Back to Map

MAPTalk-Digest Monday, December 12 2005 Volume 05 : Number 149

001 LTE: Personal appeal for letters of support
    From: "Larry Seguin" <>
002 RE: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk
    From: "Kevin Fansler" <>
003 Re: MAP: RE: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk
    From: Doug Snead <>


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subj: 001 LTE: Personal appeal for letters of support
From: "Larry Seguin" <>
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 12:35:05 -0500

(sorry if duped, don't know where frist copy went!)

Amazing how one principal can have a teachers car searched for pot while
another wouldn't report a rape.

Larry
- --------------------------------------------------------------

Pubdate: Fri 3 June 2005
Source: Ogdensburg Journal/Advance News (NY)
Copyright: 2005 Johnson Newspaper Corp.
Contact:: P.O. box 409 Ogdensburg NY 13669
Website: http://www.ogd.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/689
Author: Associated Press

SEXUAL ASSAULT

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two students were charged Wednesday with sexually
assaulting a mentally disabled girl in a high school auditorium. The former
principal was charged with failing to notify police.

The case generated criticism because school officials did not immediately
report the allegations to police and said they feared negative media
attention if they did.

The 16-year-old girl told a teacher at Mifflin High School that she had been
dragged into the auditorium March 9 and forced to perform oral sex on at
least two boys as other students watched and one boy videotaped.

------------------------------

Subj: 002 RE: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk
From: "Kevin Fansler" <>
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:36:00 -0500

This is junk science. The heavy marijuana users may be using heavily because
they are already impaired. Good scientific method would require that you
split up a large number of non-impaired adolescents into two groups and then
administer marijuana to one group and watch for changes.

I wonder if this study was sponsored by NIDA.

Sincerely,
Kevin Fansler

- -----Original Message-----
From:  []On Behalf Of
Beth Wehrman
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:26 AM
To: 
Subject: MAP: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk

It's linked to abnormalities in the adolescent brain, researchers say

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy marijuana use may
increase the risk of
<http://www.healthscout.com/ency/article/000928.htm>schizophrenia in
adolescents predisposed to the brain disorder, according to a new U.S.
study.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City
used a brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
to study the brains of 12 younger and 12 older healthy male
adolescents; 11 adolescents with schizophrenia and 17 matched
controls; 15 adolescent schizophrenia patients who smoked marijuana
and 17 matched controls; and 15 marijuana smokers and 15 non-drug users.

They found repeated marijuana use to be associated with abnormalities
in the development of a specific language/auditory pathway in the brain.

"Because this language/auditory pathway continues to develop during
adolescence, it is most susceptible to the neurotoxins introduced
into the body through marijuana use," researcher Dr. Manzar Ashtari,
an associate professor of radiology and psychiatry, said in a
prepared statement.

The study found no abnormal developmental changes in this language
pathway in the brains of the healthy adolescents, but the researchers
did detect abnormalities in the brains of both marijuana users and
schizophrenia patients.

"The finding suggest that in addition to interfering with normal
brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may also lead
to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are
genetically predisposed to the disorder," co-principal investigator
Dr. Sanjiv Kumra, an assistant professor of psychiatry, said in a
prepared statement.

The study authors said more research is needed to determine whether
these brain changes are temporary or permanent.

The findings were presented Wednesday at the Radiological Society of
America annual meeting, in Chicago.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about
schizophrenia (www.nimh.nih.gov).

------------------------------

Subj: 003 Re: MAP: RE: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk
From: Doug Snead <>
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:42:36 -0800 (PST)

It gets even sillier. There exists no biological diagnostic
test that indicates "schizophrenia".  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Diagnostic_issues_and_contr

"[T]here is no single abnormality in brain structure or
function that is pathognomonic for schizophrenia" and therefore
"we do not yet have a specific diagnostic test."
(an admission even E. Fuller Torrey makes) 
http://www.reason.com/0505/cr.js.thomas.shtml

In these breathless reports of a pot-smoking schizophrenia gun,
it is easy to overlook the fact that there is no specific
biological diagnostic test that indicates the presence or
absence of "schizophrenia". The reports assume that such a
diagnostic test for schizophrenia exists.

The (prohibition-financed) "Researchers" at Albert Einstein
"discovered" a biological diagnostic test for schizophrenia?
They did? I would think THAT'S the big news: the discovery of
an "abnormality in brain structure or function that is
pathognomonic for schizophrenia"!  So, that's another big hole
in their story. 

Schizophrenia is, basically, "crazy" talk. For people in
government, vocal disagreement with government is "crazy",
almost by definition. Thus, the temptation to define talk that
government doesn't like as "crazy" is just too great to be
resisted. 

We've seen it before with Soviet dissidents who were Haldol-ed
till they twitched, we see it in the Chinese government
treatment of prople who practice the Falun Gong religion. The
U.S. government has called people who use cannabis insane for
almost a century, and they are spending billions to prove that
it is so.

- --- Kevin Fansler <> wrote:

> This is junk science. The heavy marijuana users may be using
> heavily because
> they are already impaired. Good scientific method would
> require that you
> split up a large number of non-impaired adolescents into two
> groups and then
> administer marijuana to one group and watch for changes.
> 
> I wonder if this study was sponsored by NIDA.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Kevin Fansler
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> []On Behalf Of
> Beth Wehrman
> Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:26 AM
> To: 
> Subject: MAP: Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia
> Risk
> 
> It's linked to abnormalities in the adolescent brain,
> researchers say
> 
> WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy marijuana use
> may
> increase the risk of
>
<http://www.healthscout.com/ency/article/000928.htm>schizophrenia
> in
> adolescents predisposed to the brain disorder, according to a
> new U.S.
> study.
> 
> Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New
> York City
> used a brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor
> imaging (DTI)
> to study the brains of 12 younger and 12 older healthy male
> adolescents; 11 adolescents with schizophrenia and 17 matched
> controls; 15 adolescent schizophrenia patients who smoked
> marijuana
> and 17 matched controls; and 15 marijuana smokers and 15
> non-drug users.
> 
> They found repeated marijuana use to be associated with
> abnormalities
> in the development of a specific language/auditory pathway in
> the brain.
> 
> "Because this language/auditory pathway continues to develop
> during
> adolescence, it is most susceptible to the neurotoxins
> introduced
> into the body through marijuana use," researcher Dr. Manzar
> Ashtari,
> an associate professor of radiology and psychiatry, said in a
> prepared statement.
> 
> The study found no abnormal developmental changes in this
> language
> pathway in the brains of the healthy adolescents, but the
> researchers
> did detect abnormalities in the brains of both marijuana
> users and
> schizophrenia patients.
> 
> "The finding suggest that in addition to interfering with
> normal
> brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may
> also lead
> to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are
> genetically predisposed to the disorder," co-principal
> investigator
> Dr. Sanjiv Kumra, an assistant professor of psychiatry, said
> in a
> prepared statement.
> 
> The study authors said more research is needed to determine
> whether
> these brain changes are temporary or permanent.
> 
> The findings were presented Wednesday at the Radiological
> Society of
> America annual meeting, in Chicago.
> 
> More information
> 
> The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about
> schizophrenia (www.nimh.nih.gov).
> 
> 

Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

------------------------------

End of MAPTalk-Digest V05 #149
******************************

Mark Greer ()         ___ ___     _ _  _ _
Media Awareness Project              /' _ ` _ `\ /'_`)('_`\
P. O. Box 651                        | ( ) ( ) |( (_| || (_) )
Porterville, CA 93258                (_) (_) (_) \__,_)| ,__/
(800) 266-5759                                         | |
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/                      (_)

HomeBulletin BoardChat RoomsDrug LinksDrug News
Mailing ListsMedia EmailMedia LinksLettersSearch