Did you bother to read any of the links you provided?
Here is the fact. In a very small portion 2.1% of people who have a predisposition for schizophrenia may show symptoms earlier that they might if they chrionicly abuse pot when they are young.
Not 2.1% of all people, or people who smoke pot or people who abuse pot chronically while they are young. 2.1% of people who have a higher chance of developing schizophrenia already, may have an earlier onset of the mental condition according to statistical data taken from the Danish Institute. So there is an ever so slight risk there.
Fact is, no one knows what causes schizophrenia. Nor is it just one thing, it's many things together. Here is a little bit about it.
What causes schizophrenia?
Like many other illnesses, schizophrenia is believed to result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. All the tools of modern science are being used to search for the causes of this disorder.
Can schizophrenia be inherited?
Scientists have long known that schizophrenia runs in families. It occurs in 1 percent of the general population but is seen in 10 percent of people with a first-degree relative (a parent, brother, or sister) with the disorder. People who have second-degree relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents, or cousins) with the disease also develop schizophrenia more often than the general population. The identical twin of a person with schizophrenia is most at risk, with a 40 to 65 percent chance of developing the disorder.
Our genes are located on 23 pairs of chromosomes that are found in each cell. We inherit two copies of each gene, one from each parent. Several of these genes are thought to be associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, but scientists believe that each gene has a very small effect and is not responsible for causing the disease by itself. It is still not possible to predict who will develop the disease by looking at genetic material.
Although there is a genetic risk for schizophrenia, it is not likely that genes alone are sufficient to cause the disorder. Interactions between genes and the environment are thought to be necessary for schizophrenia to develop. Many environmental factors have been suggested as risk factors, such as exposure to viruses or malnutrition in the womb, problems during birth, and psychosocial factors, like stressful environmental conditions.
Do people with schizophrenia have faulty brain chemistry?
It is likely that an imbalance in the complex, interrelated chemical reactions of the brain involving the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate (and possibly others) plays a role in schizophrenia. Neurotransmitters are substances that allow brain cells to communicate with one another. Basic knowledge about brain chemistry and its link to schizophrenia is expanding rapidly and is a promising area of research.
Do the brains of people with schizophrenia look different?
The brains of people with schizophrenia look a little different than the brains of healthy people, but the differences are small. Sometimes the fluid-filled cavities at the center of the brain, called ventricles, are larger in people with schizophrenia; overall gray matter volume is lower; and some areas of the brain have less or more metabolic activity. Microscopic studies of brain tissue after death have also revealed small changes in the distribution or characteristics of brain cells in people with schizophrenia. It appears that many of these changes were prenatal because they are not accompanied by glial cells, which are always present when a brain injury occurs after birth. One theory suggests that problems during brain development lead to faulty connections that lie dormant until puberty. The brain undergoes major changes during puberty, and these changes could trigger psychotic symptoms.
The only way to answer these questions is to conduct more research. Scientists in the United States and around the world are studying schizophrenia and trying to develop new ways to prevent and treat the disorder.
But making bold claims like pot causes schizophrenia attract attention and money too. So there is a motive for the less scrupulous to make such a suggestion isn't there?
Now let's put it into context.
No one has died from smoking pot. Allergies and mouldy buds, have made some people quite sick, but that's the allergy and the mould that is to blame. In the same way that peanut butter isn't a killer because some people are allergic.
An exhaustive search of the literature finds no credible reports of deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.
Source:
National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at
http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.
Let's put that in contrast.
These are American figures by the way.
Tobacco: Over 400,000 per year.
Alcohol: Over 85,000 per year.
Asprin: Over 7000 people per year.
Pot: 0
The sale and cultivation of Pot is a totally unregulated underground industry that is for the most part controled by organized crime.
Here is some perspective for you. A regular drinker of coffee is going to have a much more difficult time of quitting coffee than your average pot smoker will have in quitting the weed.
You should think about that for a bit.
Now consider all the laws that are made and the efforts of some people to put an end to smoking pot. At the moment the US spends about $600 per second on the drug war. Per second.
All for a plant that is harmless.
Now that's an organized crime.
