And really, like all FOX news stories, it does not tell the whole story. The truth is that cannabis use can exacerbate symptoms of those who already have signs of schizophrenia and can manifest schizophrenia in people who have a history of it in their family as it is a hereditary condition.
I know this because of a friend of mine who was told by all of us not to smoke up because his mother was schizophrenic and he was showing early signs (zoning out, seeing conspiracies everywhere, paranoid). Rather than go to a doctor to get proper treatment, he continued use and as a result he came down with full blown schizophrenia.
He was never really a smoker but then he had some serious personal issues and started smoking daily. He got worse with each passing week. His brother told me that his doctor said that MJ can actually be a good treatment for other conditions like depression and anxiety but most mental health conditions that comes as a result of serious chemical imbalances or misfiring neurons can be worsened by MJ use. One exception to that is Epilepsy in which MJ has proven to be a great mitigator in preventing seizures but like any medical treatment it needs to come from licensed growers and more specially an Indica strain.
The moral of the story is simple. Like alcohol, marijuana, if used responsibly for recreational purposes poses little to no threat. Used irresponsibly as in not paying attention to you family medical history and/or medicating for serious issues without the consult of a doctor, you are asking for trouble. Again, Darwinism doing it's thing.
Dear Jedi: I am sorry to hear about your friend.
I recommend Scott Peck's book "Glimpses of the Devil" where he studied the effects of deliverance procedures on two "incureable" schizophrenic patients, both experiencing demonic voices and personalities overtaking their own.
Peck's original intent was to DEBUNK any notion that demons were real, which he understood were part of the sickness and delusion "in the patients' minds"
He not only changed his mind (after these "imaginary demons" targeted and attacked him verbally for things his patients had no knowledge of, which followed the deliverance process that he was told would progress in recognizable stages) but he witnessed these patients change and regain control of their minds, so they could complete therapy as other patients. Before the demonic obsession and rebellious rejection prevented either patient from complying with doctor's instructions. One patient fully recovered to normal behavior and mental ability and health; the other died of complications from physical disease that had progressed too far because she didn't get help in time and went all her life suffering self-afflicted abuse due to her mental illness.
Peck not only changed his mind and realized this process followed a method that could be quantified medically,
but he urged formal research to develop psychiatric diagnosis and treatment based on this so more people could be helped and cured
(and more lives could be saved by earlier intervention, which he realized could have saved the second patient had she been helped sooner, like removing a tumor before it metastasizes too far)
What would happen if for all the research directed toward legalization marijuana
EQUALLY was invested, dollar-for-dollar, case for case,
into this "natural healing therapy" that does not require using pot or any medication
and has no risks or side effects (the worst reported is that the removal of all the spiritual
negativity inside feels mentally painful "like dying," or reported as feeling "like rape" or totally violated,
but the peace of mind that comes afterward makes the person forget the temporary turbulence to get there.
I would compare this to how open heart surgery makes someone feel dead afterwards, where they cannot function.
Or surgery to regrow bones is so painful that the person wishes they would die instead. But with this process
it is not physically dangerous, it is purely internal on the mental or spiritual level where the painful "gutting" process takes place.)
If this "spiritual healing" can cure schizophrenics of "demonic voices delusions or destructive personalities",
while pot can make schizophrenia worse, why are we only researching one and not the other?
Not all cases of all diseases can be cured naturally through healing prayer.
Most still require mental or medical therapy in addition to the spiritual therapy,
so all levels of healing and health are addressed in full.
But of the cases that have been reported, these range from curing physical diseases, such as cancer diabetes rheumatoid arthritis, to mental illness and addiction.
I have never heard of pot curing the CAUSE of someone's addiction.
But spiritual healing has. I can only imagine that once this research and methods become general knowledge, the demand for drugs will reduce drastically. Fewer and fewer people would use pot or other drugs to placate symptoms if the disease itself can be cured.
Two books that mention curing schizophrenic patients that traditional treatment alone could not cure:
* Healing by Francis MacNutt
* Glimpses of the Devil by Scott Peck (also "People of the Lie" describes the spiritual cause and process of "evil" sick personality disorders he observed in patients)
