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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Scotland: Don't exaggerate the dangers of cannabis Richard Hammersley, Professor of Health Psychology; David Glasgow Herald Saturday 21 Oct 2006 in reply to: http://ccguide.org.uk/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=11801 Not that cannabis is a safe drug, because there is no such thing, but it is not "more dangerous than heroin" (Melanie Reid, October 19). We assert that even though one of us has published work showing heroin not to be as dangerous as commonly thought. It is not even true that cannabis is more dangerous than alcohol. The evidence, misrepresented in the article, is that starting to use cannabis under 15 makes subsequent psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia more likely among people susceptible to such problems. There may be a genetic component. Robin Murray has made a substantial and sophisticated contribution to the relevant research that deserves better coverage than given here. One recent paper that Murray co-authored concluded: "Although the regular use of cannabis may increase risk of psychotic symptoms, most of those who use cannabis regularly do not develop psychosis and most cases of psychosis are not attributable to cannabis." Schizophrenia is, thankfully, rare, while cannabis use is very common, so the increase in risk, while statistically significant, is very small in the general population. In one key study, cannabis use before age 15 was associated with three additional cases of schizophrenia in 759 people. Links between alcohol and mental and physical health are much stronger. A different issue is that cannabis also poses a problem for people with mental health problems, as it can interact badly with medicine, worsen symptoms or contribute to them ceasing to take medication. Many people with mental health problems do take cannabis, but to feel better, reduce boredom and because their peers do; there is no cause and effect. To date there is no evidence that somebody who begins to use cannabis older than 15 and who is not predisposed to mental illness will suffer any mental health effects. It is important not to muddle psychotic symptoms (such as seeing things that are not there) and schizophrenia. Psychotic symptoms can occur without mental illness or current drug use, in bereavement for example. Melanie Reid's article makes it seem that any young person who uses cannabis is at risk of becoming mentally ill. This is untrue. Some 40% of people under 35 have taken it at some point, as well as older people, including some politicians (who usually did not enjoy it or inhale), and many other respectable and largely untroubled people. The only accurate part of the article is that there is not enough research on cannabis, given that it is so widespread and popular. There is a need to reduce drinking, smoking and drug use among the under-16s. This is not helped by scare stories. Remember that cannabis is considered beneficial for a range of medical conditions and is licensed for medical use in 11 US states. Richard Hammersley, Professor of Health Psychology; David Shewan, Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University. http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/72617.html -- WebBooks Amazing Amazon Store: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/webbooks05
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