[tomcam]

Absolutely true! But it seems like playing with fire to use a powerfully psychoactive drug like hash when one has such symptoms. He doesn't seem to mention that he stopped smoking up. Common sense tells us that would probably be a good idea.

[fifthesteight]

You sound like a completely sane person.

The use (abuse) of substances is widespread among large swaths of the majority of mental illnesses. Associating the use of marijuana specifically with schizophrenia is absurd-- schizophrenics also abuse alcohol, does that mean wine causes schizophrenia?

I speak not only as a person with a mental health disorder (bipolar) but a member of a family with several actual schizophrenics.

Correlation is not causation. Downvote as you will.

[DanBC]

I strongly support the legalisation of all drugs.

> Associating the use of marijuana specifically with schizophrenia is absurd

It's not absurd. There's strong correlation between people who have a psychotic illness and previous cannabis use.

There are several different things people say about psychotic illness and cannabis.

i) smoking cannabis causes psychotic illnesses even in people with no underlying illness

ii) cannabis causes psychotic illness in people who already have a previously unseen underlying illness

iii) cannabis triggers episodes of illness in people who we know to have a psychotic illness

iv) cannabis has no effect either way

v) cannabis has high correlation because people are self medicating

vi) cannabis is protective

If you have a family history of psychotic illness it's probably a good idea to be cautious with drugs. That's not a controversial statement and it's intensely frustrating when people ignore any possibility of harm from cannabis. (The illegality of cannabis, and the ethics of research involving people with such a severe mental illness, mean that the research is not very good.)

(Also, if you're on certain meds you should stop smoking because the hydrocarbons in smoke interact with the meds).

http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg178

> Offer people with psychosis or schizophrenia who smoke help to stop smoking, even if previous attempts have been unsuccessful. Be aware of the potential significant impact of reducing cigarette smoking on the metabolism of other drugs, particularly clozapine and olanzapine.

[chc]

I don't ignore any possibility of harm from cannabis, but I do tend to frown on FUD like this about pretty much any substance. If this comment thread were about vaccines rather than something more traditionally controversial like marijuana, I think more people would feel the same way.

(Just for the record, I'm not a marijuana user.)

[DanBC]

But we have so much evidence to show that vaccines are very safe. We do not have that evidence for cannabis. We do have strong correlations between people with severe mental illness and cannabis use and that has not been explained yet.

Letting people know that there is that strong correlation and suggesting that they be cautious, especially if they have a family history of mental illness, is totally different from vaccine-FUD which is nonsense.

[lg]

alternatively a desire to abuse cannabis might be a warning sign that you're developing a psychotic illness.

[woah]

How does one abuse cannabis?