What's a little schizophrenia among friends?

An equally reliable source claims a decrease of 7.32%

Michael Fuerst

I blogged about the CNN version of this same story the other day:

:

The researchers said they couldn't prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.

There could be something else about marijuana users, "like their tendency to use other drugs or certain personality traits, that could be causing the psychoses," Zammit said.

...

They found that people who used marijuana had roughly a 40 percent higher chance of developing a psychotic disorder later in life. The overall risk remains very low.

...

One doctor noted that people with a history of mental illness in their families could be at higher risk. For them, marijuana use "could unmask the underlying schizophrenia," said Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, who was not involved in the study.

Scientists cannot rule out that pre-existing conditions could have led to both marijuana use and later psychoses, he added.

Now. Call me crazy, but it appears that this study failed to show any causation whatsoever between the use of marijuana leading to mental illness. In fact what it seems to confirm is what any psychologist and psychiatrist already knows. That mental health problems often lead to drug abuse problems, whether that be alcohol or harder drugs.

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Glock21 Op/Ed

From the same folks who brought you Killer Second Hand Smoke. Now I'm really afraid. No I'm not. Yes I am. No you aren't.

I don't think I ever brought up the following point during the smoking ban debate, but I see an opening now. I love the hypocrisy that many smoking ban supporters exhibit(ed). Most will cite the poorly designed, full-of-holes study that a Bush appointee created as "proof" of the need for a smoking ban, but simultaneously criticize the poorly designed, full-of-holes intelligence report that a Bush appointee used for the Iraq War. I just don't get it - I guess it's ok to make stuff up when you're trying to create a "progressive" solution to a non-immediate threat to public health, but not when you're trying to solve a larger-scale, more immediate threat to public health.

I disagree with you charactization of "Most."  Most smoking ban supporters do not need that study for proof.

Michael Fuerst