The team explored the impact of cannabis potency in inducing psychosis. They used an MRI technique to look at the white matter of 99 people, 56 of which had reported a first psychotic episode. They found that white matter damage was significantly greater among heavy users of high-potency cannabis compared to occasional or low-potency users.
Dr. Paola Dazzan, reader in neurobiology of psychosis from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, and senior researcher on the study, said in a statement: “We found that frequent use of high potency cannabis significantly affects the structure of white matter fibres in the brain, whether you have psychosis or not. This reflects a sliding scale where the more cannabis you smoke and the higher the potency, the worse the damage will be.”
By high potency I assume they mean skunk, and that skunk use is what they have studied? And by damage I assume they mean reduction white matter volume?
I wouldn’t assume anything - I think what they are saying is that high potency (i.e. high in THC) cannabis really hurts your brain - and yes, that means white matter reduction.
“skunk” doesn’t have a scientific definition - so I think they don’t mean whatever that is. They didn’t so much study the cannabis - as much as they studied the brains of people who developed psychosis and who reported that they had smoked cannabis.
No, thankfully I don’t. Not sure if I have tried skunk but from what I’ve read I don’t think so. On the other hand maybe it’s the same here as in the UK. I don’t know but the stuff I’ve been smoking is not the most potent stuff there is. Trying to quit and I’m almost there BTW.
It just means dank, piff, fire, chronic, etc… It’s slang for “good weed” they use in the uk. I used to be a marijuana enthusiast so I know. Now I have periods of doing it every other night, then periods of once a week. It’s not a mind expanding psychedelic experience like it used to be anymore. Hard to stop anything if you enjoy it
When I got paranoid from weed I didn’t smoke for over a year, then when I increased antipsychotics I stopped getting paranoid and started again
My Dad has BPD—he smoked for 30 years-it helped with his anxiety. Now, he has been in a deep depression and the weed is not working for him anymore. My sisters are jetting back and forth to NJ to stay with him until he gets through this. He is now on Lexipro.
I call what he smoked skunk-because that is what it smelled like. The stuff we used to smoke when I was a kid never smelled like that.
My ex used to smoke and stopped when he starting getting paranoid, or didn`t feel right anymore. He has MS now.
I never enjoyed the high of marijuana that much, though I smoked a fair amount of it just to be sociable. It makes me paranoid. It gives me dry mouth. It makes me think things I don’t want to think. Judging from my personal experience, I can believe that marijuana damages the brain. I always felt fuzzy for a few days after smoking it. I think this effect does lessen with subsequent use. In some ways marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, in that marijuana doesn’t incapacitate like alcohol does. Alcohol incapacitates worse than any drug I know. I do love alcohol, God help me.
I haven’t smoked weed since 2001. I got some laced with PCP, and I started tripping. BAD!! Never again. To hell with weed. It has no place in my life, and never played a big part in the first place. Sometimes I find it shocking how many schizophrenics will smoke weed anyway, usually knowing (but not caring) that it is harmful.
