Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Tim Vandergrif Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) SCARE TACTICS So, cannabis use increases the risk of schizophrenia by 200 per cent, does it? With the incredible explosion of cannabis use in B.C., there should be armies of psychotic cannabis addicts shuddering through the streets. I don't see them, and neither do public health authorities. Between the 1940s and 1990s, you could directly link the rise and fall in rates of lung cancer with tobacco usage rates. But there has been no change in the rate of schizophrenia. Nobody is saying cannabis has no effect on its users. It makes them hungry, renders them annoying and induces conversational incoherence and a love of the Grateful Dead. But The Province's scare tactics and rotten writing won't help convince anyone of anything. Tim Vandergrif White Rock - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman