New Marijuana Study Discovers What Potheads Have Known for Years

Did you know that marijuana can trigger temporary psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and paranoia?

Yep, it's true.

According to a recent study, fifteen healthy volunteers were given small doses of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as well as a placebo. During such time, their brains were scanned.

CBD is the active ingredient in marijuana that relaxes the user, while THC brings on the fun- temporary psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and paranoid delusions.

A placebo is the medical term for faking the patient out through the power of suggestion (and also the name of an amazing rock band from the UK).

"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.

McGuire and his colleagues will present their findings and physical evidence at an international mental health conference in London next week.

What they found: The inferior frontal cortex, which keeps our natural paranoia under control, is being compromised by the THC.

"THC is switching off that regulator," McGuire said.

In addition to their findings, mental health experts will discuss their findings in a connection between cannabis and mental health. According to scientists, marijuana worsens the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenics.

During a different study, doctors at Yale University tested the impact of THC on 150 healthy volunteers and 13 people with stable schizophrenia. After sampling a little THC, almost half the group experienced psychotic symptoms.

The results from those with stable schizophrenia, however, kind of threw the doctors off since they had expected to see the THC provide a relaxing effect. This was in fact, not 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.