I am not a scientist. I am not a psychologist. I am just a simple working-class guy with a basic college education. Somehow I have been able to see through the jargon that gets spewed to the public on a regular basis. I've heard the spin and propaganda so long, I can see it coming from the first sentence of an article.

No, no, I'm not talking about the executive branch this time. I'm talking about psychological studies. Specifically, a new study came out concerning marijuana. I am currently in year fourteen of my own personal marijuana study, so I wanted to see what others said about the subject. Apparently, it seems that it might be possible that there is a chance that marijuana might cause psychosis.

"The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think," said Dr. Stanley Zammit, one of the study's authors and a lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at Cardiff University.

Okay. Let's take that sentence right there. 'Available evidence' What does that mean? Does that mean if other evidence became available, the decision might change? 'Suggest' is just a suggestion, right? Then there's 'not as harmless' & 'many people.' How harmless is harmless? Many people? If you get 100 people together, you could get 'many people' to think just about anything.

Qualifiers abound throughout the article. The phrases ''could be,' & 'seems to,' are littered throughout which basically says smoking marijuana increases your chance of psychosis.

An interesting admittance occurs in the fifth sentence-paragraph in the story:

'The researchers said they couldn't prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.'

So let me get this straight, they couldn't prove all the statements they are claiming, but yet, they are claiming them anyway. This 'could be' true, and that 'seems to' suggest. Okay, people. Thanks for your researched opinion & suggestions on the subject.

I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, and I know all about the problems of soft science. To actually prove anything, you have to have a 95 percent statistical significance from your study. To say it is true means it happens 19 out of 20 times. That means the even the truth isn't always the truth. These folks couldn't 'prove' anything, but I would wager someone paid them a lot of money for a study that would suggest that marijuana makes you crazy. Reefer madness, anyone?

'Scientists cannot rule out that pre-existing conditions could have led to both marijuana use and later psychoses,' the report adds. This 'could' or 'seems to' suggest that marijuana has nothing to do with whether people go crazy or not.

I'm not really mad that people are doing studies on marijuana, or that they find that the weed is 'not as harmless as many people think.' From my personal studies, I have found that cannabis works well for certain instances and situations, and it is completely inappropriate and detrimental at other times. It 'could be' said or 'suggested' that marijuana 'in its own way' is as dangerous as tobacco or alcohol.

What bothers me is that someone in London who was paid to do this study came up with nothing 'significant,' so they published a bunch of could be's and risk factor explanations. By the way, up to 800 cases of psychosis world-wide 'might be' caused by marijuana (or something else) each year. Are you scared yet?

Thanks for the info, guys. Now politicians, doctors and prescription drug companies can bash that resilient weed with your newly discovered 'evidence' & 'proof.' They can tell the public they looked at the intelligence report and made the conclusion: Marijuana can maybe make you crazy. It's a strong maybe, right?

Folks, it's not just marijuana, it's not just WMDs in third world nations, it's whatever they want to 'prove.' 'Some experts say' that this isn't good for you. 'Some people say' that you shouldn't go out at night because of the boogeyman. 'Some powerful people' want you to stay in line & in debt. You really should do your own research on topics that matter.

"We've reached the end of the road with these kinds of studies," said Dr. Robin Murray of King's College, who had no role in the Lancet study. "Experts are now agreed on the connection between cannabis and psychoses. What we need now is for 14-year-olds to know it."

That's great. They 'proved' nothing, but experts agreed there is a 'connection' between drugs and madness. You guys are geniuses. How long did you research to come up with that? In the end, it's just the same unproven propaganda. Don't do drugs, kids, because drugs are bad. Don't smoke cigarettes until you're 18, don't drink until you're 21, and don't do black market drugs because the government and the drug companies doesn't get a cut.

I can't wait for the next study.

Chris Jungle 'could be' telling the truth.