Re: Trimbos Institute - Cannabis 'doubles chances of psychosis'

On Tue, 28 Oct 2003 15:46:07 GMT, brian bennett
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>can we now claim that pot smoking actually *lowers* (by a factor of 10, mind
>you) the odds that one will become schizophrenic?  ;^)

The evidence does indicate that cannabis protects users from
schizophrenia. 

In Canada cannabis use has been skyrocketing over the last decade or
so and in the same period the incedence of schizophrenia in the
general population has dropped by 28.4%, from 358.1 cases per 100,000
in 1986 to 251.9 per 100,000 in 1997:

 www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2001/Feb/Decline_tab1.htm

 www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2001/Feb/Decline3.asp

This is still far above the incidence of schizophrenia amongst
cannabis users in the Trimbos report. This may be due to the incidence
of schizophrenia in the non cannabis using population remaining
constant while it is dropping amongst the increasing numbers of
cannabis users, thereby reducing the total average incidence of
schizophrenia in the general population.


      Clough