Ok, so there are a lot of people with serious mental problems who have been smoking pot for a long time.
My question to the data is, do these people have their mental problems CAUSED by smoking cannabis, or did these people already have mental issues that pushed them into cannabis as “self-medication”?
It’s sort of like saying “drinking alcohol causes stress” when in fact a lot of people drink alcohol as a sort of “coping mechanism” to stress.
I do not know much about smoking marijuana but for many people alcohol is not the problem, it is the solution to their problems. Nonetheless; as a solution, it does not end well.
Presently folks are buying an illegal substance from a person who may want to make more money selling them another, really bad illegal substance.
If it was purchased at the state booze stores, you would never meet that person.
From people close to me who are on the front lines at “ground zero” in SW Ohio (Hamilton, Middletown etc.)...in excess of 90% of all people hooked on heroin (or who end up dead from it) are (or were) hard core marijuana users FIRST. Not a weird coincidence. People with mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia, have their symptoms severely exacerbated by similar heavy use of marijuana in that it dramatically heightens the major contributor or lead in to acts of violence in that pop - paranoia. Whether they are using to ameliorate other symptoms of their disorder or not, it appears heavy use feeds into that aspect of their condition that often leads to violence. Do we have great stats on this here in the US? No. Should we start collecting? Yes. Did we make a horrible mistake legalizing “medical marijuana” in Ohio because a small number of greedy people rushed for the bucks regardless of the consequences to thousands of people who will undoubtedly suffer (and possibly die) as a result - you betcha. I am hoping we haven’t reached a point of topic fatigue to such an extent that we can rouse interest in some day doing a recall and maybe...MAYBE reversing this horrendous mistake before too many lives are ruined as a result.
If you’re crazy and you know it shake your meds, smoke your blunt....