Pubdate: Thu, 05 Mar 2009
Source: Dalhousie Gazette, The (CN NS Edu)
Copyright: 2009 The Dalhousie Gazette
Contact:  http://www.dalgazette.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2866
Author: Russell Barth
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n201/a06.html

PSYCHOSIS LINKS DISCREDITED

Re: "Cutting down on the green" (Feb. 19)

Rachel Sunter wrote: "Increasing evidence supports strong 
correlations between marijuana use and psychosis, especially during 
teenage years."

But did Sunter even read the studies linking pot to psychosis? 
Obviously not, because those studies themselves point out that there 
is merely a correlation between pot use and psychosis, but that it is 
equally as likely that the psychosis sufferers were merely 
self-medicating. The stories about those "studies," however, are full 
of fear mongering, inaccuracies and hype.

Also, the rates of schizophrenia have remained constant for decades, 
at about 1.1 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, the worldwide use 
of cannabis, especially among people under 30, has increased.

Canadians smoke more pot than any other country in the industrialized 
world. So why are we not seeing a dramatic increase in psychosis? 
Because, like everything reported about pot, it is either deliberate 
hype or lazy journalism.

The effect on medical marijuana users is particularly devastating, 
since we are routinely discriminated against for having medical 
conditions that are alleviated by pot.

Russell Barth

Federally licensed medical marijuana user Patients Against Ignorance 
and Discrimination on Cannabis
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom