nashke

Sadly no...

I am one of the authors, AMA

The survey is based on DSM-5 criteria, hence it includes under the "Hallucinogen" group several substances which are not classic serotonergic psychedelics, and excludes MDMA which is categorized under "Club drugs". Substances included in the study are: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, anticholinergics, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM), Dimethoxybromoamphetamine (DOB), Salvia divinorum, dextromethorphan, and phencyclidine.

Based on previous epidemiological studies, a significant majority of "hallucinogen" users (as defined above) are in fact users of classic serotonergic psychedelics (such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline and DMT).

I am one of the authors, AMA

Part 2: http://harpers.org/archive/1955/01/the-jet-propelled-couch-2...

None that I know of, but I am not as updated on research of alcohol use disorders as I am with cannabis. One interesting frontier is using machine learning methods for causal inference (the reason I have some vague knowledge of this is that my brother is working on this...). These may hopefully allow for some interesting analyses of existing data. Here is a link for his seminar on causal inference for observational studies: http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~shalit/slides.pdf

I personally am in favor of decriminalizing cannabis use, as well as other drugs. Unfortunately, the debate regarding legalization is very polarized, and tends to not be based on scientific findings. One side tends to demonize cannabis while the other dismisses any information regarding negative effects. I believe there are many reasons for legalization, but mainly as a method for harm reduction, not because cannabis is some sort of a wonder-drug. Here are some studies regarding long-term negative effects: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1402309

http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=24880...

Our findings in no way imply cannabis use causes suicidality. There are many other factors we couldn't analyze which could be the cause of this association. The reality is that these two behaviors (cannabis use and suicidality) are very complex, and this study is just one small step in the understanding of how these complex behaviors interact.

I believe proponents of cannabis legalization should look at all the data regarding long-term effects of cannabis with as little bias as possible - there are enough good reasons for legalization, it is dangerous to ignore scientific data regarding risks.

The publisher gives a link for sharing on social networks which works for 50 days, after that, it's paywalled.

Regarding legalization- we had no relevant data, so I can't say. The bidirectional association may indeed indicate a third cause, as discussed in the paper. I have added a link that should allow access to the full-text, let me know if it doesn't work for you.

Illegality is indeed one of the possible mediators of the association. A recent study has demonstrated decreased suicidality in states where cannabis was legalized

Alcohol is strongly associated with suicidality, but again, it's difficult to prove causality (Try randomizing people to "alcohol binging group" or "suicidal ideation group"). The association is more robust than that for cannabis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872355/

Couldn't have said it better. We don't claim there is some mechanism where smoking pot will make you suicidal. But we want to explore the strong association between the two, which has been shown time and again in previous studies. Our findings point to important differences between the sexes, so what I would take from our results is not "cannabis is bad", instead - "cannabis use and suicidality are complex behaviors, and effects of sex differences should be further explored". But that won't make a good headline, I guess :)

We did the research independently (all authors work in the Israeli public health system). The NESARC survey was funded by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of the NIH.

We can't show causation using this kind of methodology. Longitudinal association may suggest causation, but it does not imply it. In the discussion we offer some possible mechanisms for this association, not all of them causal in nature. We do know from previous studies that the endocannabinoid system is altered in suicidal individuals and that sex hormones both affect suicidality and have a reciprocal relationship with the endocannabinoid system. These suggest how and why intense cannabis use can affect suicidal behavior.

I've posted a link which should allow for full-text access for the next few weeks.

We analysed self-medication variables from the data and found that indeed men tend to self-medicate more. However, our findings regarding cannabis self-medication for suicidality are opposite, i.e. women were much more likelt to initiate cannabis use after reporting suicidality, but not men. Of course, self-medication is but one of the possible explanations for this finding.

http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1TQFMbXYiRe8A This link should allow access to the full text for the next few weeks.

We adjusted all analyses for depression and other mental disorders.

I am one of the authors, AMA

This seems to be a basis for a future "Google goggles" product