The results of a five-year study of adolescents in The Netherlands shows that young people with a certain gene variant are more vulnerable to depression when they smoke pot.
Until now, the link between smoking marijuana and depression was suspected, but evidence was weak. Roy Otten at the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud at Nijmegen University has published the first definitive association between smoking herb and depression, but specifically in young people with a specific genetic variant. He published his work in the journal Addiction Biology.
Otten and his colleagues collected data from 310 adolescents over four years. Each year the kids answered questions about their behaviour and mood. The researchers also tested for a serotonin gene called 5-HTT, which is associated with increased vulnerability to developing depression. Then they also collected data from the group’s younger siblings and saw the same results.
Otten says the results are robust and that he took into consideration other factors that could have contributed to depression, including alcohol use, upbringing, personality and socio-economic status. He also accounted for the possibility that the depression came first, and that the study subjects were self medicating. “In the longer term, that is definitely not the case,” Otten said it a press release.
Stay tuned to find out whether these results will be duplicated in future studies, and whether the same will be true for adults. Perhaps individual genetics are another reason why the effects of smoking marijuana are so unpredictable.
[Science Daily, Addiction Biology]
Images by: Sean Gallup/Getty Images (top) and Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Tim
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 8:47 AMWhat about the predisposition for scitzophrenia. It’s not exactly proper scientific but I know on two people that were pot smokers that seemingly had the condition brought on by pot. Doesn’t happen to everyone but anyone who thinks it’s completely safe is either stupid, deluding themselves or both. It’s just not worth it (coming from someone who has and will never touch the stuff, unless for some medical reason I need it and I’m not genetically unlucky)
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:16 AMI don’t think anyone is advertising that it is completely safe, as a former pot smoker I still have the very strong stance that it should be legal, it’s in fact safer then alcohol and I believe people should be able to have a choice as to which one they would like to use.
Marijuana has a small chance to bring on schizophrenia.
Alcohol KILLS.
Marijuana is not physically addictive.
Alcohol IS.
It’s nothing but stupidity and ignorance that the safer choice is illegal.
James
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 10:36 AMTim, you’re a typical uninformed idiot. I’m a strong advocate for making it legal. I smoked it for many years but havent had any in the last 5 years due to terms of employment.
I’m also a firm believer that you shouldn’t knock anything until you’ve done it. The mere fact that you admit you’ve never touched the stuff simply implies that you don’t have the slightest clue of what you’re talking about. It’s always “someone I know” in these stories. How convenient.
Someone I know is a secret government agent, and you should believe that because I wrote it here.
Nath
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:23 AMHi Matt and James,
I know you guys said you’ve smoked pot for many years, and by the sounds of it you haven’t had any troubles. But working in the legal field (criminal and family) I see a definite link between marijuana smoking and mental issues later in life.
As far as I’m concerned, if you smoke a “decent” amount for an extended period of time (ie, several years) you’re at risk of mental troubles later in life.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:31 AMAnd I agree with you entirely, like I pointed out – smoking marijuana over prolonged periods of time can bring on schizophrenia in a few percent.
But does alcohol not kill brain cells? does alcohol not cause violence? does alcohol not cause physical addiction?
It would be very short sighted of you to say it should be illegal to all of us due to the select few who can develop schizophrenia but alcohol remain legal when it is arguably 10 times worse.
Don’t get me started on tobacco either, which is even worse then alcohol.
There have been enough studies to see marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol, keeping the substance illegal only helps the black market and gives drug dealers something to start on before they make it to hard drugs.
We are supposed to live in a democracy and it’s time things changed, it’s the damn 21st century.
Nath
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:13 PMFair enough. I can say I see your point. I remain concerned that marijuana may have worse impact on mental faculties than alcohol abuse does.
But don’t take me the wrong way – I agree re your points on the dangers of alcohol and so forth. And to that extent I support your stance.
Osiris Fox
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:07 PMI needed to jump in here… firstly, alcohol doesn’t kill brain cells in general, only when heavily and seriously abused. This is the same as saying we have limited brain cells and that we don’t generate news ones, we do. Look it up.
Secondly, people with mental conditions are predisposed to using drugs. End of story.
Tell me, how do they “know” that smoking pot actually causes these mental conditions to arise and had there not been pot smoking the person would have been fine. Did they create two clones with the exact same DNA (spliced with predisposed faulty schitzo or epression genes), grew them up separately in a Trumen style environment so that they both had the exact same experiences, then made the one smoke pot and the other not?
Exactly. These studies always have an agenda whether by the supporters or the rejectors of the subject matter. Stats can always be fudged.
Not everyone want’s to grow up and be a CEO or a politician. Some people just want to cruise along in life and enjoy it.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:17 PM+1
I’d also just like to point out I never said it kills brain cells in general.
Tim
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:48 PMWow nothing like blowing things outta proportion.
@Matt
There are plenty of pot heads claiming its completely safe.
I didn’t say it shoudln’t be legal, i have a big problem with the government telling me what i can and cant do to ones own body. They should make it legal with certain rules, like any health concerns induced by it are your own responsibility pay for it yourself not out of tax money, introduce laws around driving after having used drugs like we do drinking (and up the penalties of both).
I find your blanket statements about alcohol quite hypocritical, and by that statement and james’ reasoning, i should have killed or been killed by now with the amount of alcohol ive consumed.
And frankly if alcohol was only introduced 10 years ago it would probably be illegal as well, but its been common for thousands of years and is ingrained in society.
@James if im an uninformed idiot, what does that make you, you can claim that with your sample size of one there mustn’t be a problem with if because you used to do it ?
So if you cant knock anything till you’ve tried it means you either condone or have committed various crimes (and not just smoking marijuana) ?
All i said was i haven’t had any but i know of 2 people that were possibly affected by it. Yes i know 20 that werent (that i could tell anyway), i also admitted it was exactly a scientific study , but that the circumstantial correlation and anecdotal evidence is more than enough for me not to touch the shit. That for me its just not worth the risk.
—
So just to reiterate, i never said it should be illegal, by all means make it legal, but regulated more tightly than cigarettes and definitely no smoking in public areas cause its bad enough with cigarette smoke, last thing i want is to walk past a bunch of stoners and get a lung full of that shit. People should have the right to inject/inhale whatever they want as long as i don’t have to see/smell/pay for anything to do with it.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:58 PMI understand we are on the same side and I’m sorry if I took your comments the wrong way, but Marijuana has had a much more lengthy and important place in history then Alcohol and by a lot of peoples logic I should have developed schizophrenia by now (I smoked every night for 3 years) but I’m still yet to see a side affect.
Tim
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 3:13 PMNot at all, no one who knows anything about what they are talking about claims that EVERYONE has a negative side effect from marijuana, but those that are genetically predisposed to it seem like it could be induced from marijuana.
James
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 3:35 PMsample size of one? LOL everyone I knew as a teenager and young adult was doing it. It was the thing we did. No one had any problems that you think are rife among the pot smoking community.
Frank
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:31 AMIf the gene 5-HTT allegedly makes you more vulnerable to depression, how can the depression be attributed to JUST pot in this case? Wouldn’t it be a whole variety of external factors?
luke
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:58 PMWeed fan boys always flaming…
Lachlan
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:28 PMHaha. Now there is a different class of fanboys for weed? I just can’t believe you guys.
Andy
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:42 AMThere is a big difference between being ‘sad’ and suffering from depression.
EMH
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:14 AMAndy is absolutely right; as a long-term sufferer of major depression I can vouch for the fact that saddness is nothing in comparison. Depression kills! I tried suicide several times, just to escape the “pain” associated with depression. Quite honestly, I would rather have my legs cut off with a rusty crosscut saw and no anaesthetic than experience depression again. Until you’ve had it you don’t know anything about it. Where did I read that recently?
cam
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 10:09 AMNot only are there some great social and medical arguments but what about the fiscal benefits? Obviously it happens and there is a black market. Tax all the sales = extra profit for govt (we may actually have that surplus in 2013), plus coppers can chase murderers, rapists etc instead.
Adam
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:37 PMIt should be legal.
Osiris Fox
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:12 PMPeople with mental conditions are predisposed to using drugs. End of story.
Tell me, how do they “know” that smoking pot actually causes these mental conditions to arise and had there not been pot smoking the person would have been fine. Did they create two clones with the exact same DNA (spliced with predisposed faulty schitzo or depression genes), grew them up separately in a Trumen style environment so that they both had the exact same experiences, then made the one smoke pot and the other not?
Exactly. These studies always have an agenda whether by the supporters or the rejectors of the subject matter.
People should be allowed to smoke pot if they want to. I do draw the line however with anything that requires a lab to produce or is severely addictive, as in produces serious physical withdrawal.
Jeff
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:29 PMProblem is most already mentally retarded people smoke weed, or people that are likely to become mentally retarded are also the typical person likely to smoke weed…
I think the circle you get into if you smoke weed is worst then the negative effects of the drug. Plus im sick of everyone saying it brings you onto hard drugs… thats bullshit, its your freinds that do that…
I’ve smoked weed on and off since I was 12 and I am 21 now, I’ve never failed at school and I have never lost a job, I currently Work full time as a manager in distribution of electronics’s (SSD’s)
Jeff
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:31 PMBTW I have never ever touched anything esle… its simply unnatural, and I reckon its chemicals 9time out of 10 that will fry someones brain then weed gets blamed for it.
Shazz
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:22 PMAgree with you Jeff, been smoking for years and am a medical student now.
Stigma is going to stick no matter what research says about it, people just blindly believe it is terrible for your health!
Mikey
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:33 PMYes. All these weed fanboys are correct. Years of research and legislation are wrong. Weed is totally safe because it didn’t do anything to them. Their experience is clearly overrides everything that study and reason can tell.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:38 PMWhat studies?
Mind showing your sources? something tells me you’re only getting your information from schools/government/parents which have only told you Marijuana is bad.
Please, provide some evidence before you make a fool of yourself.
Jeff
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:38 PMThis comment has been deemed inappropriate and has been deleted
Buddy
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 2:08 PMYou need to sight your references if you’re going to make calls like that. The reason these ‘fanboys’ are saying what they are saying (whether it be correct or not) is from personal, hands-on experience, which you admit you’ve had none.
I too have smoked pot, everyday for 13 years, and for the last 5 years maybe once a month. I’ve never had any issues. And lived a completely normal work/social life. Most of my friends smoke, and in all of our circles, no one has had schizophrenia.
Its more than likely that pot could exacerbate a predisposition, or some form of genetic abnormality, but to say pot causes schizophrenia, given the anecdotal evidence by the using commenters here, and lack of proven studies is just ignorant. And the fact that despite the number of commenters, it seems like YOU are type of person who has made up their mind and isn’t listening.
Mikey
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:41 PMMatt doesn’t sound like the type of person to listen to anything. But like I said, you don’t need to listen to anyone. You clearly know better. No one can tell you you’re wrong, ever. Remember that as a motto for the rest of your life.
Jeff sounds like a nice guy. I’ll take you up on your offer if you fill said bong with the stickiest icky. Blaze on, you champion you.
Matt
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:54 PMI’ve been wrong many a time, but you sound like the typical ignorant person who has been bought up to believe whatever a large proportion of society believes, you’re what we call a ‘sheep’.
50 years ago when racial segregation was law, you’d be that person who sides with the government because they’re the government, you’d be the one defending these laws because clearly, years of legislation and studies couldn’t be wrong – clearly we’ve reached the pinnacle of humanity for our society at large to have any more faults.
How bout you do some research yourself, instead of blindly saluting the government, because they aren’t even any viable studies that validate Marijuana being criminalized.
Prohibition didn’t work in the early 1900′s on Alcohol, all it did was promote the black market. After 50+ failed years of prohibition on Marijuana which has only increased the black market drug trades, my question is; why are we still continuing down this method? why are we not regulating the substance so children don’t easily get it off the drug dealer who don’t care how old you – rather the pharmacist who requires I.D.
This would create an entirely new job market, provide a new source of tax revenue for the Government and dealing a massive blow to the illegal drug trade.
I used to believe Marijuana was an evil drug, I acknowledged my fault – are you strong enough to acknowledge the Governments?
Shazz
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:28 PMWell said Matt, its time to stop this idiocy. IQ had a good debate about the legalisation of all drugs in Australia, an interesting watch if anyone has a spare hour!
Jeff
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 1:49 PMSeriously, Everything effects people differently… and everything is good in moderation… not saying werid is right or wrong… but I do think it should be legal… Australia should tax the crap outta it, think of the amount of crime that would stop is the price is weed was cheaper…
James
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 3:49 PMyou people need to listen to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and learn a few things.
Jack
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12:09 AMAmazing man, just watched his latest podcast today.
Nath
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:39 PMOh given this thread stills seems to be going, I forgot to mention I worked at TAC for awhile. During a seminar there, a clinic panel neuropsych informed us that there ARE now confirmed links between pot smoking and psychosis.
But, no, I can’t point you to any studies, evidence etc, aside from the word of this particular expert among experts.
Jeff
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:05 PMI have heard that Steve jobs also continued to smoke pot once in a while, and I think we can agree he was pretty switched on?
http://endo.tv/1242/celebrities-who-smoke-weed/steve-jobs-smoked-marijuana
Zackr.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:39 PMThe original prohibition links back to a dispute between the paper and hemp industries, I don’t think we should allow an industrial dispute from the 1920s and the propaganda against cannabis from that era to cloud our judgement over a very contemporary issue. If the argument is now cannabis is illegal because a small section of the community suffers from side effects, this argument can be applied to almost anything in the community. People have nut allergies, why not ban nuts? The logic behind this argument is flawed at best. There is not one, NOT ONE death directly linked to cannabis in recorded history.
Matt
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 4:01 PM+1
glenn
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:00 PMI propose a study into the effects of frequent forum use
“The researchers also tested for a serotonin gene called 5-HTT, which is associated with increased vulnerability to developing depression.”
Macca
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:10 PMPot affects the brain otherwise people wouldn’t smoke it…. affects the brain!
Why compare one bad thing with another…. does that somehow make pot ok if alcohol is worse…. duuuur!
Matt
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 8:33 AMDefinitely not, but should the people not be able to have a choice to use the safer alternative?
anna
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:27 PMHere is an article that I found extremely interesting in which a study shows the percentage or people genetically affected by cannabis psychosis:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4104708.stm
In my experience and observation, this seems about right and proves how some people tout the benefits of it their whole life while others go crazy
anna
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 11:30 PMJames, I love Joe Rogan, and everyone needs to expand their mind and unravel their conditioning. But cannabis is not a benign drug, certainly not for everyone. check the link above. Meditation will take you on the same trip in a life-supporting way. These are the techniques and tools we should embrace to evolve in harmony with our biology