WELL, WELL, WELL

Mental Illness Medications Go To Pot

Why do we sneeze at herbal and vitamin solutions to what ails us and
tend not to fear synthetic medicines, even though the latter cause
more injuries every year by far?

The mentally ill die an average of 25 years earlier than the rest of
us, but most of us quickly dismiss this disparity as something to do
with their mental illness rather something to do with, say, the
medications they are being treated with-even though these medications
are in many cases are known to cause, among other things, obesity and
diabetes. I'm not urging those suffering from mental illnesses to go
off medication that is working well, but I am advocating looking
beyond developing yet another new drug to addressing this problem.

And, speaking of drugs and mental illness, most reporting on marijuana
is actively slanted to perpetuate fear around that medicine, eagerly
reporting it has been linked to mental illness. Our federal government
plans to amplify their anti-drug message and emphasize that there are
no safe amounts or safe drugs-except, of course, those that are patentable.

And while it is true that there is some risk associated with marijuana
use in teens (who are, it is worth mentioning, going to be least
likely to hear the voice of caution), there is more to the story.

The association between marijuana use and mental illness is tiny and
one that definitely doesn't indicate a cause-and-effect relationship.
The truth is that those more prone to mental illness are also more
prone to using marijuana (or alcohol, for that matter) to take the
edge off symptoms, which alone is enough to create a
correlation.

And though self-medication is something to watch for, it isn't even
remotely true that all users are prone to mental illness-there are
plenty of depressives who'd never, ever, not over their almost-dead
bodies use marijuana, and plenty of regular pot smokers who are
anything but prone to mental instability.

Then there is a surprising German study that showed marijuana in fact
improved a number of cognitive functions in test subjects including
both schizophrenic patients and controls. And though scientists know
that cannabinoids, the family of chemicals to which THC belongs, are
also produced by the body and have been shown to reduce skin allergies
in the lab, and to protect against neurological diseases such as
multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's, they are quick to caution us that
until tests have been repeated on humans we needn't get excited.

Some already are excited, though, and are reporting reduced allergic
responses that extend even to asthma, claiming THC is more effective
as a bronchodilator than prescription ones-faster, easier to regulate
the exact required dose, and without the side effects of racing heart,
headaches or excessive bronchial dilation that can happen with
prescription ones.

It's obvious that it's never ever as black and white as those
interested in prohibition would have us believe.

And the facts on pharmaceuticals meant to address mental illness can
be disheartening, to put it mildly. The commonly used antidepressant
Paxil has been found-in studies left unpublished prior to approval and
marketing-to carry a substantial risk of suicide in teens and
children. These same studies also found it no more effective than a
placebo in treating teen depression. And though Paxil and its
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor cousins are generally assumed
to be safe with adult use, they are only moderately effective here,
too, and actually not all that safe, either-not unless you call a
more-than-six-fold increase in suicide safe, which was the result of
testing the real thing versus a placebo in at least one study.

Finding ourselves in that bleak space between the rock and the hard
place of no great options when we're already depressed is probably the
last thing we need. Oh, for a magic wand-or an herbal remedy powerful
enough to do the trick.