Marijuana and madness

Marijuana and madness
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大麻与疯狂

DOI:
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发表时间:
2011
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
D. D’Souza
D. D’Souza
中科院分区:
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文献类型:
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作者:
D. Castle;R. Murray;D. D’Souza

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我19岁的儿子和他那一代的许多人一样,对大麻并不陌生。然而,伦敦交通系统通常的延误导致我在这本薄薄的精装书到达他的袜子之前翻阅了非常昂贵的书页。我如饥似渴地读着这本学术性但又强迫性的书,就像读一本小说一样,直到它完成才能发行。我饶有兴趣地阅读了最近所有关于大麻消费与某些人精神病发展之间所谓联系的新闻报道,这使得政府对毒品的降级似乎不协调。因此,我预计,这本汇集了所有关于大麻的研究成果的书,会让我儿子感到震惊,因为它的编辑是大麻使用者精神病学研究的领军人物。这本书提出了几点,其中最突出的一点是,大麻的使用与某些人患精神分裂症和其他精神病之间的联系并不完全是决定性的。看来大麻可能是几个危险因素的一个组成部分,这些因素可能导致这种情况。精神分裂症患者的内源性大麻素系统可能存在潜在的功能障碍,但这些变化是疾病病理学的结果还是对外源性大麻素,抗精神病药或其他药物的反应尚不清楚。正如作者所承认的那样,由于复合变量,许多现有的研究都是不确定的,但一种特定的大麻精神病似乎是可能的(通常精神病在药物戒断后会缓解)。给我留下的印象是,大麻在神经科学和其他医学领域是一种非常令人兴奋和未被充分利用的药物,我们只是触及了它的许多好处的表面。未来研究的潜力是巨大的。目前,人们正在开始探索将马兜铃酸用作抗惊厥药、镇痛药、抗抑郁药和抗焦虑药。它在食物摄入和体重调节方面的好处已经众所周知,它在体内的天然存在也需要进一步的研究。我强烈推荐这本书给任何人(除了我自己的儿子和其他像他一样的人,我认为他们不会因为阅读它而被劝阻使用大麻)。它在政治竞技场上引起了争论,并从根本上改变了我自己对大麻使用的看法。我自己的那本书上有厚厚的便利贴,上面潦草地写着我的观察结果,我希望它在未来的许多年里都能成为教学的重要辅助工具。
book as a stocking filler for my 19year-old son who, like many of his generation, is not a stranger to marijuana. However, the usual delays on the London transport system resulted in my thumbing through the very expensive pages of this slim hardbacked book before it reached his stocking. I devoured this academic yet compulsive book as I would a novel, unable to release it until it was finished. I had read with interest all the press coverage in recent times about the supposed links between marijuana consumption and the development of psychosis in some individuals, which made the government’s downgrading of the drug seem incongruous. I therefore anticipated that this compilation of all the available research into the drug would be just the shock that my son required, as its editors are leading lights in the study of the psychiatry of marijuana users. Several points emerge from this book, the salient one being that the links between the use of marijuana and the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses in some individuals are not entirely conclusive. It would appear that marijuana may be a component of several risk factors which may contribute towards such conditions. It is possible that there is a potential dysfunction in the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia sufferers, but whether the changes are the result of the disease pathology or are responses to exogenous cannabinoids, antipsychotics or other medications is as yet unknown. As the authors admit, much of the available research is inconclusive owing to compounding variables, yet a specific cannabis psychosis appears likely (often the psychosis goes into remission following withdrawal of the substance). I was left with the impression that marijuana is a very exciting and underused drug in neuroscience, as well as in other medical areas, and we have only scratched the surface of its many benefits. The potential for future research is enormous. Marijuana’s use as an anticonvulsant, analgesic, antidepressant and anti-anxiety drug is beginning to be explored. Its benefit in food intake and weight regulation are already known, and its natural presence in the body also invites further research. I strongly recommend this book to anyone (except my own son and others like him who I think would not be dissuaded from the use of marijuana by reading it). It raises debate in the political arena and has radically altered my own views of the use of marijuana. My own copy is thick with Post-it notes scribbled with observations, and I anticipate it being a vital aid to teaching for many years to come.