"The dangers of hashish: the latest scientific discoveries on cannabis"

This thesis was delivered publicly on September 5th, 2002 in the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacology in Rouen, France.

It can be downloaded by clicking here:

Thesis of Dr Chamayou (in French)
[ PDF : 4,1 Mo ]

22 GOOD THOUGHTS TO BE SUBMITTED TO A PATIENT BY A DOCTOR:

Cannabis:

I - Leads to death of the neurons of the hippocampus – the structure of the brain which is affected by Alzheimer's – and the death of some young cells by apoptosis – or programmed cell death (PCD).

II - Leads to problems of all the types of memory.

III - Leads to a loss of ability to be organized.

IV - Increases by 4 the risk of serious mental disease. In some cases this happens with one use. The problem can occur at any time.

V - Increases by 2.7 the risk having a road accident and is responsible for 20% of all road accidents.

VI - Increases by 3 the risk of violent delinquency.

VII - One cannabis cigarette is equivalent to 7 tobacco cigarettes– because of the tar content and bronchodilatation.

VIII - Alters the expression of 49 genes in the neurons of chromosomes.

IX - Causes some cardiovascular diseases, such as arteritis, cardiac dysrhythmia, heart attack.

X - Causes an increased risk of throat and lung cancers.

XI - Weakens the defenses against germs, cancers, AIDS.

XII - Under the age of 35 there are no cases of throat cancer amongst non cannabis smokers.

XIII - Can lead to flash backs, i.e. being in a drugged state without having smoked drugs, this can happen up to 3 weeks after the last usage, in particular after an emotional reaction, at work or while driving.

XIV - Causes a syndrome that affects the prefrontal lobe, i.e. a dysfunction of the anterior part of the brain, which leads to:
inability to plan ahead (or to manage one's time: the patient is trapped in the present moment, which repeats itself)
inability to cooperate – to interact with others
inability to say no to one's urges
inability to realize that one is unable to plan, cooperate, master oneself. This is called anosognosia or ill awareness of one's own mental functioning

XV - Leads to a syndrome of demotivation, i.e. one loses the will to seek out new activities, which simply leads to inactivity. The patient merely repeats what is familiar to him

XVII - Leads to a tolerance which necessitates increasing the dosage. Leads to a dependency, i.e. one cannot stop taking it for a long time all the while thinking it is one's own choice to take some more. This dependency is physical because it is a dysfunction in the brain that causes it, but it is expressed purely psychologically. When one feels the need, unlike with other drugs, there is no somatic marks, i.e. body symptoms, such as nervosas, palpitations, abdominal pains, sweating, tremor

XVIII - Has unpredictable psychiatric effects over time depending on the individual:

• schizophrenia: can cause, activate or aggravate it
• paranoid ideas: the conviction that everyone is against you and you are innocent, that they are guilty, which leads to an aggressive attitude in order to defend yourself from that illusion
• nervous breakdown – especially with women
• jumping out of a window, falls
• suicide
• panic attacks
• hallucinations
• withdrawn socially
• drop in school results
• academic failure
• loss of interest in everything, things and people.
• locking oneself up and being confused about what is real and what is not, resulting in giving no more importance to an actual person than to a video game character when put in frustrating situations.

XIX - Intolerance to frustration and inability to learn a decrease in the amount of effort applied to situations.

XX - If a rat has his cannabis receptors removed, he can not become addicted to heroin. If a rat is given cannabis, he starts drinking alcohol, whereas without cannabis, he will not drink any.

XXI - Its effects are often not detectable to those close to the patient nor to himself

XXII - It stays in the body for a long time:

• half of 80% of its molecules are eliminated in 15 days ;
• half of 20% remain and are eliminated in 3 months. A complete break of 18 months are needed to be totally clean.