Paranoid Android

[flipthecandy]

So paranoia and heavy drug use (especially cannabis and amphetamines) go hand in hand. Why is this?

My theory is because the user is always doing something wrong, by society's standards, and always has to live in fear and hide a hobby they enjoy. If meth and weed were legal (I do not necessarily think they should be) there would be a lot less paranoid tweakers and stoners in my opinion.

What are your thoughts?

[SmokeNmirrors]

Yes swim couldn't agree more, swim is a fan of the cane. Swim just always is paranoid about his boss or parents maybe knowing even just during the crash. So perhaps if it was legal and not looked down upon it would be less of a hassle.

[enquirewithin]

Tweakers would find something to be paranoid about even if meth was legal. That's the nature of amphetamines and other stimulants.

[SWIMming]

SWIM believes it has a lot to do with the activation of the fight or flight/adrenal system,which is what heightens awareness and starts dumping dopamine and adrenaline into SWIM's system. This is a big part of the paranoia created by Stimulant class drugs at least.

Part 2 for stimulants is, of course, sleep deprivation, which is really good at sparking paranoia as well.

As for Pot, SWIM doesn't really know any specific reasons for it inducing paranoia offhand

[snapper]

SWIM agrees that stimulants induce paranoia due to excessive catecholamines- pot however induces paranoia by a different mechanism. It is more of an introspective paranoia like what can be induced by a hallucinogen. High doses in people with low tolerance or infrequent / new cannabis users are most likely to experience this. Regular daily users normally experience the opposite of paranoia. Someone taking a solid dose of LSD for the first time in an airport or other chaotic place would also be susceptible to intense paranoia. This is the opposite pattern of stimulants, which induce worsening paranoia with frequent use (from poor sleep, high dopamine, etc).

SWIM thinks the stigma associated with illegal substances is just something to be paranoid about, but not the cause of paranoia itself. Paranoia is a form of obsessive behavior which focuses on something perceived as a threat and greatly amplifies its significance. The threat itself is arbitrary.

[Nature Boy]

Although the legal factor is definitely an issue when it comes to cannabis paranoia, the chief cause of anxiety attacks are still people with a predisposition towards mental problems. However, SWIM believes that an inproportioned level of THC in some super strains leads to some getting panic attacks. This doesn't happen to SWIM, high THC strains bring about euphoria for him, but everyone's different. Generally though, SWIM prefers a strain with a decent mix of cannabinoids, not necessarily one extremely high in THC.

[LookingForHer]

SWIM finds DXM does not leave him paranoid.

In fact it leaves swim feeling very in control. But then DXM isn't very illegal now is it

So you might be right hehe.