I don't have enough information to make an informed remark, though this relates to my sons(fraternal twins).

cum hoc ergo propter hoc

Yes, findings like this should affect the legalization of marijuana, just as soon as we determine that the government suspends a person right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Until then, please don't forget to propose the same rationale against toxic recreational substances any 18 or 21 year old can legally consume.

I haven't had the opportunity to read this study or related studies so excuse the ignorance if this issue was addressed in the studies. The intro synopsis made no mention of the fact that those who had schizophrenia and used marijuana may possibly have been self medicating with the marijuana as opposed to the link to causation. Is it possible that there were underlying emotional issues that the subjects were unknowingly self medicating?

Correlation does not imply causation. Most Americans smoke or have smoked cannabis, and along the lines your bound to find some people with mental disorders doing it too.

Alcohol is actually a far bigger contributor to schizophrenic breakdowns than Marijuana could ever be.

But, if someone is pre-disposed to such a mental issue, they probably should resist using Marijuana, for their own good... Or practice some very serious moderation.

Above all else, this concern is CERTAINLY nothing to keep Marijuana criminalized over. That would be horribly unfair to the many other strong points in favor of legalization.

(note: the results of such studies could be due to the fact that many patients try using Marijuana on their own, to deal with their illness, however misguided that may be.) Also, other studies in the past that have attempted to link Marijuana to mental illness, stood on very shaky ground, and found such small links, it was almost non-existent.

Hello;
I tend to agree with the past comments which link marijuana
use with self-medicating. The same could be said for alcohol and over-eating, the latter releasing endorphins which are
soothing. I tried hash when I was ill with my mental illness,
however it had no effect at all, might as well have been water, but that might have been a dissociative effect. I would recommend more research on this topic. I certainly don't think any drugs or alcohol, that is illegal drugs are the way to go to cope with mental illness. It just doesn't work. Love Lou

I have read this article and firstly it is not a causative correlation, but rather a statistical significance. Such as a higher rate of heavy cigarette smokers that have some schizo-spectrum disorders, smoking cigarettes doesn’t cause schizophrenia yet they tend to smoke them more frequently and at a heaver rate than the general population. Secondly the evidence at best can only show an earlier onset of the disorder, thusly the person with schizophrenia would have most likely succumbed eventually to the disease. Similar arguments can be made to alcohol or head trauma, or even high fevers, it is a genetic disorder that can have possible environmental triggers but those triggers can be anything including stress, so are we to ban stress and fevers and all possible dangerous activities. The answer is no to use this as an argument against legalizing marijuana is ridiculous and nothing more than a red herring.