Comments: The Pot Causes Schizophrenia Hype Runneth Over
Cool Blog.
this hype hit hard in Australia about 6-12 months ago. According to a "New Scientist" editorial this latest hype was started in the UK by anti-drug groups looking to get the government to increase penalties for pot.
My view has always been that pot is a balance when it comes to schizophrenia, it can be both good and bad. It can push people over the edge, but so do many things. In my own experience the sheer lack of availability of mental health services, and arrogance of mental health staff in refusing treatment in early stages of illness results in a far greater number of mental illness then drugs ever will. AKA - doctors cause an order of magnitude more cases of mental illness then drugs do. This problem will now get worse as such people can now say “stop smoking pot and you'll be fine” - which ignores the majority of people having great underlying problem unrelated to pot.
The mental health industry should fix up it's own back-yard before trying to divert the blame for their failings onto others . Unfortunately in Australia drug use is being pandered about as a scape-goat to hide the fundamental problems in our mental health system, and demonizing and blaming the mentally ill for their mental illness.
Posted by Aaron at January 28, 2006 06:31 PM