What about cannabis triggering bipolar mania? Have you come across any studies on this? Just curious.

nature provides relief before scientists.[do][just my opinion].

Marijuana skin cream could help allergies.

People have been ingesting marijuana in one form or another for centuries in spite of harsh criminal penalties so it must make you feel better. Let's see there's modern psych drugs that many people would rather be locked in filthy psych wards than take voluntarily, and pot, which people risk imprisonment to take. I'd say its got some antidepressant properties. Oddly, like Abilify, Zyprex, & Co. it increases your appetite. I wonder if this means something. Besides no marijuana studies, biased as they are, have ever shown it to cause psychosis at the same level as the antidepressants and antipsychotics, or like you say, good old whiskey.

I'd be surprised if pot caused mania, as it seems to have the opposite effect on people. I don't touch the stuff myself (even though I live in the grass capital of Canada) because it just makes me hungry and tired. Hungry and tired I can usually accomplish on my own.

Some people seem to use pot as a kind of self-medication for various ailments, as I guess many of us do with alcohol. I think it's probably worth exploring as a psychotropic.

It would be nice if research was truly scientific enquiry, rather than agenda-driven. If it turned out that pot could beat SSRIs in a blind trial, I’m sure the government would shut down the research. That’s pretty much what happened to Alexander’s research at Rat Park at Simon Fraser University. His findings contradicted the politicians and so he had to be silenced.

Why is it that when mental illness (schizophrenia) follows illegal drug use (smoking pot), then the drug is said to have CAUSED it but when mental illness (mania) follows prescription medication (SSRIs and/or electroshock), then the treatment is said to have UNMASKED the underlying illness? Just curious.

I am a study of only one, but pot caused mania in me on a number of occasions. I don't touch the stuff anymore. Wouldn't touch the stuff if I were paid very much money.

I would suspect that something like this may indeed help a lot of people, but it would still have a serious side-effect profile effecting some significant minority like it does me. It made me downright loopy!! And not only while I was high...it triggered a couple of weeks of instability in general--and oh---not everytime I smoked it which makes it even a trickier thing to assess.

Umm. According to today's media,

Governor Arnold says that pot is not a drug. It's a leaf.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1677248,00.html

So I guess all the studies have be re done to see if inhaling leaves cause mood disorders.

Unfortunately, cannabis contains a number of constituents that may all possess different properties. Furthermore, different strains may possess different balances of these constituents. The bright side is, as long as you're not already schizophrenic, there's probably not much risk involved in smoking pot.

To prove this point: While use of marijuana after age 18 is probably not associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, there are certainly cases where it has precipitated psychotic reactions in those already diagnosed as schizophrenic. (I have personally experienced a psychotic reaction on several occasions, and, as far as I know, I have no mental illness whatsoever.) However, this study shows some efficacy for cannabidiol, the primary cannabinoid in cannabis (although not a major contributor to its intoxicating effects), as an antipsychotic.