Ah, how quickly my integrity slips away
![marijuana-chess-set[1].jpg](http://trouble.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/marijuana-chess-set%5B1%5D.jpg)
Didn’t I say I wouldn’t do any more self-promotional posts? I lied. The Huffington Post, which I adore, has a little bit o’ Spikol on it today. Check it here.
It’s funny who comes calling after a Times article appears. My psychiatrist jokingly said he had the piece hanging on his refrigerator. I heard from several Oberlin compatriots (go Yeomen!), as well as peers from The Philadelphia School. My high school homies have been silent as the grave (Michael Pritzker, I’m looking at you). Quaker inaction in action.
Seriously, though, we have to go back to business. The White House Office of Drug Policy (speaking of inaction), released IMPORTANT NEWS (worthy of all caps): If you are a teenager suffering from depression, you shouldn’t sit around all day smothering in your own funk getting stoned. We’ve talked about the pot-depression connection before, and marijuana smokers have always written in to say that it’s bunkum. But even if you abstain, as I do, there’s reason to be skeptical. As Sarah Baldauf reports in U.S. News & World Report:
The report, entitled “Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows ‘Self-Medicating’ Could Actually Make Thing Worse,” cites statistics to support its warning message, but experts are quick to note that it should be interpreted with caution. For example, the report’s statement, “One 16-year study showed that individuals who were not depressed and then used marijuana were four times more likely to be depressed at follow-up,” suggests marijuana might cause depression. That data from a 2001 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry was only statistically meaningful after the researchers adjusted for variables including age, gender, and antisocial symptoms, suggesting a weaker relationship between depression and marijuana before adjustments were made.
The more I read statistics and studies, the less I believe them.
Teen Depression Worsened by Marijuana, Government Says
[Image of a marijuana chess set from gadgetgrid.com. Though doesn't playing chess while high seem, uh, difficult?]
liz | 3:34 PM | Uncategorized
Hello. I came as a result of the self-promotional Huffposting.
One of the major problems with studies such as these is that the media vary rarely differentiates between correlation and causation. It is possible that depression leads to marijuana use. Or that marijuana use per se is harmless, but when combined with fear of getting arrested and sent to jail forever it causes depression. Or that marijuana in and of itself doesn’t cause depression, but that getting the munchies, putting on weight and staying at home, playing on the Xbox and not getting any fresh air or sunlight causes depression.
More studies are needed.
Playing chess while high is not difficult for some people. Taking Paxil while playing chess makes me an average player as opposed to a fucking lunatic.
What’s the difference between d4 and e4 for white as an opening move?
My Jewish mother – who now lives in Florida with my father on a golf course – big surprise – mentioned the your website to me after the NYT article.
I used to live around the corner from you and went to FSS. Changed my name though. Do you read these posts? I’m not Michael Priztker. BTW, What ever happened to his sister?
Anyways, keep up the good work.
My brother suffers from Bipolar and had EST. I protested the whole event. He never wants to talk about it, but he is doing really well right now. Thanks for sharing.
Also I work with teenagers – some of whom are diagnosed with mental illness and take several medications. My non-judgmental study of them is the the pot usage does seem to bring on depression. It is a temporary relief and high but a longer term low and mood deregulator. Everyone is different however. Had i not been high through most of “high” school I would have been suicidal.
My sister sent the NYTimes link this morning. I saw the HuffPost blurb tonight. I was down with a cold all weekend, and read Saks’ book, “The Center Will Not Hold” while sipping tea. I’m sure it’s serendipity; I’m medication compliant after all.
Hello, I came here from the Huffington Post after watching your videos. You seem like a very charming person and also very pretty.
Many years ago I was also suffering from depression. I had good reason too. I lost my only son, 14 years old in a drowning accident. It changed my life forever.
I turned to drugs and alcohol to ease my pain. Eventually getting hooked heavily on cocaine. Every thing was fine as long as I was high, it was when I was not high I suffered the most, to the point of suicidal tendencies.
I was eventually hospitalized and I can tell you that the team of “experts” that reviewed me and cared for me, had no idea what came first. The depression or the drugs. Let alone how to correctly diagnose me.
So I for one give very little merit to “experts” opinions or even research. I honestly believe they are clueless.
just my two cents! Kind Regards and best wishes to you!
Marijuana (like coffee) works through the adrenergic system and discontinuing long-term pot use will absolutely increase the likelihood of depression. When I cut back on my Starbuck habit I get lethargic and apathetic too.
Marijuana’s linkage with depression is not a political issue. It is a biochemical one.
Pot made me paranoid as all get out…I can’t stand it. Luckily no one I hang with smokes it.
there may not be a direct correlation between marihauna use and teens but there is one indirect one. it can make you asocial. the obvious couch potato syndrome falls within these parametres, but that is too simple. i led an active social life in my teens but made few connections. marihauna brought me out but still left me isolated. i had a natural predilection but marihauna certainly helped precipate depression. just to show my age, there were no anti-depressant until i was 30 so i certainly was self-medicating.
“Many years ago I was also suffering from depression. I had good reason too. I lost my only son, 14 years old in a drowning accident. It changed my life forever.”
Depression?
I don’t believe that a person who suffers such a lost can be called “depressed”.
Yesterday I talked to a woman who is on psychiatry care because she got “depression” after loosing her father.
Where is the word “mourning”?
Reply: