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Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence
Imprimis ^ | Jan. 2019 | Alex Berenson

Posted on 02/13/2019 8:55:29 AM PST by fishtank

Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence

January 2019 • Volume 48, Number 1 • Alex Berenson

Alex Berenson

"Seventy miles northwest of New York City is a hospital that looks like a prison, its drab brick buildings wrapped in layers of fencing and barbed wire. This grim facility is called the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Institute. It’s one of three places the state of New York sends the criminally mentally ill—defendants judged not guilty by reason of insanity.

Until recently, my wife Jackie­—Dr. Jacqueline Berenson—was a senior psychiatrist there. Many of Mid-Hudson’s 300 patients are killers and arsonists. At least one is a cannibal. Most have been diagnosed with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia that provoked them to violence against family members or strangers.

A couple of years ago, Jackie was telling me about a patient. In passing, she said something like, Of course he’d been smoking pot his whole life.

Of course? I said.

Yes, they all smoke.

So marijuana causes schizophrenia?

I was surprised, to say the least. I tended to be a libertarian on drugs."

(Excerpt) Read more at imprimis.hillsdale.edu ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cannabis; freedom; godsplant; marijuana; medicine; pot; schizophrenia; wod
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The end of the article:

"Whether to use cannabis, or any drug, is a personal decision. Whether cannabis should be legal is a political issue. But its precise legal status is far less important than making sure that anyone who uses it is aware of its risks. Most cigarette smokers don’t die of lung cancer. But we have made it widely known that cigarettes cause cancer, full stop. Most people who drink and drive don’t have fatal accidents. But we have highlighted the cases of those who do.

We need equally unambiguous and well-funded advertising campaigns on the risks of cannabis. Instead, we are now in the worst of all worlds. Marijuana is legal in some states, illegal in others, dangerously potent, and sold without warnings everywhere.

But before we can do anything, we—especially cannabis advocates and those in the elite media who have for too long credulously accepted their claims—need to come to terms with the truth about the science on marijuana. That adjustment may be painful. But the alternative is far worse, as the patients at Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Institute—and their victims—know."

1 posted on 02/13/2019 8:55:30 AM PST by fishtank
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To: fishtank

2 posted on 02/13/2019 8:55:44 AM PST by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: fishtank

Saw my link, didya?


3 posted on 02/13/2019 8:56:11 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: fishtank

This is where decades of poisoning the well with WoD reefer madness propaganda comes into play.

Ain’t a damn thing that can come out about it that can be believed at this point. Including this article.


4 posted on 02/13/2019 9:00:32 AM PST by thoughtomator (Nobody is coming to save the day)
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To: fishtank

5 posted on 02/13/2019 9:02:12 AM PST by Delta 21
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To: fishtank

Alcohol is worse. I’ve seen it.


6 posted on 02/13/2019 9:02:28 AM PST by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: fishtank

A good article
And a refreshing alternative to the “drugs are personal liberty” contingent.


7 posted on 02/13/2019 9:02:31 AM PST by Persevero (Desmond is not -Amazing- Desmond is -Abused-)
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To: fishtank

Related post:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3727523/posts?page=1


8 posted on 02/13/2019 9:03:21 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: fishtank

A large swath of druggies in the America (regardless of what other politics they are interested in) react to any cautionary words about marijuana with hysterical rants about “Reefer Madness! Reefer Madness! Reefer Madness!”.

Just like with leftists on ANY subject, rational conversations are impossible.


9 posted on 02/13/2019 9:04:32 AM PST by samtheman (How can there be so many brain damaged Americans?)
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To: fishtank; TheStickman; dainbramaged; beaversmom; T-Bone Texan; dljordan; Mama Shawna; NobleFree; ...

For your interest.


10 posted on 02/13/2019 9:05:29 AM PST by KC_Lion (If you want on First Lady Melania's, Ivanka Trump's or Sarah Palin's Ping Lists, just let me know.)
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To: fishtank

Looking at that picture, I think someone is trying to tunnel out.


11 posted on 02/13/2019 9:06:22 AM PST by Cold Heart (The main purpose of The Wall is to protect the US from its own politicians.)
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To: jeffc

Are you inferring that because alcohol is worse that this is okay?

I think so, that’s how I read what you said.


12 posted on 02/13/2019 9:07:19 AM PST by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: Balding_Eagle

My inference is, if alcohol is worse than pot, why is alcohol legal and pot is not?


13 posted on 02/13/2019 9:11:14 AM PST by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: samtheman
rational conversations are impossible.

It's impossible for us to have a rational conversation with an addict. We all have known an addict. Alcoholic. Drugs. Maybe gambling.

They're devoted to their addiction. That's all that matter to them.

14 posted on 02/13/2019 9:11:28 AM PST by LouAvul (The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.)
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To: samtheman

Rational conversations with prohibitionists are impossible because prohibition is extremely irrational.

Rational people react poorly to anti-cannabis propaganda because people just don’t like being lied to or being slandered as “druggies” for not buying into it. The ad hominem serves to solidify the impression that prohibitionists are every bit as dishonest as any other leftist.


15 posted on 02/13/2019 9:14:19 AM PST by thoughtomator (Nobody is coming to save the day)
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To: fishtank

“wrapped in layers of fencing and barbed wire”?


16 posted on 02/13/2019 9:16:29 AM PST by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll eventually get what you deserve)
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To: jeffc
Even worse than alcohol is the result of prohibition:

Free countries don't have stats like this.

17 posted on 02/13/2019 9:17:54 AM PST by thoughtomator (Nobody is coming to save the day)
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To: fishtank

This BS trope has been published here half a dozen times.

And has been debunked each time.

Crazy people should not smoke pot. Everyone knows that already. They shouldn’t drink whiskey or take ANY mind altering substance.

Because they are CRAZY!


18 posted on 02/13/2019 9:18:13 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: thoughtomator

“The ad hominem serves to solidify the impression that prohibitionists are every bit as dishonest as any other leftist.”

It’s prima facie proof.


19 posted on 02/13/2019 9:21:07 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Mariner

It is. And if they knew the slightest bit about how it became illegal in the first place, they’d realize that they are STILL buying into “fake news” that is almost a century old.

It’s literally illegal because a big newspaper publisher (Hearst) didn’t want cheaper hemp paper competing with his paper mill empire, and he used his control over newspapers to produce fake news to create a nationwide hysteria against it.


20 posted on 02/13/2019 9:26:16 AM PST by thoughtomator (Nobody is coming to save the day)
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