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Originally Posted by Shiva_TD
It took me a while to read your "sources" (i.e. news articles) and I apologize for not providing more sources but let us examine yours.
Interesting news articles of which I had read a couple before. Of course they tend to support the beliefs of the “Establishment” and they do not present the actual studies which can be analyzed but they do provide some interesting thoughts that can be explored.
For example, from the first article:
A quick review of the statement leads immediately to the question of how many of the 535 patients admitted for marijuana-induced psychotic episodes were psychotic before they smoke marijuana? Had they had previous psychotic episodes that were not diagnosed? Were the subsequent psychotic episodes in anyway marijuana related? We do know that schizophrenia has been linked to dopamine imbalances and, of course any altering of dopamine levels in someone that is already psychotic could lead to schizophrenia type symptoms.
As with the other links the questions always arise as to whether the subjects already have a mental disorder such as a psychosis or did it originate with the use of marijuana. If we look at the estimated usage of marijuana in the US is estimated at about 50 million people one would anticipate hundreds of thousands of cases of marijuana induced psychosis annually and that simply isn't the case. With 50 million users in the US alone it would be an epidemic but no such epidemic has ever been reported.
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You're missing the point behind the correlation, though. Marijuana is a mindless self-indulgence. It has no societal value. So if people are already somewhat susceptible to mental conditions,
any correlation between marijuana and mental instability (psychosis, schizophrenia, etc.) is
more than enough reason to discourage the use of said substance with legal action. Recreational marijuana is nothing but an indulgence, and when that risk factor comes into play, it's over.
That's the whole point. So you can try to weasel out of the facts all you like, but the idea isn't that "people are already susceptible to it." The idea is that it's an indulgence, and that it furthers that susceptibility factor and creates an
unnecessary risk to law-abiding citizens--those who are smart enough to recognize that with so many humans who have that pre-disposition to mental condition, the obvious choice is to not use marijuana... That's how the real world works. It's individual choice, my friend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiva_TD
Psychosis is relatively common in the general population and the extremely low numbers of marijuana induced psychotic events might lead me to a possible belief that marijuana may actually be effective in combating psychosis. I would love to see a study on that, wouldn't you?
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That's absurd... Marijuana has
never once proven to combat psychosis, but like we just saw, it's been correlated with an increase in psychosis-like symptoms/behavior. It's illogical to say then, that you think marijuana legalization would help overall... marijuana has already shown to be the opposite case of that--and it's not even legal. Also, once again, it's not about "combating" psychosis, it's about discouraging a selfish indulgence that poses an
unnecessary threat and risk to nonusers/law-abiding citizens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiva_TD
The BBC news article touches on a point related to young people and psychosis:
Once again it is pointing to people that have a genetic predisposition toward psychosis. In other words, it isn't linked to creating the problem but to perhaps aggravating it. Hey, I can buy this argument. If someone has a predisposition towards being psychotic I wouldn't recommend them smoking pot just like I wouldn't recommend eating sugar to a diabetic.
But it is interesting reading although it doesn't establish any facts related to marijuana causing mental illness. It does point to the fact that mentally ill people probably shouldn't smoke marijuana. Smoking pot isn't for everyone and that's a fact.
At the same time there still isn't a rational justification for it being illegal.
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Sure there is. Someone experiencing psychosis/schizophrenia induced by a selfish indulgence is by any and every standard an irresponsible person based on the knowledgeable choice they made to use the substance in the first place. Diabetics are discouraged from eating sugar, but it's not a legal issue, because it's a matter of
their own personal health. It doesn't affect those around them like marijuana does. Marijuana distorts perception, impairs cognition, is correlated with psychosis, schizophrenia, irritability, paranoia, hallucinations, etc. The government is
more than justified in discouraging such a selfish indulgence that can--and often does--cause all that (putting the health and safety of people
around the user at risk).