MSimon wrote:The article does say that autism might be caused by cannabis.http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles. ... nabinoids/
Alger added that, if the endocannabinoid system does turn out to be connected to autism in humans, medical marijuana could turn out to hold possibility for treating autism.
But then we see anecdotes like these:
http://www.autismdailynewscast.com/fami ... urel-joss/
http://guardianlv.com/2014/05/medical-c ... ts-autism/
http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/new ... ss-8763721
I don't see the two concepts as being contradictory. It has long been my belief that the endocrine system "learns" what is normal (starting before you are born) and then attempts to maintain the level of endocrine secretions that approximates what it has "learned" is normal.
If you have taught it that "normal" is to have high levels of plant THC in your system (remember these plant toxins are evolved to kill or discourage predation) then it may try to maintain those levels it thinks are "normal" but is unable to do so because the human body does not create plant-like THC. It creates normal human "cannabanoids". (a misnomer if there ever was one. Plant "Cannabanoids" were evolved to tamper with the mammalian version, but because the similarity to cannabis was discovered, the human system is named after the plant toxin intended to kill or disable it. )
Simon has been using the fact that the human system was named after the plant compounds as propaganda to argue that the plant compounds are "normal", else why would we have components of the endocrine system named after them? It is a non-sequitur to be sure, but that doesn't stop him from constantly using it.
But getting back to my point, if you train a body to think that something unnatural in it's system is normal, it eventually adapts to that condition. As a result of adapting to this abnormal condition, it may result in dysfunction. It might result in autism.
That a condition caused by an unusual chemical in the body might be relieved by putting this unusual chemical in the body seems plausible to me.
...
I happen to know someone with an autistic child. I just called her and asked her if she happened to have been around people smoking marijuana when she was pregnant with her son. Guess what? All the freaking time! During the entire pregnancy her boyfriend was a heavy pot smoker. (still smokes, and owes her about $28,000.00 in back child support. )
One case, and anecdotal I know, but I put that in the category of "marijuana is likely bad for humans because it possibly causes birth defects."
So I guess pot does to the brain of genetically predisposed children, what thalidomide does to their bodies?
It's probably too early to reach such a conclusion, but suddenly i'm considering this a plausible possibility.