Lab work at Helius Therapeutics Medical Marijuana facility in East Tamaki.
Lab work at Helius Therapeutics Medical Marijuana facility in East Tamaki.
Comment
Complex human interactions, like democracies, rely upon trust.
That basic trust is the cornerstone of the provision of safety, the necessity for government in the first place.
In democracies safety further relies upon respect for individual differences to achieve common goals.
The proposed referenda on legalisation of recreational cannabisand the confirmation of the EOLC Act have brought forth deceptive campaigns, which create fear where there needs to be factual information.
A warning about potential hazard based on science is one thing, even when the hazard is remote.
That's why we value having tsunami warning alarms. They alert us and help us prepare.
Fear-mongering is creating warnings of dire consequence based on no evidence or even falsified data. That creates a real danger in that people become confused and unable to act when legitimate facts are presented.
Paul Manning amongst the Research and Development crops at Helius Therapeutics Medical Marijuana facility in East Tamaki.
False alarms rob the community of needed resources for real emergencies.
In a recent instance, disrespect for voters also produced some potentially dangerous misinformation about mental health that could affect many New Zealanders already troubled, preventing appropriate care and treatment.
Earlier in February, the TV1 programme Seven Sharp gave over one sixth of its airtime to the, in my opinion, seriously flawed assertions of an American writer, Alex Berenson.
Berenson, with no actual scientific credentials, has written a book, Tell Your Children, the original name of the classic scare movie Reefer Madness, claiming, like that movie, that cannabis causes madness.
Seven Sharp did mention that Berenson's views were disputed.
But it wasn't his views alone but his methods that were questioned. Professor Joseph Boden, whose qualifications in regards cannabis include original research as well as being the PM's science adviser on the subject, was given a scant 45 seconds.
During that short time Boden rubbished Berenson's claims, said Berenson cherry picked his data, and made erroneous statements in regard claims of violence in Washington State following legalisation there.
Instead of allowing Boden to elaborate, the TV presenters challenged Berenson saying only that Boden disagrees with him.
False. Boden didn't just disagree, which is what peers in science may do.
The TV programme would leave the false impression that it was a simple disagreement, as happens among scientific peers.
Boden essentially said Berenson's claims were without any basis in science, further that his claims were based upon distortion of data. In other words the claims were bogus.
In my opinion Berenson has made a false syllogism.
He said cannabis causes psychosis and psychosis causes violence.
He further asserted that cannabis causes schizophrenia which he described as "permanent psychosis."
Challenged by Jeremy Wells, Berenson offered a source that he says backs his claims: the cannabis report of the American Academy of Science and Medicine.
Unfortunately for him, Dr Ziva Cooper, UCLA research director who helped write the cited report completely debunked his claim.
She wrote, "To say that we concluded cannabis causes schizophrenia, it's just wrong, and it's meant to precipitate fear."
Seven Sharp's presentation left the impression that this was a scientific dispute, when, in fact, two reputable scientists, Boden and Cooper, were calling Berenson out for what in my opinion amounts to distortion of data to promote a political agenda.
Giving Berenson exposure on Seven Sharp may be good for his book's sales, but the reckless claims, unmoored from scientific basis, are a disservice to our necessary debate on legalisation.
Challenged by Jeremy Wells (pictured), Berenson offered a debunked source.
Worse, and frankly dangerous, is the assertion that contends that people suffering with schizophrenia are thereby rendered violent.
Berenson simply has no valid scientific basis for this.
Again Berenson confuses correlation and causality but the alarmist result could well increase the unwillingness of patients with schizophrenia to seek treatment and be a further contribution to scarcity of resources for treating this group.
That's not good for anyone's mental health.
In my opinion, in promoting this scaremongering, Seven Sharp did a disservice to its viewers, and to the people in this country already struggling with mental illness.
TV1 owes it to the public to provide genuine science not the junk variety.
•Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.
