Letters to the Editor
MacK..
Published Letters: 491 Editor's Choice: 49
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Anonymous' poor grasp of science
[Read the article: Mom's a pothead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous -- the link between Schizophrenia and pot has been so well established that the UK is now reversing its previously lenient position on legalisation, and there is a debate on the issue in the Netherlands. 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.
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.
The bottom line issue in drug legalisation is not that legalising is a panacea, because it facially is not, but whether the attendant problems of prohibition are greater than those one would incur if the drug was legalized. 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.
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.
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Get real
[Read the article: Mom's a pothead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, anonymous seems to be under the impression I live in Midland Texas -- nope, major metropolis' all my life.
There is very strong evidence that genetic predisposition is a factor in schizophrenia -- about 6% of those related to schizophrenics develop schizophrenia -- but add marijuana and the rate soars 10-fold to about 60%
In fact recent studies show that about 80% of inner city schizophrenia cases are linked to marijuana use. In central London and Amsterdam rates of schizophrenia are about 60-70 per 100,000 compares with about 10-11 in areas with low marijuana use. THC levels in modern marijuana are typically 4 times that of old varieties with new hydroponic varieties hitting 16 times.
These are not studies done under the sponsorship of the US government - they are from work done in the Netherlands, London and Australia, places known for a liberal outlook on Cannabis in general. The studies have been reported in the New Scientist, the British Medical Journal and others.
You can rationalize all you like, but it is readily apparent to doctors and lawyers dealing with young people that the very widespread marijuana use prevalent in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Dublin among teenagers is beginning to present very serious mental heath issues.
Moreover, in anonymous' postings all I see is endless rationalizations associates with self-righteous insistence that anyone who would criticize marijuana use is wrong. It is slef evident that this mother's judgement is impaired by her desire to keep smoking, to the extent that she is jeapordizing her family and actively contemplating putting (or letting) a 15 year old live on the street -- that show a dependency. It is also self-evident that many of those posting in her support (especially anonymous) are so devoid of introspection that they actually do think that what she proposed to do is the right thing, that like it or not, they would sacrifice their children and family for a joint, a hit on a bong -- and they need to take a hard look at themselves, assuming they can do so between tokes.
Anonymous -- you have sunk pretty low when you are making the defenses and arguments you are trying here. You need to ask, why does the MJ matter so much to you?
And as for the halfwitted comment of some so-called Professor that mental experiences are subjective -- oh for god sake drop the psychobabble -- schizophrenia is not subjective, its not like being dizzy, it is a serious chemical condition in the brain and quite tragic to observe.