Letters to the Editor

• MacK backpedals, ignores and over-asserts

  [Read the article: Mom's a pothead]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  MacK writes: "the link between Schizophrenia and pot has been so well established that the UK is now reversing its previously lenient position on legalisation..."

  Citations? What does "the link" mean? Like I said, there's a question of causation versus correlation. You could just as easily say people who are at risk for schizophrenia are more predisposed to smoke pot as you could that pot use causes schizophrenia.

  "...and there is a debate on the issue in the Netherlands."

  "There is a debate." Well that's conclusive. Gotta love it when people use passive voice to make a weak point.

  "The study from Cardiff's main scientific problem as it happens is that it is believed to underestimate the issue, because it is a longditudinal study based on people whose heavy cannabis use was a few decades ago, when cannabis had relatively low levels of THC."

  And yet there's no evidence of causation. So how does anybody know THC is a causal factor? Please be sure to check your assumptions at the door, Mr. Science.

  "The present situation is that Doctors across Europe, in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands are reporting soaring levels of psychiatric problems in particular paranoid schizophrenia among you adults and the problem is being attributed to a rise in cannabis use combined with new strains that contain very high levels of THC."

  Citation(s)? Why do you capitalize "Doctors"? It sounds like you're pulling your statements out of a propaganda pamphlet.

  "The UK and Dutch debate is driven now by the fact that the many of the Legalisers lied when they gave the impression that legalisation would be a great thing, with no drawbacks, and the public from Amsterdam to Tower Hamlets (where cannabis was effectively decriminalised) are furious."

  You're just making shit up here. Nobody lied. The public (what, all of them?) is not furious. You're making up your own little fake drama.

  "Any by the way anonymous -- I was a scientist and would stack my skills against yours any day. Why don't you do a quick search -- the evidence on pot and schizophrenia is now very strong."

  Was a scientist? Couldn't hack it, eh? I did do a quick search for evidence suggesting (or even hinting at) a causal relationship between pot use and schizophrenia and found nada. Nor does the correlation show a level of linkage that would be cause for alarm, any more than a rise in the odds of suffering a car fatality among people who choose to drive cars suggests we should discourage the use of automobiles.

  Thanks for ignoring all the main points of my message. You sidestepped the issue of causation, you sidestepped the issue of statistical insignificance, and you sidestepped the fact that almost everybody in this forum agrees that pot use should be discouraged among young people. Must be hard to sit still enough to type with that obstinate stick up your butt.

  Permalink Monday, July 9, 2007 06:46 AM