DRUG LINK TO SCHIZOPHRENIA MORE ABOUT SPIN THAN REALITY

Re: Journal articles link marijuana to schizophrenia (SP, Aug. 28).
The debate about marijuana and schizophrenia isn't new and probably
has more to do with scapegoating than mental health.

We have demonized marijuana as a dangerous drug and will leave no
stone unturned trying to find some justification for a stupid policy.

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry reports that schizophrenia rates
have decreased 42 per cent in Canada at a time when our children have
increased significantly their consumption of marijuana.

How hard would it be to make the reverse argument, that marijuana
actually reduces schizophrenia? Furthermore, if prohibition of
marijuana were an effective safeguard of our children's mental
health, then one would expect our rate of schizophrenia to be lower
than that of the Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally
available for more than 30 years. But there is no difference in
rates. Unsurprisingly, Dutch scientists surveyed many of the same
studies (including the Swedish study) and concluded there is no
causal link between marijuana and schizophrenia.

While there are good reasons to discourage our children from using
marijuana, prohibition has been an utter failure: 75 per cent of our
children will have tried marijuana before graduating high school,
compared to 25 per cent in the Netherlands.

It is time to end the useless prohibition of marijuana: fears of
schizophrenia are no justification for this expensive, brutal, and
ineffective social policy.

Ken Sailor

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