,
27 tweets,
6 min read
Read on Twitter
Alex, honestly just stop this. Multiple credible scientists have spoken out to media about you, why are you doing this. I cant believe you would be so petty to go after @zivacooper in a blind tweet like this. Now you’re getting another rant.
First, to try and paint Ziva as an advocate and separate her from the committee is ridiculous. Most of them arent on twitter and most people upset at you are too busy to spend the amount of time I have going after you to correct your multiple errors. But more so...1/n
You continue to demonstrate your clear lack of understanding what the committee actually said by cherry picking the headline from the chapter and ignoring the substance of what they reviewed. You also clearly demonstrate your complete lack of understanding about risk. 2/n
Yes, research does show a reliable statistical relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia (SZ), and through the use of some statistical controls, it has been established that cannabis use, especially with high potency products and especially during adolescence...3/n
increases risk of SZ. But to understand what this means, and how complicated risk analysis can be for a variable like cannabis, one must look at the broader picture. As a comparison, living in an urban setting like a city has also been established as a risk factor...4/n
or the development of SZ because rates of SZ are higher in cities then they are in rural communities. Why this relationship exists is not entirely clear, some have postulated that it relates to increased toxin exposure or exposure to more infectious diseases in cities....5/n
some have speculated that it could relate to social factors and life stress differences between these communities and some have speculated that it may relate to higher rates of migrant populations in cities versus rural communities because SZ rates are also higher in....6/n
migrant populations. Does this mean cities cause SZ? Not necessarily, it means that living in a city comes with a higher risk of developing SZ and the reasons for that could be multifactorial, with some of these factors possibly being causal and some of these factors...7/n
possibly being explained by specific variables. With cannabis the complexity is similar, the risk ratio is based on the fact that there is greater degree of cannabis use in SZ then there is in the general population, and the greater the use of cannabis....8/n
the higher the risk of SZ (so people who use more cannabis or higher potency cannabis have a greater likelihood of developing SZ). But to take a risk ratio and translate that to direct causal association, without thoughtful consideration of other interpretations....9/n
is difficult, and frankly inappropriate, in the absence of other data. Sometimes these risk ratios do dictate causality, as is the case with cigarette smoking and lung cancer, but to make that causality firm a lot of other data is required. For cannabis there are....10/n
alternate explanations that could account for the increased rates of cannabis use in schizophrenia that do not mean causality. As I mentioned before, there are genetic studies now that have shown that genes associated with SZ development may also, independently, be related...11/n
to cannabis use. That means some of the biology that could relate to the development of SZ could also relate to the onset and maintained use of cannabis (some people like cannabis, some dont, perhaps this biology accounts for some of that variance). 12/n
There could also be a relationship between SZ and cannabis because individuals with SZ, even before their symptoms become diagnosed, use cannabis because they find it helps to manage some of their symptoms (not recognizing in the long run it may make their disease worse). 13/n
This is just a couple of examples of alternate interpretations, but the point is, there are multiple reasons why a strong relationship could exist between cannabis and SZ, and this statistical relationship can easily translate into a risk ratio without being causal, per se. 14/n
The NAM committee recognizes this and in fact they blatantly state this exact issue in their report, which you conveniently continue to ignore but flaunt the headline and repeat it ad nauseam. 15/n 
Given that the epidemiology of SZ has not really changed over time as cannabis use has become more prevalent, nor does it really vary around the world in a manner relating to rates of cannabis use in a given pop'n, its difficult to say that this relationship is causal. 16/n
Given that cannabis can act as a trigger to a psychotic episode in a vulnerable individual, however, it is understandable how this causal association could be mistaken because often people will assume that because SZ emerged after cannabis use....17/n
that cannabis caused the disease to develop, when in reality what it really may have done is just unmask something that would have likely developed anyways. This in no way argues that cannabis is not harmful to individuals with SZ, and in my opinion....18/n
cannabis should be avoided entirely with people who have SZ or who may be vulnerable to develop SZ (such as a family history), but it does suggest that the situation is far more complicated then simply arguing cannabis causes SZ and more cannabis means more SZ. 19/n
I have spent the last week talking to pretty much every scientist I know who studies cannabis and @AlexBerenson I have yet to find one who actually agrees with you. Outside of the scientists I know, I have watched data scientists come after you for your flawed analysis too. 20/n
Your response is to paint us all as advocates to try and make us sound compromised, but few if any of the scientists I know have any involvement in the cannabis industry. Our opinions are based on fact and our frustration comes from your blind fear mongering. 21/n
Perhaps you should not have taken such a one sided approach in your perspective and done your job like a journalist to actually understand why there is disagreement and contention in the scientific community and you would understand this issue better. 22/n
So for the last time, please stop this. Please stop fanning the flames of fear mongering with this. There are real tangible harms associated with cannabis and educational programs need to focus on these. We need to talk to teenagers about the fact that early onset of use...23/n
especially with high potency products significantly increases rates of dependency which can have a large impact on ones trajectory and life. You are destroying the credible arguments that many of us have been careful and spent time crafting to stick to the evidence....24/n
of what we know about the harms related to cannabis use, by creating a straw man argument that can easily be taken down. Please stop this and please stop your fake Don Quixote quest to become some hero who saved society by warning everyone of the "true" dangers of cannabis. 25/n
If you truly want to educate the public about the fact that cannabis is not a benign substance then talk to the researchers who know and study this and approach this with honesty and evidence, not cherry picked data and pearl clutching. 26/26 FIN
