The Weird Case of Weed

America has always had a dicey relationship with marijuana. So has the rest of the Western world. It's either the evil weed, the cause of reefer madness and of no medical benefit or it's a great recreational drug with actual medical properties. Take your pick.

Lately, the reefer madness business has been trotted out again in the media. There was study released in Australia showing a link between pot and schizophrenia. And, as always happens, the old Scandinavian army studies make a reappearance. In them, a link is also claimed between weed and schizophrenia. My basic problem with these assertions is that they are links, not proof. But that hasn't stopped the Drug Czar's office from claiming they are proof, as they did in an interview with me last year. The army studies were very broad population-based studies in thousands of conscripts. With studies like those, you can never really factor out background noise the way you can in controlled studies. So the schizophrenia could be driven by any number of factors--weed, watching cartoons, being yelled at by your parents and so on. In the Australian study, researchers claim that pot can be linked to schizophrenia in a small percentage of cases. I don't distrust their science. But I'll remain unconvinced until the study is replicated a few times. I've just seen too many cases of Researcher X claiming marijuana does/causes Y and a big hew and cry erupting in the media, only to have subsequent research not prove earlier claims.

This time out, the media is confused. There are tons of article out there, so Google away. A favorite of mine is this from a conservative commentator who doesn't understand mental illness very well (dude, it's not all about genetics--at best schizophrenia is half-explained by genetics). And here's the British government saying weed use isn't a big deal in regards to schizophrenia. Of course, Harvard psych prof emeritus Lester Grinspoon has made a career out of arguing for weed to be used in treatment.

I do not think either side has a slam dunk case. Once again, I simply think everyone ought to grow up, be honest and acknowledge that pot does have some positive benefits medically (fights nausea in cancer and AIDS patients, helps with chronic pain patients and works as a short-term treatment for depression) but also has some potential drawbacks (um, schizophrenia). Once everyone gets done being honest, we ought to then actually study pot in controlled trials to examine what its effects are on depression and in more detail on what its possible relationship to schizophrenia might be. I've posted about that need before and it's time for the feds to set politics and morality aside and fund real studies. It's also time for them to let MAPS grow their own weed and get on with their studies of pot and treating mental illness.

I know that all the nanny statists and social commentators will froth at the mouth over that idea. But there's plenty of alcohol-induced psychosis among homeless Americans. I don't hear any of them calling for a halt to "Budweiser madness." Besides, when it comes to treating mental illness, I am in the "whatever works" camp. It's not like expensive patented psych meds are doing such a great job of treating mental illness. If pot has a role to play, then we should out what it is and go from there. And, for God's sake, would the feds call off their DEA dogs who keep going after medical marijuana users in California? Ever heard of states' rights guys?