Mental Illness alcohol, drugs and gun violence 07/07/2015 |
These findings have profound implications for crafting policy to avert future tragedies. In the wake of mass shootings, politicians from both sides of the aisle often call for including better mental health records in background checks. Though a worthwhile sentiment, the evidence suggests that these efforts would be better spent focusing on alcohol abuse instead. guns, alcohol |
The link between pot and mass shootings may be closer than we think 08/15/2019 |
Just last year, the Parents Opposed to Pot lobby group tried to sound the alarm on the link between marijuana and mass shootings, compiling a list of mass killers it claims were heavy users of marijuana from a young age, from Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes and Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner to Chattanooga, Tenn., shooter Mohammad Abdulazeez.
You can’t address the youth mental health crisis without considering the effect of rising teen marijuana use.
Among American teenagers, the drug’s “daily use has become as, or more, popular than daily cigarette smoking” according to the National Institute of Health’s 2017 Monitoring the Future study.
Another BMJ study estimated that “13 percent of cases of schizophrenia could be averted if all cannabis use were prevented.” That’s more than 400,000 Americans who could be saved from a fate worse than death. guns, mental health, violence |