Reply #26: It is disingenuous bullshit to claim pot causes schizophrenia

[Warren Stupidity]

Given that currently there is no scientific agreement on the cause(s) of schizophrenia, to make deliberately vague claims that smoking pot causes schizophrenia is massively dishonest and is typical of drug war scare tactics.

Worse, studies that have attempted to find causality have failed to do so. See the wiki article:

Cannabis

Main article: Effects of cannabis

There is some evidence that cannabis use can contribute to schizophrenia. Some studies suggest that cannabis is neither a sufficient nor necessary factor in developing schizophrenia, but that cannabis may significantly increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and may be, among other things, a significant causal factor. Nevertheless, some previous research in this area has been criticised as it has often not been clear whether cannabis use is a cause or effect of schizophrenia. To address this issue, a recent review of studies from which a causal contribution to schizophrenia can be assessed has suggested that cannabis statistically doubles the risk of developing schizophrenia on the individual level, and may, assuming a causal relationship, be responsible for up to 8% of cases in the population.<68>

An older longitudinal study, published in 1987, suggested six-fold increase of schizophrenia risks for high consumers of cannabis (use on more than fifty occasions) in Sweden.<69>

Despite increases in cannabis consumption in the 1960s and 1970s in western society, rates of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia remained relatively stable. Sweden and Japan, where self-reported marijuana use is very low, do not have lower rates of psychosis than the U.S. and Canada do.<70> For the theory of true causality to be correct, other factors which are thought to contribute to schizophrenia would have to have converged almost flawlessly to mask the effect of increased cannabis usage.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_schizophrenia

That last paragraph is key. Increased pot use starting in the 60's did not correlate with increased rates of schizophrenia. Longitudinal correlation can't be shown. Comparative analysis with lower pot use cohorts and higher pot use cohorts also fails to show a correlation with schizophrenia rates.


The simplest explanation for the data regarding pot use and risk of schizophrenia is that people who are at risk for developing schizophrenia also tend to self medicate with various recreational drugs, including pot. They also smoke a lot of tobacco. The drug warlords of the PIC fail to mention that inconvenient fact.