition is, it's too much to cope with. On the one occasion that the police came out, one of the officers was clearly having to fight the urge to leap across the room and attack him, because in the 15 minutes they were speaking, my brother showed such contempt and indignation towards the officer, and was so insulting that it's only natural to want to lash out. After 4 years of him living at home, my parents decided that they would pay £1200/month out of their savings to have him live alone in the one apartment we could find that was to his satisfaction. (He refuses to sign on for benefits.)
He's ruined my career in the short-term (I had to move home, I had no choice, things were beyond desperate.) He's ruined my parents retirement, their health, almost their marriage and in time he will destroy their life savings.
We've spoken at length to his former college friends, and all are of the opinion that the profound change in his personality was a reaction to the marijuana he was taking. He used the drug almost daily, and he was a completely ordinary teenager before he started using it. His symptoms match the scientific literature on drug induced psychosis, and we're fortunate to have a Psychiatrist in the family who (despite not being allowed to give a medical diagnosis to us for professional reasons) has likened my brothers condition to many of his patients who are diagnosed with drug induced psychosis.
I don't have a definite opinion on marijuana's legal status. It clearly is a slim minority who are affected by it in the way my brother has been. Furthermore, by making it illegal when it is such a widely available drug, will inevitably lead to other peoples lives being (at least partially) ruined by criminal records, and I don't like the prospect of that either.
While I'm glad I don't have to make a decision on where marijuana's legal position, I make this post solely so that people don't arrive at the conclusion that marijuana is harmless. For many people it probably is, but for an unknown proportion it will have dire consequences for them and those around them, and there's no way for any individual to know for sure which group they'll fall into.
Go to the ward where they take care of emphysema patients. Virtually all caused by a legal drug. Why don't people cry out to make tobacco illegal? I think we're brainwashed by tobacco interests to consider marijuana, a MINOR health issue, as a scapegoat so we don't look at the bigger issues.
A friend of mine's ex-husband went through something similar. He was always a stoner, and he seemed pretty normal. He lost his mind and became schizo. He tried to cut my friends birth control patch out of her arm. He moved her from a city to a weird country town, beat her in front of their children, tried to brake into a government building, and ended up killing himself when the police came for him.
I'm so sorry about your brother. I know a lot of people my age were excited about marijuana being legal in some states because they can be idiots and get burned out all day for fun. I'm someone who truly believes marijuana should be legal only for medicinal reasons because drugs can actually ruin your life.
Second, you are wasting your breath. NO ONE wants to hear the truth, including those who use marijuana.
See when medical marijuana was first introduced, it was for "medical reasons." Sick people needed their "medicine." Plus, look at the plus side too it: Medical marijuana sellers will be providing much needed tax revenue to the cities.
Well, its now 10+ years later and even left wing Obama has been raiding and shutting down medical marijuana plants. Why? Aghast! They haven't been paying the much talked about revenue in taxes.
However, the pro marijuana crowd never cared about the "medical" uses of marijuana. They still don't. They only want the drug legal, so as a way for them to smoke it, without fear of any legal action.
What happened to your brother, not slamming you is, of course a fluke. However, it does occur. So, if a million of dope smokers can smoke dope and 10 of them this happen too, the rest don't care. They can get stoned out of their minds and not care about the criminal or societal backlashes.
All they care about is getting stoned. And once its legal, and it will be, this is just another stepping stone for legalizing all drugs. That is coming too.
Thanks, everyone, for the excellent feedback so far.
I have a question for those of you who believe that marijuana should be legal. Do you believe that meth should be legal? What about heroin? Why or why not?
Eoin - your story is so familiar that it's uncanny. The more I talk with people, the more common I realize this scenario is.
Here is an interesting article. The percentage of people who become psychotic DOUBLES from 1 percent to 2 percent in those who use marijuana as a teen - even just occasionally. The more regular the usage, the higher that percentage climbs. By psychotic, I don't mean isolated events - I mean mentally ill persistently.
From the article:
Quote:
A new report suggests young adults more vulnerable to psychosis start smoking marijuana at a younger age, an event that could trigger a non-affective psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia.
The report is posted online and will appear in the May print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.[/quote] Marijuana Use Linked to Psychosis | LiveScience
Here's more info:
Quote:
A new report finds alterations in a molecular brain pathway activated by marijuana may contribute to the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Heavy marijuana use, particularly in adolescence, appears to be associated with an increased risk for the later development of schizophrenia, and the course of illness is worse for people with schizophrenia who use marijuana,” said David A. Lewis, M.D., corresponding author of the study.
Expression of the cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R), the site of action of the main chemical ingredient of marijuana, is significantly reduced in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. Activation of CB1R impairs signaling by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an important neurotransmitter essential for core cognitive processes such as working memory.
The use of marijuana in individuals with schizophrenia appears to worsen this deficit in GABA synthesis.
"The Dutch coffee shop policy has come under fresh criticism after the Dutch cities of Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal, located near the Belgian border, said they will close all their shops within two years to combat drug tourism and crime."
Again, no one will care about the true facts. A simple search can provide all the anti marijuana information someone wants. However, they don't want. They want to get stoned and cause society a great deal of harm, without any repercussion. Those are the facts.
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