Exactly. Control its sale to any younger than 21.

Right now if someone would ask me where to get some pot, I'd say you need to talk to a teenager to find out.

People are considered mentally ill when they get angry about how stupid marijuana prohibition really is.

What gets me is "correlation=causation". It's also entirely possible that people who start developing mental illnesses earlier turn to illicit drugs such as marijuana in order to self-medicate and relieve symptoms, where a person experiencing it later in life would have more life-experience to draw on to cope. I'm concerned that this possibility wasn't even discussed in the article. It seems like the researchers overlooked this possibility and went straight to "Pot causes mental illness to start earlier" conclusion, because they were looking for that link in the first place. First rule of research: you can find the results you want if you look hard enough.

Wake.

Thats the problem. It's easier to get then alcohol for kids. And if it were legalized and regulated then you wouldn't need to ask a teenager and if you didn't want it wouldn't have to ask anyone. That is like if prohibition of alcohol was still current and since I don't drink I would make a statement like well regulate it to gangsters cause thats the only people I know that can get it.

Flawed research. Seems more like propaganda to me.

My opinion ... in time it will be shown Conclusively that regular marijuana use reinforces pathways in the brain that contribute to paranoid/psychotic thoughts and behaviors. This is simple; if you don't get it you obviously haven't smoked the stuff.

Have any of you ever met a pothead? It may not cause mental illness, but something isn't being processed correctly 'upstairs.' And yes the same could be said of alcohol.

OMG!!!! Seriously????? The test is truely flawed. Who did they get for test subjects? Could it be that those they observed had issues to begin with? Or that the fact that mental illness runs in families???? Could it be maybe a chemicle imbalance in the brain, hormones, processed foods or even alergies? Good lord, this sounds not only like more propaganda but something from the dark ages like if you left rags in a corner, rats will mysteriously appear....hmmmmmmmmmm. Tbone...what was the last grade you completed and where the heck you live? I know many college educated professionals from doctors to architechs who smoke pot and there no problems with them. Obviously you be very edumacated (sarcasm added in case you cant tell). I was married once to a man whose family had mental illness running through it. Hence he is my ex. There are more wackos that are alcoholics who stand on street corners digging through garbage for their next drink or panhandling who swat at flys.

And, not balancing the investigation shows the bias of the researchers. How much earlier does the onset of creative processes develop? There are many people that are creative that are users of MJ; writers, artists, engineers, programmers, non-inhaling politicians, etc. How about a study of the top percentage of artistic and engineering professionals to find out how they have been influenced, of course using the same percentages of users and non-users, if they can find that many non-users.

Rev, they are not saying that it is causing the problem. They are saying that it is contributing to an exsisting problem. Just like any drug that can alter mental status of the mind. It seems to me that they are not sure, cause they don't know what causes schizophrenia and pyschosis. They are stating that there is strong evidence showing that it can hasten the onset in people prone to these mental disorders, when they start at in at early and mid teenage years. Its not saying it causes these issues in all people. Its not like the Australian study about whether or not it causes mental illness, without any data indicating that there was a posibility for a predisposition to mental illness in the test subjects. And its not saying don't do it all together, its just saying that people with a predisposition to mental illness shouldn't smoke it at a young age, wait till they are older.

Is that the reason why Republicans and the Conservatives are making such a stand against legalizing marijuana? to ensure that the onset of mental illness is dragged out?

... sorry, it was there for the taking.... lol.

Have any of you ever met a pothead? It may not cause mental illness, but something isn't being processed correctly 'upstairs.'

You clearly haven't.

My cousin did pot. We never thought much of it. He is now a schizo freak that can't even come to family reunions because he can go nuts any time. Sometimes paranoid afraid, sometimes agressive and combative. It's so sad. Here was a straight A student, now he is a shell of his former self. We are worried what 'll happen when his parents die. They are taking care of him right now. His older brother refuses (and his wife) to take care of him because they are not willing to endanger their children.

Everybody makes pot out to be this harmless thing. I think in many instances it is. In some clearly not.

Yeah OK, and NOT Smoking Pot has been linked to an earlier onset of Sarah Palin disease.

Carl Sagan was a Cannabis Connoisseur; how many of you News-vine Posters who ridicule people who partake of the herb are as well known and accomplished as someone like Carl Sagan??......oh, never-mind..I already know the answer.

The did not take into account that kids who have mental illness causes them to smoke pot. Which is true. It is a kind of like a medicine for them. Totally the other way around than their research.

Sagan! Wow... I've always been inspired by him and I thought, this cannot be true-- so I googled it, and here's what came up:

http://www.druglibrary.org/think/~jnr/sagan.htm

Amazing... Apparently his former wife, Ann Druyan, is a director for NORML. Wow. Just wow.

Here's a link from NORML about their president:

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5063

I'm all for legalizing it. Just no welfare benefits or driver's licenses for users. Otherwise, waste away.

I know of 15 pot smokers. All are on Welfare or Disability. They sell their Food Stamps to buy pot. And every one of them have lost their driver's licenses for smoking while driving. They also all steal to support their pot usage. This is why I do not support legalization.

An obsession with legalization of pot and aliens isn't my idea of accomplishment.

What became of Timothy Leary and those who partook of school sponsored drug usage? Where are they today?

The facts stated stand up to the people I know. Heavy drug users = questionable minds.

I wish they'd legalize and tax. Because if they don't tax them, all these self destructive people believe they are entitled to health care on the dimes of people who don't.

All taxes from drugs and alcohol should go to the health care of those who destroy themselves. Apportion it and use it and when its up - its up.

Over 50% of healthcare costs are directly caused by behavior. (I worked for one of the largest groups in the US) Alcoholics, drug user and the obese as well as all the STD's, etc are responsible.

One reason I can't support govt enforced healthcare. They expect the rest of the nation to carry these people who had a CHOICE to do something different. Repeat feeders at the trough.

WE ALL SHOULD support the end of the "war on drugs".

The only reason is still going on has to be that our congress people are profiting from it. The american public has gained nothing.

ron - i know about 40 pot smokers and all but 3 have good jobs and nice family's and none have ever lost their driver's licenses for smoking while driving and none of them steal to support their pot usage. this is why i think you re comment is a bull sh!t lie

By all means California...go ahead and legalize it! The world doesnt have enough mentally ill persons...and who suffers when they commit crimes?

These studies probably use subpar malignant brick weed from Mexico, that ish will make you crazy. I say better studies can be gotten from indica based strains highly known for their medicinal properties. Afghan Kush is what should be consumed, and it should also be self cultivated from home.

Hmmmm...let's see, Australia has a current need for dollars, as they just got "double-whammied" by the weather, which has toasted their wheat crop and several cities. (I would never suggest holding back aid for such a disaster, by the way-but...) Suddenly an Australian University professor is suddenly on the side of American "War On Drugs" policy. As I said...Hmmmm.

Socialsense said correctly:

I am amazed at how eager everyone is to denounce a massive, longitudinal study so quickly - how many have READ the study? Can we put hyperbole aside and examine the data with an open, nonprejudicial mind? No where in the article was there talk about further restrictions or criminalization of marijuana - just that there appears to be a correlation between pot use at a young age and mental illness - and more research needs to be done. Is everyone who is pro-marijuana really so entrenched in their position that they wouldn't want to know how to better protect children in a key cognitive developmental phase in their lives?

It's all propaganda, and it never works. Instead of being honest with children about drugs, some adults feel the need to scare our children with tales of "bogeymen" and examples of people we know who tried drugs and went crazy. The problem with this approach, is that as children grow they realise that they were being lied to and this resentment turns into experimentation. Look at all the adults walking around high on xanax. Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication that is far more dangerous than pot, and millions of housewives are popping these pills on a daily basis. What about all the "new" drugs coming out, and being given to children diagnosed as "attention deficit disorder"? Instead of discussing the dangers of ritalin and other drugs that are legally prescribed, they come out with a story about a naturally growing plant that is nearly impossible to overdose on, to scare the bajeebees out of kids.

I know of 15 pot smokers. All are on Welfare or Disability. They sell their Food Stamps to buy pot. And every one of them have lost their driver's licenses for smoking while driving. They also all steal to support their pot usage. This is why I do not support legalization.

@ Ron - You are either completely full of #@$t or attempting a lame joke. Either way = fail.

@Rev Lucifer - You read my mind. They came out with a study just last year that said people with psychosis/psychotic illnesses are something like 5 times as likely to smoke cigarettes. The researchers concluded it was because they were trying to self-medicate using nicotine as a temporary relief. They did not conclude that cigarettes caused the mental illness.

These researchers, however, concluded that pot was causing their mental illness. Granted, these people probably did not have full-blown schizophrenia when they first smoked pot, but perhaps something was...off, for lack of a better term, and they sensed it and tried self-medicating to calm their racing thoughts.

You don't just wake up one day insane. It's a gradual slip. I worked with someone that was always really weird, but then slipped off the deep end steadily for about a year and a half to the point where he shaved his head and was wearing over-sized suits to work telling people he had important client meetings. They fired him (with police present) when he was pacing around our parking lot for 3 hours straight talking to himself.

And no, this guy wasn't a pothead, but he was a Glenn Beck fan....hmmmm

I think pot smoking should be legal, if you get into trouble deal with the law, if you get ill, no free health-care would be provided.

This study explains alot about the mental state of San Franciscans.

Oh no! Run! the evil pot is going to come get you and turn you into a psycopath!!! AHHHH!!!! Dude.. MSNBC used to speak truth once in a while.. Now sometimes I think I'm watching/reading Fox News.

So....the problem I have with the 'Cult of Pot' (call them pot fanbois) is they ignore articles like this, yet back flawed studies that or 'on their side.' This is the simple place I stand: If so many people are going to smoke pot that it should be legalized and taxed, then do it. Just don't lie about it as if it is a healthy thing to do. alcohol kills your liver in excess, and putting ash in your lungs will kill them. I don't need someone to lie about 'medical usage.' And make no mistake, once it is legalized, it will be incorporated, monopolized, made more crappy, and then all the pot smokers will have done is make sure the next illegal drug becomes the anti-establishment symbol and argue about how 'it' should be legalized next. And how it is really healthy for you.

Sarcastic as it may seem I say smoke it and tax it and be done with it.

Have any of you ever met a pothead? It may not cause mental illness, but something isn't being processed correctly 'upstairs.' And yes the same could be said of alcohol.

You are correct, and as you commented, the same can be said about alcohol or any other drug for that matter.

But it's also apparent that it's legality has absolutely nothing to do with it's availability. A person who has an addiction problem regardless of the substance is going to get their hands on it. The fact that it's not regulated makes it easier to obtain

Rudy-- you said:

I'm all for legalizing it. Just no welfare benefits or driver's licenses for users. Otherwise, waste away.

But regarding driving and marijuana, I think the definitive answers come from the US Department of Transportation (DOT HS 808 078), Final Report, November 1993:

The major conclusions from the present program are summarized as follows:

* Current users of marijuana prefer THC doses of about 300 ug/kg to achieve their desired "high".

* It is possible to safely study the effects of marijuana on driving on highways or city streets in the presence of other traffic.

* Marijuana smoking impairs fundamental road tracking ability with the degree if impairment increasing as a function of the consumed THC dose.

* Marijuana smoking which delivers THC up to a 300 ug/kg dose slightly impairs the ability to maintain a constant headway while following another car.

* A low THC dose (100 ug/kg) does not impair driving ability in urban traffic to the same extent as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04g%.

* Drivers under the influence of marijuana tend to over-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and compensate when they can; e.g. by increasing effort to accomplish the task, increasing headway or slowing down, or a combination of these.

* Drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to under-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and do not invest compensatory effort.

* The maximum road tracking impairment after the highest THC dose (300 ug/kg) was within a range of effects produced by many commonly used medicinal drugs and less than that associated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08g% in previous studies employing the same test.

* It is not possible to conclude anything about a driver's impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.

Emphasis mine. In brief, marijuana impairs your ability to drive, but only as much as other common medications (think cough syrup or allergy meds) and was considered safe enough to conduct these tests in the presence of other traffic. Another major conclusion they reached is that Alcohol is apparently far more dangerous-- so, by your logic Rudy, anyone who has a beer now and again should have their drivers license revoked and should be ineligible for welfare. So, you know... good luck with that.

Great reference and points, WMG.

Let the naysayers scurry away now, scurry away all!.

Go b!tch about the flawed science in the other post on polar bears today when you have the grammar of a 7th grader and spell phonetically.

Scurry away cockroaches, as you normally do when you're out of ten second talking points that you regurgitate! Go on now!

that isn't the point . the point is can you refute that smoking pot as a teen ager doesn't hasten the onset of mental illness in susceptible people?

@ Wintersnows

I maintain a 4.0 GPA and smoke weed daily. I am on my way to an MFA. The only paranoia weed gave me was when I thought the cops were gonna catch me. This tells me that if it were legal there would be no worry because all the punatives are removed from the equation.

I refute you.

well now we have an explanation of the voting habits of those in California...ie Nancy Pelousy

Winter-- my comment was a refutation of the comment I quoted-- that people who smoke or ingest marijuana should have their drivers license revoked. My point was that the science doesn't support that. I accept the findings of the study at hand-- marijuana is a mild hallucinogen, and as such has some pretty drastic effects on people who are already prone to hallucinations due to a predisposition to schizophrenia. However, what I don't care for is the statement within the article that this "adds to the growing evidence" that marijuana causes mental illness, which is absurd. There was a study that showed that people with early onset schizophrenia were also more likely to smoke cigarettes at a young age, but those researchers didn't conclude that the cigarettes were causing the defect, but rather noted that there was a correlation between the two (as opposed to causation) and that these individuals were likely self-medicating for temporary relief.

Hmmmm. I have gotten an hallucenogenic effect from LSD but never ever from cannabis. Man, maybe I have just been getting bad weed. Ya think? In many ways so called scientific studies are like statistical studies. If the originator starts out with a predetermined outcome in mind more often than not that is what the study results will show. That is why most researchers are usually so eager to submit their findings for peer review. It is the validation of others in their particular area of expertise that tends to lend credence to their work. In this case that is notably absent. Therefore a very large grain of salt in in order as it pertains to the findings of this endeavor.

I maintain a 4.0 GPA and smoke weed daily. I am on my way to an MFA. The only paranoia weed gave me was when I thought the cops were gonna catch me. This tells me that if it were legal there would be no worry because all the punatives are removed from the equation.

You say you "I refute you". No , you don't. You are on your way to an MFA , so what? I didn't say that people couldn't go to college or have jobs or anything like that. I don't care if you do it either. I don't believe that it can't screw up your judgement when driving a car, especially when eaten. I know people who have gone to concerts and not had a drink, but eaten pot brownies and don't remember a single song, or how they got there, and were so out of it that they kept passing out. So I refute anyone who says that never happens. My daughter lives in a state with medical marijuana, a good idea, most of the kids she knows who get it, don't need it , but I don't care about that. Most of it is baked . Don't tell me that you can't get delusional, pass out, and hallucinate, when you eat enough of it. You can. Years ago when I ate that stuff it was way weaker and I remember hallucinating from pot chocolate chip cookies and eventually passing out.

The problem is that apparently it hastens the onset of mental illness. This is not a good thing, I am sure you will agree. That is another reason to make it legal, so people taking it can be monitored albeit not very well.

My real problem with it in general is the same problem I have with alcohol or any other drug.. Abuse. Abuse is the problem. I know plenty of people who have MBAs and other degrees who started out fine, just like you. They were not all that young, but they continued to smoke pot daily and multiple times daily. Year after year. Overtime they lost the ability to interact with other people. They lost the ability to interact with their wives, husbands and families. They became totally dependent on smoking to do their every day things, work, sleep, smoked a j in the middle of the night to stay asleep, in the car on the way to work, at lunch, as soon as they got home they went off alone to smoke.

This is not an isolated incident . I am in my sixties and lived through the 60s and learned about arrested development from smoking or drinking any mind altering substance on a daily basis.

I don't care if you don't believe me. If you smoke every day, and become a person in your 40s.50s, 60s who smokes many times a day, you will be exactly who I am talking about. You might not want to admit that you can't not smoke, and maybe now, you could stop and interact, sleep and function just fine, but over the long haul, if you think you will be able to? Dream on..

Still...I did refute you..../Face :)

Just kidding there guy....I think perhaps you are correct...Weed did damage you.

I think you are well on your way . i am a woman and in my sixties, retired, and my work is done. now, I paint, write, ski, kayak, sail, and help out with the old folks and the kids. Walk our dogs, feed our cats. Have been with the same husband for over 32 years, and have two grown kids. I am not stuck with any need for drugs and I am surely not at risk for early onset mental illness, and if as you suggest, I did have it, I must have survived pretty well.

Or maybe you just believe early onset mental illness is a good thing?

I do think mental illness a great thing....One guys mental illness is anothers high.

:) Just kidding ....Chill....Go smoke some weed lady.

well not much can be said to that? you got it all figured alright. (sarc)

Does the Culture War on Drugs do more harm than good?

Do you want a 80 billion dollar a year hole in our National Budget to pay for the Culture War on Drugs?

Is War, prisons and police, a better answer than a medical approach of treatment with doctors?

If you don't have any problems while doing drugs (other than the illegality), do you have a drug problem?

Do we really need these bigoted Inquisitions?

Bigotry: Unreasonable, Prejudiced, and Intolerant.

Are those the values we should apply to social policy?

Are we better off after 20 million marijuana arrests?

Is a zero-tolerance War policy better than a Medical harm reduction policy?

Why are the effects of War never considered by the Culture Drug Warriors?

Since countries with liberal drug policies are safer, healthier, and less violent, why do we continue to do the wrong thing with the culture war on drugs?

The article itself is a sufficient rebuttal. Below is taken verbatim from this article:

"The vast majority of young people who use marijuana don't develop psychosis. And so far, no one's been able to prove that smoking marijuana actually causes psychotic disorders like schizophrenia."

Also the article headlines 2nd word - "May". Nothing has been proven. There are thousands of personal testimonials of its benefits. So, your point again?

Socialjustice . . the answer to all your questions except the last 2 is YES! You made this such an easy test that even a Pot-Head like me can pass!!

The top comment about people going to the emergency room cause of the hi grade of THC still is not an overdose. it is in fact paranoia from the drug most likely on people that don't do it often and in multiple cases I read mixed it with alcohol.

Their are FAR FAR more cases of people that go to the ER for worrying about ODing from everyday normal 5 hour energy type drinks out their. And they actually show signs of things like rapid heartbeat.

Take you same statement and apply it to alcohol which I know you don't drink cause you seem to know the horrid dangers of pot then you must know them of alcohol

Seriously flawed conclusions and reportage. At least CNN carried cogent rebuttals.

Many of my friends and I have been illicit smokers for over 40 years. Some fall into the wake and bake category. Yet we are all between reasonably and very successful. Some of us are retired, some are still pulling in 6 and 7 figures annually. We are highly functional potheads not stoners (slackers).

Not one is psychotic!

Are you sure Johnny?

T-bone

There isn't a hangover and pot makes me sleep well. Besides how would I put up with you?

To wookie lover=I am.

The vast majority of young people who use marijuana don't develop psychosis. And so far, no one's been able to prove that smoking marijuana actually causes psychotic disorders like schizophrenia."

Don't leave out the heavy evidence that it hastened mental disorders in people who probably would have had them delayed. For example, most mental illness doesn't manifest itself until people enter their young adult years, but the evidence now indicates that such illnesses are appearing at even younger years for users. Obviously it does affect the brain.

There are thousands of personal testimonials of its benefits.

And what are those "benefits"?

The only stuff that people are being hospitalized for is that synthetic stuff they are selling in head shops. T-Bone, you obviously don't understand that the only way one person can OD on THC from pot and die, is for someone to eat 200 lbs. in one sitting. Just don't see that one happening. That will equal the lethal dosage of THC. But hey, don't let me confuse you with the facts.

"safer, healthier, and less violent"

THIS IS A MYTH.

Countries that allowed liberal drug policies have violent trafficking killing their borders and border towns.

Where is the impact to individuals lives?

How many kids missed dinner because their parents are drugged up?

Feeble argument. Blow your life if you want, don't think its ever a good idea.

Overextended, the drugs are illegal here, and yet we are still having the violent trafficking, and killings at the border towns, so what is your point?

US Patent number 6630507 if you aren't too stupid or lazy to look it up. I am a 66 year old retire engineer who has used it off and on since 1970. When does the mental illness set in? I'd like to be prepared.

Socialsense said correctly:

I am amazed at how eager everyone is to denounce a massive, longitudinal study so quickly - how many have READ the study? Can we put hyperbole aside and examine the data with an open, nonprejudicial mind? No where in the article was there talk about further restrictions or criminalization of marijuana - just that there appears to be a correlation between pot use at a young age and mental illness - and more research needs to be done. Is everyone who is pro-marijuana really so entrenched in their position that they wouldn't want to know how to better protect children in a key cognitive developmental phase in their lives?

Anything can be abused. You can die from drinking too much water! I've never met anyone who overdosed on pot. I have many friends who have smoked it for years. One of my friends had to quit because of drug testing at his job. Now he has a drinking problem. It's amazing how he was able to smoke weed daily for over 30 years and still keep a good job. Now he is danger of losing it because of his drinking problem. Arresting people for using drugs is filling our prisons with nonviolent people. When is the last time you saw someone high on pot get into a fight?

Yup, it does sound like alcohol is a much better drug. It's funny Diamond how your friend gave up pot so easily for a job, but when one gets addicted to alcohol is entirely different. Now he's losing his job because of drinking. Well, I think that says it all right there.

pot was shown to help ward off alzheimers in a study a few years ago. you never see someone on pot speeding down the highwat causing death and destruction like a drunk does, you may see one creaping down the shoulder at 10 mph. pot does not kill off brain cells and liver cells the way alcohol does. i dont smoke now because it is illegal, but as a youth in SEA i smoked on a daily basis and had no adverse effects and no withdrawal symptoms when i quit. the period of use was about 4 years on a daily basis. am currently 60 y/o with no sign of psychosis or dementia. this study was most likely paid for by the government ans whoever pays for a study always get the results they want. be it govt or drug company. really cant believe either one.

Maijuana also helps patients suffering from the effects of chemo-therapy to ease nausea and allow them to take nourishment. For MS sufferers, pot can help them with balance, alleviate some of the muscule pain and migranes that are a part of this disease.

Those who suffer from anxiety, depression, menopause, etc, can gain a modicum of relief of their symptoms by smoking.

No, it clearly states that they are talking about people with a predisposition to mental illness. They also say that they have no evidence that it is directly causing the mental illness, just possibly hastening in in teens and preteens who are predisposed to the problem

But the article did contain this gem:

And so far, no one's been able to prove that smoking marijuana actually causes psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, but the new research adds to "growing evidence" that it does

Suggesting that the researchers are certainly out to prove that marijuana is causing the psychosis-- which is a laughable proposition when one considers the enormous population that smokes regularly with no ill side effects. You could easily make the same claim about any substance, be it alcohol, heroin or cigarettes.

You are right about the other substances for certain.

You are wrong that many people smoke without ill effects. The last person to see it, the last to admit this is a user.

smoking and drinking alchol is served for persons whoare over the age of 16 and 18. the ages may extend why should this not be the same when smoking pot. smoke it when you are old enough. it needs to be told to have pot when you are old enough. it is a fact that pot destroys a person when smoking pot at a very young age 12-15.

Nah Kopey, these article writers, propaganda pushers are just tying to make their rent and cannot come up with anything legitmate or even real, never mind just plain old interesting or educating.......

Well...If moms have to put up with anti-mom "studies", you have to put up with anti-stoner "studies". All's fair in love and dope.

That stated, this "study" really explains certain aquaintances.

See? They are always unable to deal with reality.

Reuters, the source of the article, is a UK news agency. So you in fact just took a shot at the very people you get your information from. I'm guessing you might smoke the herb and thats why you're getting so upset. This is in fact a single study, which anyone who took high school science classes knows they now have to do more studies which will sample substantially more people. This will either verify their results and hypothesis or prove their results and hypothesis inconclusive or incorrect. By the way this study was performed by the University of New South Wales in Australia.

RUMOR: A story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts.

STUDY: A written account of such research, examination, or analysis.

They researched documented and presented what they found and they are "making stuff up freely"? What would constitute a real study about this subject to you? Maybe instead of a University doing the study a private organisation funded by pro-marijuana supporters should do the study, you know like what the tobacco companies did.

And by the way I don't smoke weed, but I do believe it should be legalized and regulated.

OBVIOUSLY ...This study is one sided. Nowhere does it discuss the positive use of weed. For people with cancer ,AIDS or eating disorders....it is a life saver. And as far as it being a factor in mental health.....uh yeah....but perhaps the study fails to include issues like corrupt govt. leaders, corrupt and greedy corporate America, an economy that is borderline depression era and a society that has lost it's focus and direction due to immediate expected results for everything we do. I'm thinkin...there's more to it then JUST smokin weed.

Hitting to close to home?????

agreed. And to add. No one that is smoking pot is who is for the legalization is for giving it to 12 year olds. Do the same study and factor alcohol bet you can get the same results. But we have that in every gas station, restaurant, sports game, plane ride, whatever available at all times. Its even given in church!

No one is giving it to 12 year olds and thats just bad parenting if a 12 year old is doing it. What are the effects on a 12 year olds liver when drinking?

Pot leads to other drugs, just like masturbation leads to rape.

Good one, sell the people more Big pharma drugs to get them off herbal drugs.

Whats good for corporations profits must be good for the people, right?

You said it socialjustice! The white coated morons strike again...

@hocfish, you are spot on. Psychiatry is just a business full of moneygrabbers, desperate to "diagnose" and "treat" with the newest harmful psychotropic drugs. Why do you think so many kids are labed ADHD, and more and more people are taking prescription meds for illnesses they probably don't even have? After my horrible psychiatric experience, I will never trust another doctor who specializes in ANY field of mental illness again, because I know what their motives are, and what their greed makes them capable of.

IS TRUE!! It does lead to masturbation; I've been masturbating like CRAZY!! : )

Right, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a mother who suddenly, and without real cause or reason, murders her two teenaged children, and then says it was because they were mouthy. Sure. Someone who has voices in their head, or claims that God has taken the form of a dog, and ordering that person to kill people has zero mental health issues.

I have to agree with Eric on this one-- just because you disagree with the premise as presented in this article (which is relayed with more veracity and less hype in other sources) is not a license to dismiss the incredible work that psychiatrists and psychologists have done over the years. Schizophrenia is a very real, very terrible affliction and is confirmed with biochemistry:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/schiz.brain.htm

The link above will show some brain scans that reflect the chemical changes that take place in the schizophrenic brain.

As for pharmaceutical treatments, I will concede that doctors are far too eager to offer these remedies in lieu of other treatments, especially with regard to ADD, ADHD, AADD and ADAD. It is a problem and one that will be slow to fix.

In any case, smoking weed is not a sin, nor is it particularly unhealthy (compared to other vices). Cheers and good night.

the government is alaso contributing to addiction. methadone , which is used for narcotic addicts, is simply a newer narcotic. attacks the same receptors in the brain, also addicting, only difference is there is no feeling of euphoria with its use. still addicted only not as happy about it. and the government provides it.

I think that meds should only be used in the most extreme cases, where a person literally cannot function normally without them. But these days, too many "disorders" are diagnosed, and as a result, many people are drugged. Have you people ever heard of TeenScreen? Go read some of the more negative articles about it, now teachers and school nurses can "diagnose" and "treat" kids. There was a girl labeled with OCD because she said "I have to help my mother with chores before anything else." They also labeled her with "antisocial personality disorder" because she didn't hang out with her friends that much. It's a damn shame, anyone who dares to go beyond the "norms of society" is either deemed a freak, weirdo, or mentally ill. That's the problem, and a lot of people believe in it, especially those psychiatrists who are corrupt.

WMG- I have always questioned the cause-effect relationship with brain chemistry and mental disease. Simple out, does chemical imbalance cause mental disease OR does mental illness cause chemical imbalances in the brain?

If you believe the Doctors, Big Pharma, and Psychologists it is chemistry that causes psychosis, yet if the patient stops his/her drugs then the symptoms return. So why does the imbalance return and what causes the imbalance to occur in the first place? As usual, a lot of guessing and conjecture and really no facts, just more drugs.

When Indians drink alcohol they go on the war path and rape white women.

Lets have a list all the stereotypes bigots love to quote.

And when mentally unbalanced people smoke pot they get PSYCHOTIC... Isn't it called "DUDE, YOU"RE PARANOID" when you are high?

how about "people start corporations and rob and enslave everyone including other whites"? oh wait that's not a stereotype it's reality.

Darthdon is completely right; it's the old "chicken or the egg" question!

There is no chicken and egg question. The egg predates the chicken by about 65 million years. The first egg was a fish egg, not a chicken egg.

Never understood the allure of living life in a haze, be it from beer, wine, pot, coke, whatever. Too many folks manage to find money to buy a high, yet need gov't assistance to feed the kids.

hbtx

go tighten your dome and think about it. You may understand it's not a haze.

Do not confuse the dysfunctional with the free.

... and I like hairy men.

hahahahahahahahahahaha....

I'm a hairy man ;-)

so... what you're saying is we should listen to you because you have the good sense to not listen a thing you think you might disagree with based on a decision you made over three decades ago...

Yes

YES! Thank you for saying that - I feel the same.

My first red flag was why they were studying a population already afflicted with said disorders - why not start with a clean slate and watch to see if a group of pot smokers develop mental disorders that coincide with their usage?

Seems wrong to point the finger at a cause that you can only surmise at anyways... *shrugz*

But what about those paranoid feelings one gets when one smokes dope??

It's not really paranoia. It is a personal analysis of an unfamiliar awareness of body functions. An inability to relax in the normal rush, rush world and then suddenly finding yourself sitting back, aware of the rapid heartbeat and tingling nerves in your legs. Really, all you are sensing is the hangover from the work day. When you stop interpreting that as paranoia, the paranoia goes away.

And what about that person coming in the door? To arrest you??? BUSTED!!!!

Lizardman said:

"It is the fact that it is illegal that helps nurture these supposed psychosis. From the moment a person starts to smoke everyone else just became a potential threat. You are restricted to small "trusted" groups that usually you can not trust. Your life becomes shrouded in secrecy. Then the police or anyone of authority becomes the bad people. Next you know you are living apart from society on its fringe wanting no part of it. ................. These scientist need to see the forest for the trees and realize the external factors of society that looks upon the marijuana user as scum instead of a legitimate member of said society with legitimate issues."

Before I smoked weed, I never knew anyone who did. After I started smoking weed, everyone I knew did. I've always known the same people.

These scientist need to see the forest for the trees and realize the external factors of society that looks upon the marijuana user as scum instead of a legitimate member of said society with legitimate issues

this is totally pie in the sky , head in the sand. there would still be problems with abuse no matter if it was acceptable or not. Most people know people who are their friends who smoke pot and I would say that most people have seen it and or smoked it. Big deal. The illegality is what keeps the price artificially high and causes the violent behavior or sellers and buyers , but this would not change anything about the onset of mental illness. Getting paranoid from smoking is a drag, but not mental illness or schizophrenia.

The paper was fully peer reviewed.

Booo! You didn't say that last night when you took a swig of tequila!

Yes, it's funny no one makes a big deal about people with a history of violence being allowed to purchase alcohol and become more violent during reckless moments of alcohol intoxication.

My point exactly! The best you can do for a crazy-diamond is to be their friend, and if you share your sack-of-weed with them.... if they shine straighter then you have to credit their progress thanks to themselves and not the marijuana, even if it was amphetamine they were using.

....please pass the pipe.

True, and I can name from experience some horrible psychiatric drugs that I was on:
Depakote: weight gain(I gained weight rather fast), diarrhea, tiredness, and confusion.

Lithium: dizziness, confusion, tremors, weight gain, and it can cause kidney damage as well. I sometimes had mild dizziness, I gained weight, and always was thirsty and had to pee...finally got a UTI :/.

Risperdal: tremors, weight gain, problems with urination(probably one of the causes of my UTI), I could barely speak without stuttering or stammering, and could hardly write legibly.

Abilify: only info I could find was that it can cause depression, and I was miserable.

Who in their right mind would take these medications? I'll never fall victim to them again.

Mental straight-jackets, each and every one of them.