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From: "Skywolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Guardian of London went extreme right wing a few years ago. A shame they
sold their freedom for a pack of lies.
Skywolf.
"The question is one of fighting the causes and not just the effects. This
revolution is bound to fail if it doesn't succeed in reaching deep inside
them, stirring them right down to the bone, and giving them back their
stature as human beings. Otherwise, what's the use?" - Che Guevarra
On 2/19/06 12:29 PM, "Allen St. Pierre" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> It is quite disturbing how anti-mj the Guardian has swung in five
> short years, when they championed UK/worldwide law reforms for mj.
>
> :C0
>
> -Allen
> NORML
>
> *Focus: Cannabis psychosis Off your head?*
>
> *From
>-->(pointer)
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329415784-102274,00.html*
The Guardian piece elicited a strong reply from GMU/STATS/Maia Szalavitz
Guardian Goes Potty Over Cannabis-Schizophrenia Link February 20 2006 Maia
Szalavitz Guardian/Observer report takes its cues from U.S. drug czar not
science
The quality British press doesn¹t usually go in for American-style drug
hysteria, but this article from last week¹s Guardian/Observer could have
been mistaken for a press release from the U.S. drug czar. It contained
accounts of violent crimes committed by cannabis users and an essay by a
thirteen-year-old about why she hates her brother who is ³currently ill with
squitsaphrenia [sic] due to taking drugs (cannabis) from an early age.²
The misinformation begins with the sub-head, which claims that ³a series of
new studies proves the link between cannabis dependency and mental illness,²
implying that marijuana causes mental illness. In fact, the new research,
like the previous data, does not prove that marijuana makes people mentally
ill, but merely finds that people who are mentally ill are more likely to
smoke pot.
The article also mischaracterizes a recent report by the British
government¹s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The UK recently
³reclassified² cannabis possession as an offense so minor that users cannot
be arrested simply for having small quantities in their possession. The ACMD
was recently asked to determine whether the government should reconsider
that decision, in light of a possible link between marijuana and mental
illness.
The Guardian/Observer piece described the ACMD report as having argued
³against reclassification,² and claimed that it ³suggested for the first
time that cannabis may not only cause schizophrenia in those with
pre-existing mental conditions, but could also exacerbate a range of other
mental health problems.²
The ACMD report actually said that marijuana should remain reclassified as a
non-arrestable offense and here are some of its key points:
The high prevalence of cannabis use, as well as use of other controlled
substances, among those with schizophrenia or psychotic disorders is not
understood. It may be cultural or related to peer pressure; and it has been
postulated that cannabis either helps deal with certain aspects of the
condition, or that it even ameliorates some of the adverse consequences of
medication Ð
Over the past few years, there has been growing concern as to whether
cannabis use might precipitate chronic, or enduring, psychotic illnesses,
including schizophrenia. In view of the ability of cannabis to precipitate
relapse in individuals with established schizophreniaÐit is clearly a
biologically plausible hypothesis. However, research in this area is fraught
with problems of both study design and interpretation.
ÐFor individuals, the current evidence suggests, at worst, that using
cannabis increases the lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia by 1%.
ÐThe most recent data are not, overall, persuasive of a causal association
between cannabis use and the development of depression, bipolar disorder or
anxiety.
The Guardian/Observer claims that marijuana-related admissions to hospital
for mental illness in the UK have almost doubled in recent years, citing 490
such admissions in 2001, compared to 710 in 2004 and the same number in
2005. But what it doesn¹t cite is a source for those numbers, nor does it
say how a ³cannabis-related² hospital admission is defined.
When doctors go looking for an association, one is often found so it¹s
quite possible that admissions that previously would not have been
classified as ³cannabis related² are now being linked with the drug.
Also, annual marijuana use rates by teenagers and young adults actually fell
in the UK during that period from 28% in 1998 to under 24% in 2005, a fact
unmentioned by the newspaper. Nor is there evidence that marijuana potency
suddenly skyrocketed in the 00¹s. Claims about super-strong pot go back much
further.
Finally, the article doesn¹t mention the most compelling evidence against a
causal link between marijuana and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia rates have
been stable around the world at roughly 1% of the population for as long as
they have been measured. Marijuana use rose in the West from virtually zero
in the early 20th century to 50-60% of the adult population having tried it
at least once in recent decades, with substantial proportions of the
population taking it regularly at some point in their lives, often during
adolescence. Schizophrenia rates haven¹t budged.
Statistical Assessment Service
2100 L St NW Suite 300 Washington DC 20037 tel (202) 223 3193 fax
(202) 872 4014
(all comments are those of the poster from address above (skywolf) and
does not necessarily reflect the views of other participants or those of
pnews)
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