The Legalization of Marijuana and Its Link to Psychosis

by · Mar 24, 2021 5:11 am

A growing body of scientific studies suggest that marijuana use increases the risk of developing psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.  There is an ongoing debate among scientists regarding the exact nature of the risk, including whether the risk is largely confined to those who are already genetically predisposed to these illnesses.  But many scientists have raised the concern whether legalization of marijuana might lead to increases in these illnesses.

Which leads me to the current issue of JAMA Psychiatry, with the viewpoint article Balancing the Public Health Costs of Psychosis vs Mass Incarceration With the Legalization of Cannabis.  In essence, the article argues that marijuana prohibition is a unique risk factor for the development of psychotic illness.  How so, you may ask?   Let’s take a look.

First the authors make the observation that legalization of marijuana is a trend among the states.  They then make the very reasonable claim that marijuana use is associated with an increased risk of psychotic illness.  Then the authors state:

The US has the world’s highest incarceration rate, at 655 per 100 000 adults (followed by El Salvador at 590 per 100 000) and the world’s largest total prison population, at 2 121 600 (followed by China at 1 700 000), according to the World Prison Brief database. The criminalization of cannabis is a significant contributor with approximately 8 million cannabis-related arrests between 2001 and 2010, most owing to possession. Cannabis possession accounts for 36.8% of all drug use arrests in the US according to 2018 US Federal Bureau of Investigation data.

So, as written, the reader is to believe that many marijuana users are languishing in jail for mere possession.  If we dig into the some of the latest DOJ data, however, we learn that about 14% of the state prison population are serving time for drug offenses — and that includes both possession and distribution offenses.   To be sure, it is a nontrivial number of citizens, but anyone who works in the trenches knows that personal possession of small amounts of marijuana does not lead to a lengthy (if any) prison sentence.

Which matters as the authors then state:

Although psychosis is not the only form of psychological distress that may result from incarceration, it is worth considering the consequences of incarceration as a potential trauma or stressor that may contribute to the onset or exacerbation of psychosis given that psychosis risk is a primary argument raised against the legalization of cannabis.

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Misconceptions About Mass Shootings in the U.S.

by · Mar 23, 2021 3:29 pm

The manner in which the media reports on mass shootings leads the viewers to believe these rare instances are much more common than they are. Additionally, there is a false narrative floating around that more strict gun control legislation and more rigorous screening processes at gun stores would solve the issue. An article published in The Trace today addresses this misreporting. 

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Why Did SCOTUS Take the Boston Marathon Bomber Case?

by · Mar 23, 2021 1:22 pm

As Kent reported yesterday the Supreme Court granted the government’s petition for cert in the Boston Marathon bomber case.  The questions presented are whether the trial court held a sufficiently extensive voir dire, and whether it erred by excluding evidence that the bomber’s older brother was allegedly involved in different crimes two years before the Boston Marathon murders.

I spent the first few years of my career at the Justice Department answering defendants’ petitions for cert.  The thing that immediately struck me about the government’s cert petition was that the questions presented went only to the application of reasonably settled law to the facts of an individual case.  That is generally a classic formulation of a reason that the Court will not grant review.  There is no broadly applicable area of law in need of elaboration, and no circuit split.

It could be that the case is sufficiently notorious that the Court thought it worthy of review simply standing on its own.  But that seems unlikely; the Court tends to use its scarce time to address contentious legal questions regardless of a case’s public notoriety.  So what’s going on? Continue reading . . .

Portland Economy Suffers at the Hands of Violent Protesters

by · Mar 22, 2021 11:58 am

In an article this morning by Ian Lovett of the Wall Street Journal, the months of protests that often led to riots and violence in Downtown Portland are now hindering the recovery of the economy. Lovett points out, “The violence downtown has become a persistent roadblock in Portland’s attempts to reopen and revive its economy as vaccinations spread, Covid-19 cases fall, and business restrictions are loosened.” Many small businesses have been forced to close their doors for months, while others have had to close them permanently due to the riots that began last June. 

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Gascón’s Science

by · Mar 19, 2021 9:41 am

CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger was interviewed yesterday (3/18) on the Los Angeles drive-time talk leader KFI’s John & Ken Show.  The subject: the so-called science DA George Gascón cites to support his soft-on-criminals policies.  The interview is during hour three of the podcast at this link.

Brutal Murderer’s Death Sentence Upheld

by · Mar 18, 2021 3:33 pm

Oklahoma’s highest criminal court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man who beheaded one woman and injured another in September of 2014.  The Associated Press reports that the court rejected murderer Alton Nolen’s not guilty by reason of insanity claim.  Abby Uhlheiser of the Washington Post reports that of Nolen, an habitual felon who converted to Islam while in prison,  had been suspended from his job at a food processing plant and sought revenge later that day.   That afternoon Nolan entered the company’s administrative office armed with a large serrated knife, and approached 54-year-old Coleen Hufford from behind.  In front of witnesses Nolen beheaded the woman and then attacked another female employee before a company security officer shot Nolen, stopping the attack.

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NYPD: Bail Reform Caused Surge in Gun Violence

by · Mar 18, 2021 11:31 am

New York City’s five police unions issued a statement this week citing the state’s bail reform law, which took effect in 2020, as the cause of last year’s 47% increase in murders and 100% increase in shootings.  Rocco Parascandola of the New York Daily News has this story, quoting the head of the Police Benevolent Association, “Our cops on the street warned us that it was happening.  We warned the politicians that this (bail reform) won’t work.  Violence will rise.  And it has.”

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Following Science or Making It Up?

by · Mar 17, 2021 2:46 pm

The Los Angeles District Attorney Office issued this release touting the “accomplishments” of George Gascón’s first quarter in office. Among them is “a 71 percent reduction in enhancements filed by the office when comparing a three-month span between December 2020 and February 2021 to the same period the prior year.”

Why is that an accomplishment? “Conservative estimates suggest the reduction equates to more than 8,000 years of unnecessary exposure and the three-month cost savings are projected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” (Emphasis added.)

How do we know that exposure was “unnecessary”? How do we know there is any net “savings” at all, rather than a net cost, when the full cost of the additional crimes that will be committed in the future are factored in? Continue reading . . .

Under Philly DA Krasner “Criminals Aren’t Getting Punishment”

by · Mar 17, 2021 11:01 am

With homicides up 32% in Philadelphia so far this year, after a record-setting 499 people were murdered in 2020, many people including defense attorneys are questioning progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner’s reform policies, including his refusal to prosecute most property and drug criminals.  Joseph Simonson of the Washington Examiner reports that the vast majority (86%) of homicide victims are black although blacks make up just 44% of the city’s population.  Defense attorney Charles Peruto, who’s running to replace Krasner, said that due to his sweeping soft-on-crime reforms he and his colleagues “are down on their number of clients.  This Krasner is killing us.  It sounds funny….but it’s hurting the public.”

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