deggs

there is some truth to this article...

for example, I had a friend who had schizophrenia in his family history... he never suffered any symptoms himself until he came into contact with pot smoking in uni. (again this is prob just coincidence though)

also, i know that myself, i can't smoke it because it makes me go super crazy. other substances have minimal effect on me but pot just screws me up terribly (i forget where i am, time slows down and i get stuck in an almost comatose trance for an hour or two or i almost instantly fall asleep only to wake up with extreme paranoia and i can't remember anything like where i am or how i got there.) and it's not an isolated case either. i've tried it about 20 to 30 times over that past decade and a half. always terrible side effects for me...

any time you take any type of (legal, perscription or illegal narcotic) drug that alters you brain chemistry (even temporarily), there's always some type of risk of screwing things up a little... c'est la vie. any person that doesn't see this is deluding themselves. we know the risks and we do it anyways... that's fine because it is our choice but I wouldn't call it propaganda when scientists are bringing these suspicions to the public's attention.

that said, there is also a possibility that many of the problems that are speculated to be caused from longterm pot use might be caused because there is no quality control of illegaly sold marijuana. if pot were completely legal and there were strict laws concerning the cultivation and distribution of marijuana and you could buy it at like an LCBO or MCBO store or something, maybe there would be fewer suspected side effects...


also this sentence: "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."

That's prob the most accurate in the article. People with certain types of untreated mental illness may be more likely to take part in drug use in general.