Once again members of the mainstream media are running wild with the notion that marijuana use causes schizophrenia and psychosis.
To add insult to injury, this latest dose of reefer rhetoric comes only days after investigators in the United Kingdom reported in the prestigious scientific journal Addiction that the available evidence in support of this theory is "neither very new, nor by normal criteria, particularly compelling." (Predictably, the conclusions of that study went all together unnoticed by the mainstream press.)
Yet today's latest alarmist report, like those studies touting similar claims before it, fails to account for the following: If, as the authors of this latest study suggest, cannabis use is a cause of mental illness (and schizophrenia in particular), then why have diagnosed incidences of schizophrenia not paralleled rising trends in cannabis use over time?
In fact, it was only in September when investigators at the Keele University Medical School in Britain smashed the pot = schizophrenia theory to smithereens. Writing in the journal Schizophrenia Research, the team compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Researchers reported that the "incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this period, even the use of cannabis among the general population was rising.
That said, none of this is to suggest that there may not be some association between marijuana use and certain psychiatric ailments. Cannabis use can correlate with mental illness for many reasons. People often turn to cannabis to alleviate the symptoms of distress. One study performed in Germany showed that cannabis offsets certain cognitive declines in schizophrenic patients. Another study demonstrated that psychotic symptoms predict later use of cannabis, suggesting that people might turn to the plant for help rather than become ill after use.
Of course, even if one takes the MSM's latest 'sky is falling' scenario at face value, health risks connected with pot use -- when scientifically documented -- should not be seen as legitimate reasons for criminal prohibition, but instead, as reasons for the plant's legal regulation.
For instance, as I told AOL News earlier today: "We don't outlaw peanuts because a small percentage of people have allergic reactions. We educate the community, we regulate where and when peanuts can be exchanged. That seems like it ought to apply to marijuana, too."
To draw another real world comparison, millions of Americans safely use ibuprofen as an effective pain reliever. However, among a minority of the population who suffer from liver and kidney problems, ibuprofen presents a legitimate and substantial health risk. However, this fact no more calls for the criminalization of ibuprofen among adults than do these latest anti-pot allegations, even if true, call for the current prohibition of cannabis.
Placed in this context, today's warnings latest do little to advance the government's position in favor of tightening prohibition, and provide ample ammunition to wage for its repeal.
Medical marijuana advocates will wait for next session, new governor
New study: Young marijuana smokers at higher risk for psychoses
Report: Marijuana cultivation in Mexico rises
Fort Collins gives early approval to medical marijuana regulations
Frontline: Marijuana needs legalization, regulation
Marijuana grow house capable of growing $1 million in pot per year is raided
The study does not evaluate the amount of cannabis used over time, or even how many years cannabis was used, but only how long it has been since cannabis was used for the FIRST time. The authors state:
“The main predictor variable did not capture cumulative exposure to cannabis. It is feasible that some cohort members may have started cannabis use at a relatively young age and then stopped. These subjects would have been allocated the same duration since first cannabis use as those with early and persistent usage.”
In other words, a person who used cannabis only one time, six years ago, was counted as a longer-term user than someone who uses cannabis every day but who started only three years ago. Failure to account for actual length of use or quantity of use, rather than merely passage of time since first use, significantly undermines the value of this research.
Keep up the good work.
Play faster! . . . PLAY FASTER!!!!!
The issues are that the continued prohibition of cannabis leads to human rights violations of all kinds and a storm trooper mentality in some of the Law Enforcement community. People have been criminalized and worse in the name of cannabis prohibition. In the meantime we lose a source of a potentially valuable industry.
collect billions in taxes!
save billions in law enforcement & incarceration costs!
save millions not forcing responsible marijuana users into rehab centers they do not wish to be in!
Don't believe a word they say.
Big Business ho res.
This supposed link between the evil Cannabis plant and psychoses didnt effect the US government's decision to legalize it again in 1942 to aid the war effort, and urge 16-year olds in highschool 4-H clubs to grow from a half acre to two acres per student.
So, like during World War II, despite any of Marijuana's effects on the human brain, we should all be doing our part for the soldiers overseas and growing more pot. This is also a proven way to greatly reduce the unemployment rate.