Plenty of commenters have touched on the inaccuracy of a direct causal relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia, so I will not touch on that.

However, I do want to critique the sensationalist description of drug use in this article, which takes up almost half the actual article.

Teenagers partying, making a mess, having sex, throwing up…associating this chaotic behaviour with addiction and abuse is, in my opinion, irresponsible and stereotypical. I fear that it may only further stigmatize the complex problem that is substance abuse.

Many of us experimented with drugs and partying when we were young, maybe even making a bad decision or two, but the majority of us grow out of recover from this phase to become healthy adults. I’ve binge-drank a number of times in my youth, and it wasn’t pretty, but I’m not a raging alcoholic now. I don’t think it’s fair to suggest such a causal relationship between teenage partying and adult health problems.

If you watch addiction documentaries like Intervention, you’ll find that most of the time, chronic addicts do not live such sensationalist lives. Alcoholics, opiate addicts, etc. are overworked parents, young people who are quietly reliving childhood trauma, and other relatively “normal” people by appearance.

Drugs should also not be lumped in together. Cannabis is not associated with violent behaviour, for example, and, in this sense, is way way safer than alcohol and does not deserve the sensationalist image it is conflated with here.