Letters to the Editor
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dope and leg pain
I don't know about anybody else out there, but a few joints between 7 and midnight totally cures my restless leg pains. Two six-packs of beer is effective to. For my $$$ (and it does cost more), weed is flat out better. I don't know about the mom in this letter, there could be some distortion through the friend's eyes or who knows. I kind of distrust letters to advice colummists in the first place. And maybe they don't have teenagers themselves. All I know is, I feel like that old frog on the dissecting table with the electric shocks making the legs kick. Unless I can smoke it down.
-Anonymous in NJ
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MacK backpedals, ignores and over-asserts
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.
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Get real
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.