by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright July 27, 2007
All Rights Reserved.

eporting in Lancet July 26, Britain's leading medical journal, a new government-sponsored study indicated that smoking one joint raises the risk of schizophrenia by 40%. Schizophrenia is a class of genetic and neurochemical mental disorders causing a disabling loss of functioning, characterized by withdrawal from reality, visual and auditory hallucinations and grossly impaired social relationships. Over 100 years of research point toward faulty genetics and biochemistry. According to the Lancet study, one in seven cases of schizophrenia and other life-threatening mental illness are linked to cannabis use. Lancet's study seemed timed with the government's attempt to downgrade marijuana to Class C, the least restricted drug class. Marijuana has been legalized in the Netherlands and decriminalized in many European and Asian countries, Australia and Canada.

      Since the U.S. government propaganda film “Reefer Madness” hit the big screen in 1936, marijuana use has been attributed to everything from promiscuity to violent crime. No U.S. government-sponsored or independent study has linked marijuana use to social depravity, truancy, mental illness, criminal behavior or any other behavior problem. “We believe there is now enough evidence to inform people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life,” said one of the study's authors, Cardiff University researcher Dr. Stanley Zammit. Concluding that using cannabis raised the risk of schizophrenia by 41% is counterintuitive to the vast majority of scientists or marijuana users. While there's no question that marijuana use doesn't help preexisting mental illness, that's a far cry from saying it causes psychosis or schizophrenia.

      In the U.S., where “compassionate use laws” make marijuana use legal for medical reasons, there's been no reported increase in schizophrenia, psychosis or other forms of mental illness to county and state health departments. At these “clubs,” where various drug-potencies are available, there's been no increase in psychotic episodes to local emergency rooms. “In the public debate, cannabis has been considered a more or less harmless drug compared with alcohol, central stimulants and opioids,” said Zammit, encouraging Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government to consider reversing proposed legislation to reclassify marijuana as more harmless. Professor Robin Murray of London's Institute of Psychiatry worries about potent cannabis known as “skunk weed,” causing adverse reactions. Her 2005 research indicates 18-year-old users were 1.6-times more likely to develop severe mental illness in their mid-20s.

      Researchers cite several murders attributable to marijuana use and schizophrenia. It's difficult ferreting out violent propensities from schizophrenia and marijuana. Several studies in the U.S., supported by the Church of Scientology, correlate antidepressants with homicide or suicide. Whether mass killers, like the 1999 Columbine High School teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, took antidepressants, marijuana or any other drug doesn't mean the drugs caused the violence. While there's no evidence that schizophrenics commit murder or violent crime at higher rates than the normal population, doesn't mean the condition makes violence more likely. Concluding that marijuana increases the rate of schizophrenia or violence oversimplifies the complexity of both mental illness and criminality. Hasty conclusions about marijuana and mental illness raise political red flags.

      Raising the specter of political pressure, Marjorie Wallace, executive director of the mental health charity SANE, warned the government to not reclassify marijuana. “This analysis should act as a serious warning of the dangers of regular or heavy cannabis use, doubling the risk of schizophrenia . . .” said Wallace, accepting as gospel the Lancet study. Epidemiologists have found no increase in recent years of schizophrenia, despite the increase in marijuana potency and use. Whatever misfires in schizophrenics, it's not going to be permanently changed by the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol. THC has a half-life of 1.3 days in occasional users, depending on the potency, frequency and the smoker's metabolism. With most the THC gone in a-week-or-two, it's naïve to think that lasting schizophrenic-like symptoms would be caused by the drug.

      Before the public or lawmakers draw any conclusions, they must consider the source. As reported in major U.S. newspapers, scientific research has been compromised by the influence of drug companies, more concerned about selling drugs than the health, safety and welfare of consumers. Governments, too, have an ax to grind sponsoring science to advance political agendas. Attributing 14% of teenage schizophrenia in the U.K. to marijuana makes a strong political point but lacks “face” validity. Researchers studying schizophrenia know that it's caused by complex genetic and neurochemical factors unrelated to THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. “The debate about classification should not founder on statistics but take into account the potential damage to hundreds of people who without cannabis would not develop mental illness,” said Wallace, echoing the government's spin.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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