BabyBoomer50s
Capitalist
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- Nov 27, 2018
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Alysia Finley has a column out today that discusses how chronic marijuana use is a common characteristic among mass shooters and other violent crimes. We’re used to calls for more gun control and more attention to mental health whenever there’s a shooting. It’s time to more closely examine the role cannabis policies might play as well.
Some excerpts:
Joshua Jahn was far from alone in using marijuana heavily before committing serious acts of violence.
Increasing studies show that frequent use of marijuana, especially at high potency, is associated with violent behavior, schizophrenia, psychosis and suicidal thoughts—not to mention heart attacks and strokes. These associations hold when researchers control for demographics, mental and other illnesses, and use of other drugs.
Correlation doesn’t prove causation. But the primary factors that scientists look at to demonstrate a causal effect—consistency and strength of association, dose response, plausible biologic mechanism, coherence between lab and observational finding, and experimental evidence—all suggest cannabis use can trigger psychosis and violent inclinations.
As a teenager, Jahn often posted on a Reddit forum for cannabis users. In April 2016, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of trafficking marijuana. The following year, he moved to Washington state—one of the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use—to work on a pot farm.
“He was all about the weed. He wanted to be part of the scene. He lived in his car while he helped,” the farm’s manager, Ryan Sanderson, told the New York Post. “There are people who work, and there are people who go through the motions. He was one of those guys. He didn’t work that hard, probably because he was too high.”
He later drifted and became socially isolated, logging more than 10,000 hours playing games like “Team Fortress 2” and “Left 4 Dead 2.” The latter game involves shooting masses of violent zombies. Might a deadly cocktail of marijuana use and violent videogames have turned Jahn into a zombie?
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/did-pot...2e627?st=o5QuzP&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Some excerpts:
Joshua Jahn was far from alone in using marijuana heavily before committing serious acts of violence.
Increasing studies show that frequent use of marijuana, especially at high potency, is associated with violent behavior, schizophrenia, psychosis and suicidal thoughts—not to mention heart attacks and strokes. These associations hold when researchers control for demographics, mental and other illnesses, and use of other drugs.
Correlation doesn’t prove causation. But the primary factors that scientists look at to demonstrate a causal effect—consistency and strength of association, dose response, plausible biologic mechanism, coherence between lab and observational finding, and experimental evidence—all suggest cannabis use can trigger psychosis and violent inclinations.
As a teenager, Jahn often posted on a Reddit forum for cannabis users. In April 2016, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of trafficking marijuana. The following year, he moved to Washington state—one of the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use—to work on a pot farm.
“He was all about the weed. He wanted to be part of the scene. He lived in his car while he helped,” the farm’s manager, Ryan Sanderson, told the New York Post. “There are people who work, and there are people who go through the motions. He was one of those guys. He didn’t work that hard, probably because he was too high.”
He later drifted and became socially isolated, logging more than 10,000 hours playing games like “Team Fortress 2” and “Left 4 Dead 2.” The latter game involves shooting masses of violent zombies. Might a deadly cocktail of marijuana use and violent videogames have turned Jahn into a zombie?
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/did-pot...2e627?st=o5QuzP&reflink=article_copyURL_share
