CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 88

“The doctor told him to leave it [marijuana] alone.
He has instead [stopped visiting] the clinic and
won’t take his medication. So I have left him
to the choice he has made.”
Substance abuse officer at the National Council
on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Shirley Platt, said
marijuana, or ganja as it is commonly called, and
other drugs can trigger, as well as, exacerbate
the symptoms of schizophrenia.
“I find that when they use ganja, any underlying
mental illness is highlighted; it makes it stronger.”
She disclosed that some individuals use drugs
because they have mental illness or the drugs
bring on the mental illness. Drugs act as both
a trigger and an aggravator.
Platt told CARIMAC Times that medical
studies have found that the manifestation of
schizophrenia in many patients is linked to
drug use.
“It is documented. It is presumed that they are
treating their illness with drugs. According to
them, the drugs make the illness less stressful
and I have had them tell me that.”
She recounted the experience of a young man
affected by the illness.
“He told me that he hears voices in his head…
and when he smokes ganja, he doesn’t hear the
voices as bad. He still hears them but not as
bad. He uses it to treat himself; self-medication.
The medical community calls it self-medication
when somebody uses illegal or unprescribed
drugs to help their condition,” she said.

She cautioned that marijuana is unlike other
drugs.
“Most drugs have one action. They are either
depressants [slow down brain activity] or
stimulants [increase brain activity] or hallucinogens
[alter what is seen/heard]. Marijuana can do
any of these. It can make things worse, but it
can also make things seem better. It is about
perception. But it cannot cure mental illness.”
Platt noted that, while ganja is known as a
painkiller and has been popularised as such i n
Jamaican culture, it is well-documented that
it exacerbates schizophrenia.
“They will tell you that it can relieve their
symptoms, but I have found that people who
use drugs can’t accurately tell you about the
effects of the drug because it masks itself,”
she concluded.
Meanwhile, Rose, explained that although men
and women are affected by schizophrenia in
the same manner, symptoms start earlier in
men than women. The condition has occurred
in “slightly” more men than women. However,
the onset of symptoms is uncommon in people
younger than 10 years old and those older than
40 years.
Dr. Afzal Javed, consultant psychiatrist at Coventry
& Warwickshire NHS Trust at Nuneaton and
clinical associate teacher at Warwick Medical
School, University of Warwick in the United
Kingdom, found Schizophrenia in men may
take a chronic course and be more severe but
with typical symptoms. For women, however,
negative rather than depressive symptoms
are likely.

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