PotShot

Potheads and Mental Illness
By Cliff Kincaid | Accuracy in Media | January 23, 2006

PS: Heeeee's Back!

My commentary about the killer of Carlie Brucia being a drug addict and pothead generated the typical responses from the George Soros-funded pot lobby. The trial of Joseph Smith, who was convicted and sentenced to death for his brutal crime, was big news. Far less attention was devoted to how he was transformed by drugs, including pot, into a monster.

Typically, potheads don't like to consider that using drugs, including marijuana, could lead to crime and murder. One wrote to me saying, "All I can hope is that one night the police will conduct a no-knock raid on your home at 3:00 A.M., you and your ilk are certainly deserving of a taste of what you call down on others." I plead guilty to hoping that drug-addicted child killers like Joseph Smith are busted and imprisoned before they kill little girls.

I also received this letter:

"Dear Mr. Kincaid,

"I write to you from Australia…Thank you for your honest and insightful article on the effects of this dangerous illegal drug.

"I have been saying for 10+ years that marijuana (and probably speed) CAUSES the onset of schizophrenia even in young people who do not have a genetic predisposition.

"The general consensus has been that marijuana only triggers SZ in genetically vulnerable people. But I do not believe that anymore.

"Research and families medical experience is that, in the vast majority of SZ diagnosis, there is NO family history of mental illnesses.

"The problem with the scientific community is that they will not accept evidence from the experiences of the community until it has been proven scientifically.

"In practice, psychiatric nurses and even some psychiatrists have known for years of the effect of these street drugs, along with the families of consumers who have been burdened with this devastating illness.

"I have a son who has schizophrenia which I believe was caused by marijuana and compounded by speed (meth, if you like to call it that). I was told by one doctor, early in his diagnosis, that if the street drug use did not stop, then in the long run it doesn't matter if it's genetic or not, it won't go away. So what is that statement other than an admission that the street drugs actually cause the illness?

"I have been saying for many years that one day someone will prove my point scientifically and it looks like that day is getting very close."

Indeed, the evidence is being developed by the scientific community that marijuana use is a significant risk factor for developing mental problems. Mental illness is a problem that not only destroys individuals with the disorder, but their families. Schizophrenia, which is increasingly linked to marijuana use, is characterized by delusions, hallucinations and a general inability to relate to reality.

The best evidence on the connection is the volume, Marijuana and Madness, from Cambridge University Press. See http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521819407&ss=fro

The influence of marijuana figures in the sensational murder case of Colin Roger Cotting, a 16-year-old who raped his stepmother, beat her to death, and stuffed her in a freezer. Cotting said he was too stoned to remember what happened.

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Carl Sagan Goodness Richard Dawkins Goodness