LINK BETWEEN MARIJUANA USE, SCHIZOPHRENIA IS REAL, DOCTORS
CONCLUDE

A pair of articles in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry has
resurrected the "reefer madness" argument about marijuana and its
links to mental illness.

Cannabis use can trigger schizophrenia in people already vulnerable to
the mental illness -- and this fact should shape marijuana policy,
argue two psychiatric epidemiologists in this month's journal.

The link between marijuana use and schizophrenia is generally accepted
in the psychiatric community. The problem is that the vulnerable
population -- mostly teens -- isn't eager to absorb the message.

Epidemiologists Louisa Degenhardt and Wayne Hall reviewed eight
studies that examined the link between marijuana use and
schizophrenia. They concluded marijuana can precipitate schizophrenia
in users who have a personal or family history of it.