This is not the point. My point is that marijuana can speed up the onset of schizophrenia and should not be used by people that have family history of mental illness. It has nothing to do with what is legal and what isn't. Even if marijuana were legalized, my point would still stand.

I think an alternate interpretation of that study could be that if schizophrenia (considered my many to be an outdated term) runs in the family, future children will learn earlier that they need to try something to deal with the problem of schizophrenic parents being bad parents and making things worse overall.

More bluntly: because children are screwed up faster by the collective parenting habits of multiple generations of mentally ill ancestors, they turn to possible fixes outside of their screwed up families: junior high + pot is normal. Marijuana, if anything, is a minor symptom here.

Note: You're talking about why alcohol and tobacco are legal while marijuana is illegal; but hristov was talking about whether or not someone who self-medicates with marijuana is playing with fire.

In the US, it was more or less unregulated till the 50s/60s. Also, your claim does not explain European countries' stand on it or that of African nations.

I believe trade agreements with the US prevent full legalization. Portugal decriminalization act was carefully drawn not to break any of this treaties.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this was not the case when the laws were originally passed in those countries. I.e. the original passage in decades past were not due to these trade pressures.

Do you have evidence that alcohol and tobacco are worse in the specific context of schizophrenia?

This research paper seems to suggest that at least alcohol does: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dcare/pdfs/fp/GreenAlan-Alcoholand...

Even if Alcohol doesn't specifically make schizophrenia worse, alcohol abuse is the most common comorbid disorder of schizophrenics and generally exacerbates all mental health problems to some extent.

Thanks, interesting... though the opening line does seem to suggest marijuana use remains especially linked with schizophrenia -- in prevalence at least:

Alcohol use disorder, which is three times more common in patients with schizophrenia than in the general population, and cannabis use disorder, which is up to 10 times more common, both contribute to the morbidity of schizophrenia, through increased relapse, noncompliance with treatment, more hospitalizations, and poorer overall functioning.

As far as I've read, and I read whatever I can, there's still no evidence one way or another about which causes which.

Does cannabis have a causitive or trigger effect on schizophrenia? Or are schizophrenics more likely to live on the fringes of society and encounter (and like) cannabis?

Just one person's anecdote, but I am close with a person who is schizophrenic. Marijuana use significantly contributed to episode occurrence. After their psychologist told them that it can make things worse, they stopped, and it improved their situation considerably.

I think it's related to the whole paranoia side of things.

This is a valid point, and more work needs to be done in this field.

However I think a fairly safe default is to tell kids not to smoke pot until we can make a more educated decision (provided of course we don't extend that ban to adults for no reason, and provided we don't purposely ruin the lives of kids who don't listen. (You wouldn't arrest or kick a kid out of school for smoking tobacco.)).

Or even more simply: is there something in marijuana that makes schizophrenia more tolerable than with alcohol. Furthermore, mentally ill people are going to have more trouble finding a regular pot dealer, the black market being an inherently suspicious place, so as their condition worsens alcohol becomes the most-available drug.

Tobacco has anti-psychotic properties which can help to alleviate the effects of schizophrenia, which is one reason almost all schizo patients smoke. Alcohol on the other hand can make the condition worse because it has psychotic properties. Marijuana is both psychotic and anti-psychotic so how that will affect the patient is more unclear.