Threads for July 2009

After Further Review, Smoking Pot Doesn't Make You Crazy -- Blimey!

By Steve Elliott in Chronic City
SF Weekly
Thursday, Jul. 2 2009 @ 12:59PM

The time-honored notion of reefer madness, given new life recently in the
British tabloid press, has taken another hit from reality. Widespread
marijuana use by the public has not been followed by a proportional rise in
diagnoses of schizophrenia or psychosis, according to the findings of a
forthcoming study to be published in the scientific journal Schizophrenia
Research.

It stands to reason, after all: If marijuana really led to psychosis,
wouldn't the streets be choked with burned-out, gibbering potheads?

Film director John Holowach, responsible for the documentary High: The True
Story of American Marijuana, wasn't surprised. "I've said it for years now,"
Holowach told SF Weekly. "If pot and mental illness were linked, the two
should rise and fall with one another, but they don't."

Amidst a spate of breathless tabloid hysteria hyping the supposed dire
threat from "Skunk," a potent pot strain, British lawmakers last year
stiffened cannabis laws in the U.K. A team of researchers had fanned the
flames in the July 28, 2007 issue of prestigious scientific journal The
Lancet, proclaiming that smoking marijuana could boost one's risk of a
"psychotic episode" by 40 percent or more.

In one fell swoop marijuana possession was reclassified from a verbal
warning to a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, ex-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and
others cited the supposed 'pot-schizophrenia link' as a major reason for the
giant step backward.

For the new study, British investigators at Keele University Medical School
compared trends in cannabis use and instances of schizophrenia in the United
Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. The research showed that even as marijuana use
soared among the general population, "incidence and prevalence of
schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this
period.

The authors concluded that an expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia
and psychoses did not occur over the decade under study. "This study does
not therefore support the ... link between cannabis use and incidence of
psychotic disorders," the study concludes, adding "This concurs with other
reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been
followed by increases in psychotic incidence."

The results of another clinical trial published earlier this month indicate
that the recreational use of marijuana does not affect brain chemistry in a
way that is consistent with the development of schizophrenia.

"Should we expect an apology -- or even better, a change in policy -- from
the Gordon Brown regime any time soon? Or at the very least, will some sort
of 'correction' be forthcoming from the mainstream news media?" asked Paul
Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML). "I wouldn't hold my breath."

http://digg.com/u17EzE

-- 

"The earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with
your hair."

~ Kahlil Gibran