PSYCHOSIS LINKS DISCREDITED

Re: "Cutting down on the green" (Feb. 19)

Rachel Sunter wrote: "Increasing evidence supports strong
correlations between marijuana use and psychosis, especially during
teenage years."

But did Sunter even read the studies linking pot to psychosis?
Obviously not, because those studies themselves point out that there
is merely a correlation between pot use and psychosis, but that it is
equally as likely that the psychosis sufferers were merely
self-medicating. The stories about those "studies," however, are full
of fear mongering, inaccuracies and hype.

Also, the rates of schizophrenia have remained constant for decades,
at about 1.1 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, the worldwide use
of cannabis, especially among people under 30, has increased.

Canadians smoke more pot than any other country in the industrialized
world. So why are we not seeing a dramatic increase in psychosis?
Because, like everything reported about pot, it is either deliberate
hype or lazy journalism.

The effect on medical marijuana users is particularly devastating,
since we are routinely discriminated against for having medical
conditions that are alleviated by pot.

Russell Barth

Federally licensed medical marijuana user Patients Against Ignorance
and Discrimination on Cannabis