Quote Originally Posted by Dream of the iris
It still doesn't explain those who get schizophrenia so clearly after smoking weed, though. I mean, they didn't "have schizophrenia" to begin with, so what about those people? What is this "genetic vulnerability"?
That's not what the study is about. The study shows that people diagnosed with schizophrenia (sz) do not have a gene variation that causes them to smoke more tobacco or cannabis than the average Joe.

Many people experiment with weed in their teens and the prime onset time for schizophrenic symptoms is late adolescence to early adulthood. This may prove to be the only link between weed use and onset of sz. You might as well ask about the people who drank Coke before lapsing into sz.

If you ask many people who smoke and are diagnosed with sz they will say the same things as other people who smoke.
I like it, it helps me through the day, it relaxes me, I don't get a hangover like alcohol, it goes better with my meds than alcohol, it helps with pain, it relieves stress etc.

Try not to forget that most people who have sz don't smoke dope and many have never even tried it.

The rate of cannabis consumption by adults already diagnosed with bipolar disorder is also much higher than the general population, unlike sz no one is suggesting cannabis use causes it.

Short term psychosis related to cannabis is regularly seen in Australian hospitals, cannabis overdose and sudden cannabis withdrawal (in heavy users) this is rarely long term.

Genetic vulnerability is an idea borrowed from agriculture. In agricultural terms it describes a crops reduced resistence to disease because of a narrow genetic background.

In human genetics genetic vulnerability is the supposition that some one with x arrangement of genes and y environmental factors is more likely to develop z condition.

eg it is supposed that when genes for sz (x) are exposed to cannabis (y) sz (z) is more likey to develop. Although this relationship has been the focus of a number of tests, it remains unproven.

Now there are an impressive number of links to browse