[ndr42]

"But by excluding teens who were already showing mental health symptoms, the new study points to a potential causal link between cannabis use and later mental health diagnoses. Additional research is needed to understand the link fully."

Hm, but this does not exclude the possibility that the being prone to mental illness comes with a little bit higher tendency to consume cannabis...

[ctrl-j]

Similarly, cigarettes also have a very strong correlation with schizophrenia. Completely non-causal, but it's hard to find a non-hospitalized schizophrenic who does not smoke.

[pibaker]

It makes you want to ask what percentage of 21st century disorders can be blamed on people smoking less.

[DANmode]

What does nicotine (in isolation, not cigarette specific) do for the brain,

specifically its receptors and waste systems?

[vforgione]

When I read this article the other day I had the exact same thought. Is this simply correlation, or is it causation? Is teenage usage an indicator of a possible underlying condition that hasn’t fully manifest? Is it an early form of self medication?

[M95D]

And the only way to tell is to randomly split teenagers into two groups: cannabis vs. control. But no parent would give consent, so we will never know.

[joquarky]

Let's not forget that many mental health "disorders" are just elaborate labels for having difficulty conforming to arbitrary cultural expectations.

[tsoukase]

Its a correlation result and not causation. The author makes a mistake, off course. Mental diseases have effects since deep in a young age and push for increased marijuana use, but also nicotine, benzos and, may be, obesity, aggressiveness, school dropout, parent's divorce, low vitD and a long list of possible factors. All these will be correlations.