The heavy use of potent and dangerous illegal drugs is increasingly common and takes a toll, especially when there is a pre-existing mental disorder or susceptibility. This trend of mentally ill defendants especially reflects the wide use of marijuana, which has a well-documented tendency to cause or aggravate schizophrenia in susceptible individuals.
This and kudos for saying it.
Many studies also show mentally ill are 200-300% more likely to use tobacco. Statistical correlation does not prove a cause and no direct twin study has proven either tobacco or cannabis actually cause mental illness.
Abuse of alcohol or stimulants(like meth) HAVE been shown to directly damage the brain in twin studies.
Hashish several times stronger than today’s raw cannabis has been smoked for at least 1000 years in Asia. Eating cooked cannabis which allows doses FAR higher than you can ever get from smoking has been happening for at least 4000 years. With evidence up to 12,000 years. Smoking the slightly stronger flower we have today is still NOTHING in comparison to other cannabis consumption methods people already have been using for many millenia.
I volunteer at churches and shelter and IMO the main trigger is people cracking and giving up after not being able to afford the most basic needs even if working several “essential” jobs. One bad thing happens or prices go up and suddenly more and more people can’t afford to live and get kicked out of their homes.
Due to outsourcing and offshoring, fewer and fewer people are able to afford the basics. Almost nothing is made here and all jobs are increasingly outsourced to 3rd world.
When I was starting out, taxi drivers and waitresses could afford a decent life and home to live in the neighborhood. While working decent hours and taking 2 vacations every year. Young people today cannot even comprehend what was taken from them and feel hopeless. They realize the math simply doesn’t add up anymore nomatter how hard they work and a huge number simply drop out.
Today even the most educated young people cant afford the cheapest home in town and average people cant even afford the cheapest rent. Everyone young now is broke except for those with family connections, doing very dangerous jobs or a handful of tech fields where the job market is also now collapsing.
I’m owner of an engineering firm and increasingly more of my competitor’s firms are outsourcing to Asia and South America while not giving their American staff a decent raise for 10 years. Now more of my clients are saying they can get work done for half the price.
F these sellout F’n outsourcing bastards and it should have been illegal yesterday! Garbage like that should be considered treason with the owners swinging in the square!