Posted on 07/27/2007 5:25:40 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
LONDON - Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.
The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40 percent.
Doctors have long suspected a connection and say the latest findings underline the need to highlight marijuana’s long-term risks. The research, paid for by the British Health Department, is being published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Don’t bogart this study, pass it over to me.
These scientists make it sound like an amazing discovery. Have any of them paid attention to the Democrats lately? In the 1970s and 80s they only ACTED like they were on drugs.
I was probably mainly responding to the last question. Between the words and lines, it is clear that you either support legalization or no enforcement. From the standpoint that the war on drugs has been a failure, your case is made. Personally, regardless of how many deaths are attributed to alcohol versus marijuana, the other nonlethal effects preclude my support for legalization. You really have to wonder about why in almost all other countries, it is also not legal. Certainly they did their own tests in some of those countries. They must not have liked the effects marijuana had on their own citizens.
Yes. This is true. As one of your designated watchers, I would like to request that you lead a more interesting life. I mean, watching you is a job that the Trilateral Commission pays me well for. But it would be nice if it were more interesting. :)
BTW, I have the 7pm - 3:30 am shift, Sunday thru Thursday. So if you could move the interesting stuff there, you would be doing a nice thing for a fellow FREEPER!
Well, that's a quite a bit too strong a statement. The authors found correlation but, as scientists, they noted (correctly) that correlation does not mean causation. To establish causation would require a controlled experiment which, for this question, would not be possible. So the authors properly note that causation could be a chain of causation different than pot -> crazy. Causation could be, for example,
Defective Brain Wiring -> Pot Use and
Defective Brain Wiring -> Crazy.
That would make Pot and Crazy correlated but not causative. That's all the authors said.
So this is NOT junk science. It is scientists doing their job by noting the limitations of their study.
I wonder if the study sample was composed of people that only use marijuana? Probably not a good idea to include a marijuana user that is also a heavy drinker in the sample. Not to mention a marijuana user that has ever tried hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, lsd, shrooms ect...
What countries are those?
Pretty much every western country has more leniant marijuana laws than the US.
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