Cannabis and the Daily Mail’s schizophrenia scaremongering
WHEN the Daily Mail told its readers “Just ONE cannabis joint ‘can bring on schizophrenia’ as well as damaging memory” back on October 25, 2011, we wondered. Could it be true? Well, no. It wasn’t. A mere five months later, on pril 3, 2012, the Mail wrote:
A report on research by the University of Bristol on 26 October was headlined ‘One cannabis joint “can bring on schizophrenia”.’ We are happy to clarify that, as the article explained, the research on rats found that the active ingredient in cannabis could induce symptoms similar to schizophrenia, rather than schizophrenia itself.
As UKCIA points out, that headline contained quotation marks. Only, the story never divulged who had uttered the headline-making words.
The article is classic scaremongering stuff.
According to the NHS, symptoms of schizophrenia are:
Positive symptoms represent a change in behaviour or thoughts, such as hallucinations or delusions.
Negative symptoms represent a withdrawal or lack of function that you would usually expect to see in a healthy person. For example, people with schizophrenia often appear emotionless, flat and apathetic.
In short: smoking cannabis makes you lifeless and changes your mood. Who knew..?
Posted: 10th, April 2012 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
