Is anyone interested in the epidemiology of marijuana abuse and dependence?

[Taylor M]

Lately I've been pretty bored with my work. I am a manager at a small academic survey research firm, and what we work on is pretty market driven. It's good, worthwhile research but it's usually low budget, local, and it's very rarely on the topics that I am most interested in. Variety is good, but even that can get tiring if you have no choice in what you're doing.

I've been feeling the urge to write about something I really care about more and moreover the pat few months. I've started preliminary work on a project, and I have no idea whatsoever where it will end up. It could be a conference paper, a journal article, or a graduate thesis. I just know at this point I want to write something on the topic, and I should start with basic descriptives first.

The data I want to work with is from a study called The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, or NSDUH. There is already a report written on the latest available data (2006), but as large as it is it leaves plenty of room for academic research. In the area of marijuana abuse or dependence it lists one prevalence for both, and there is not much descriptive information on who these people are. I've looked for prior articles by SAMHSA and others but there's not much there. I think that's a damn shame, because this is top-class, cutting edge data. US taxpayers pay about 10 billion US dollars a decade for this data, and while it is used by the government far, far too few people in academia work on it. It's free, anybody can download it and work on it if they have the skills and patience.

I'd like to write a short report in the kind of detail that this data deserves. I'd go over various risk factors, demographics, and health out comes, along with some probably conservative estimates of how much marijuana is purchased. I'd like to post here because I don't really have an outlet, and because if I did I'd need to do that and then take it a step further. I think if I just post it to some other, more general place I'd get drowned in a sea of potheads who have bought into pro-legalization propaganda. I've posted my opinions elsewhere and had my own struggle with marijuana flat out denied, belittled and minimized, and I don't need that while I'm trying to just get this stuff out! I need to run it past a friendly audience, and I was wondering if there was any interest here.

The latest NSDUH report is here:
http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduhLatest.htm

Data is here for download or analysis online:
http://webapp.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/SAMHDA/DAS3/00064.xml

I need to recode some of the data, especially the marijuana purchase data (it's in 4 different variables depending whether they answered in grams, ounces or pounds), so I will be using SPSS or SAS to analyze it. The online analysis can be fun, but jump to conclusions at your own risk. I'm a part time grad student in a public health program and I have a fair amount of experience working with data, but I'll probably make a few mistakes.

[Your Sober Pal]

HI Taylor,
I"m interested in what you're doing. I am a recovering THC addict. A nurse told me that among medical people it is widely known that long term marijuana uses results in depression. The people who think its harmless are in denial. I also think it damaged my sinuses, lungs and maybe other things? It would be great to see some real research.
LJ

[Taylor M]

As far as pysiological, biomedical stuff, the textbook "Uppers, Downers and All Arounders" by Inaba and Cohen has a good summary, or it least it does in the edition I have (4th) The current edition may be updated substantially but I haven't got a copy yet. It's not cheap but it is well referenced and a good place to start.

I have a directory full of article PDF's I dug up for a paper on Marijuana withdrawal syndrome at work. I could send you some references from that. A lot of the better articles are related to the Marijuana Treatment Project, so that would be a good place to start looking too.

In 2001 I was working on a paper for a conference that I never completed, and I found that heavy marijuana smokers were more significantly likely to report fair or poor health, even accounting for lots of intervening variables including other drug use. I never really had a good plan for the paper and it kind of fell apart. Now I have a much better measure of marijuana and other drug dependence and I'm fairly sure I'll find the same thing. There are also more measures of mental health that might be interesting to look into, including depressive episodes.
That's still a ways off, I need to work from the bottom up and really get my hypotheses straight before I post anything on those topics. I can't really say much about cause, or multivariate relationships at this stage. My work is on survey data, so it's all big picture and general as opposed to more medically oriented research.

[Your Sober Pal]

HI again Taylor,
Thank you for your reply. It would be very nice if we could somehow bring some of this information to the LifeRing website as resources. For those entering recovery the pdf's might have some value. Thanks for bringing this information, I will check into the Marijuana Treatment Project. Do the depressive episodes go far into the recovery? or are they mostly in early recovery?
LJ

[Taylor M]

The users in the study are mostly active users, and NSDUH only looks at dependence or major depressive episodes in the past year, so I really cant say how long they'll last for a person in recovery. There might be a clinical study somewhere that does. The only way I can see bringing the information in the articles to Lifering is to summarize, quote and reference them. Reproducing them in whole generally violates copyright law and most of the journals only give you the right to download and use them yourself, not to distribute. I'll dig up the references in my textbook and see if I an any figures- depression is a pretty common feature in the articles I have here at work, but most of them mention it in passing while talking about some larger treatment goal or outcome.

[Keifer]

I'm interested! I'd like to tell you more in a private message, but I have plenty of "anecdotal" stuff to share and some websites that might be of interest. I'm new to lifering, is there a way to contact you privately?

[soheyl]

Hi Taylor...what you seem to be planning to do seems very interesting, but personally, I'm not sure exactly what sort of data you are looking for. If you could give some really detailed points of your survey, maybe i can help. Marijuana use is abundant in India, and some places it is even socially acceptable, it being used during certain festivals, and even during certain religious ceremonies, while worshipping certain gods. Marijuana is available in certain temples, with the priests actually offering it to the 'devotees'! I do have data, but I'm not sure what you are looking for. So I wouldn't want to waste your time with unnecessary data. Perhaps you could post a copy of your objective questionnaire? I'll do all I can to help. I'm a professor in a dental college here, and have had some, you could say, issues with marijuana myself.Looking forward to hear from you. - Soheyl

[wilma]

i read a book saying that if you use marijuana (not too much) it helps our body, means it is helpful for the health. but if you take too much of it, it will cause you into more deeper problems... so for me better not to use marijuana unless its legal and prescribed by doctors.



______________
wilma
Drug Rehab Center

[url=http://www.drugrehab-center.com]Drug Rehab Center[/url]

[Keifer]

Gosh, I wish I could smoke just a little. I don't think I could do it at all. I did have cancer, but the time that was finished I was a 24/7 smoker.

They also say a little red wine helps the heart (the heart?)
But if I had just a little, I wouldn't live long enough to care about my heart.

I think there are addicts, like me, and other people who can handle drugs and alcohol. I've had pain pills and such, but never abused them or wanted to!

Thanks for this,
Keifer

[dharvesh]

In most of the countries marijuana is banned to use but some illeagel persons use this to spoil students life, as per me marijuana want to stop completely. most of the people adict for some different types of drugs in the world on the list marijuanan is one of that . so some one want to take action on that to prevent from marijuanan.
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dharvesh

http://www.marijuanaaddictiontreatment.com

[Bridog333]

Hello Taylor,

I'm not sure to what extent I can assist you with this, but I interested in doing so.

I'm an addict in recovery. My drugs of choice are alcohol and marijuana. I have no problem with the idea of never drinking again, but marijuana is another story entirely!! I find it very challenging to abstain from it...I simply love the stuff too damn much!!!

If there is any way I can help your research and/or - in a broader sense - help others to stay away from the stuff, I am in every way willing to do that...

Let me know what I can do...

Thanks...hope to hear from you soon

Bridog333

[allannelsoon]

"Those affected by marijuana addiction can find help at http://www.drugabuse.com/marijuana-abuse.html. Marijuana addiction requires talk therapy and rest and the addict needs to learn coping skills in order to resist and replace thoughts about abusing the drug once again. If you or anyone you know is exhibiting signs of marijuana addiction, call their helpline at 1-800-708-4156 for confidential assistance and counseling."

[Donald Todd Quinn]

allannelsoon,
Hi, I called Lakeview Health Systems at the number that you provided on Sunday, July 19th.
I was just curious as to what treatment options were available at the facility. The gentleman that I spoke to on the phone informed me that Lakeview's program is a 12 step based program. I just thought that folks should be aware of what they are getting into. Some of the major court systems in the United States have ruled that 12 step programs are inherently religious in nature. Please remember LifeRing's "Three S" philosophy, the fundamental principles of LifeRing Recovery: Sobriety, Secularity, and Self-Help. .