Stephen

Not as rare as you'd think. I had two friends hospitalised. They were both subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia but who knows what role marijuana had in the emergence of their symptoms. I know that whenever they give in to temptation and start smoking again they will very quickly relapse into a psychotic state.

Guybrush

Wow, it's nice to see someone acknowledge that there are potentially very real and harmful side effects to pot smoking. It's like the myth that it is harmless is being religiously perpetuated by every user out there.

I believe the most common problem for people who have smoked is anxiety, but as you mention, there are other possibilities. I know there was a recently a documentary on the telly about the link between cannabis and schizophrenia, but I did not watch it. Possibly I'll have to see if I can dig that up again. Many other studies have shown cannabis to be a schizophrenia risk factor (example), but it's like users don't want to acknowledge their existence.

I don't really believe in the "alcohol is okay so why shouldn't cannabis be?" argument because I figure you should look at the effect cannabis legalization has on society and try and decide based on that, regardless of whether or not we like alcohol. If alcohol is bad, should that justify the legalization of another bad? What kind of thinking is that?

Still, people love to justify legalization of alcohol by comparing it to cannabis. It's true, alcohol causes a lot of ****, but at least its effects are more predictable. The thing about cannabis is you don't necessarily know before smoking if it's gonna make you sick or not.

Regardless, if it's better for american society to legalize, I'd be behind that. Perhaps it is. From here, seeing how it's been tackled so far in the US seems to be the most ridiculous part of it. Locking smokers up with hard boiled criminals so that they can have a much worse impact on society once they come out sounds like the stupidest thing you could do. The american idea of prison as a place of punishment is really old and really doesn't do the nation any good. In my opinion, someone who has done jail time should be changed into a better citizen when he comes out, not a worse one. In the long run that's cheaper on society than having prisons bursting at the seams with repeat offenders.

edit :

Of course, if it does become legal, they should put "may trigger anxiety or schizophrenia" on the packets, just like cigs have the lung cancer warning.

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Something Completely Different

Howard the Duck

it won't necessarily "create" schizophrenia if the person smoking weed isn't already predisposed to be schizophrenic

i think it just accelerates the symptoms

i've read somewhere that if your brain isn't already going to be schizophrenic in the future, or that you're mentally stable, weed is not going to "create" schizophrenia

i mean, i was pretty weird even before i started smoking it

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

Sparky

Don't deny the massive amount of positive evidence. I'm sure your aware of a lot of it already. I don't think weed smokers are more vocal about their drug of choice than people with any other vice.

This is all true, I've experienced the increased anxiety first hand.However, specific medical strains exist that are very effective at lowering anxiety.
More predictable, are you serious? I've blacked out from drinking way too many times and done stuff I would never do in my conscious mind. I also have many instances of smoking way too much, but the consequences were very predictable. Overeating, anti social, quiet, reclusive. But always self-aware on weed.

You don't hear about instances of people getting too high and killing themselves when driving. When your too stoned your scared to drive.
Agreed. With such serious consequences and such a absurd negative stigma associated with it, maybe you can understand why "potheads" are defensive.

EDIT: So when i clicked on this thread it directed me to the page with that response from you and i assumed it was the most recent. You can blame the weed smoke for that. Anyway it took time to write that out and quote it all nice so im not deleting it but don't feel inclined to respond.