The assertion that cannabis use can cause schizophrenia is not borne out by the evidence, says Matthew Hill.
The 1936 film Reefer Madness depicted cannabis as a drug that provoked uncontrollable insanity, leading to manslaughter, suicide and attempted rape. This was a ridiculous characterization of the effects of cannabis, but there is a long history of associating the drug with psychotic disorders. In research terms, the first evidence came from a 1987 study, which found that Swedish conscripts had an increased risk of developing schizophrenia if they had consumed cannabis more than 50 times in their life. This finding has been replicated, implying, at the very least, an intricate relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia. The nature of this relationship is still a matter of debate and is not as clear as some researchers or policymakers would suggest.
It’s weird how I had most of my psychotic symptoms during my cannabis days. And the only people who caught me were my parents, because I constantly left my weed out. Does that sound like something a sane person would do?
Thanks for this! Very good article and it sums up what I’ve been trying to say here, only much better and more thorough than I could’ve done.
I think it’s pretty mean to blame people for their own illness. In effect that is what people do here when they construe the link between cannabis and schizophrenia as a direct and causal one. The evidence does not support that hypothesis.
Cannabis is not harmless. But we should be honest about what the evidence says, and a lot of people I’ve met are not. Including doctors.
The trouble is the issue is complex - and with young teens you need a simple message and not a 2 hour discusion. The simple message has to be avoid Cannabis as it can trigger schizophrenia - even if thats an oversimplification of the data.
We do not disagree here, I think. But the doctors I’m talking about didn’t do this. They judged me, lied to me and then verbally attacked me when I confronted them with their lies. And this has happened more than once.
Not all doctors make good decisions when it comes to this subject.
I think it can trigger those prone to the disease. Its certainly not for kids who go over board on everything. The same goes for alcohol. You just dont know what genes you`re passing on to your kids