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Mental health fears over cannabis may be ‘misguided’
Bristol 24-7 Thursday 05 Nov 2009 Scientists at the university have found that thousands of people would need to stop using the drug in order to prevent a single case of schizophrenia. Dr Matthew Hickman, along with scientists from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that preventing the use of the drug was still important – in terms of reducing tobacco and drug use, and improving school performance – but that the link between cannabis and schizophrenia was very uncertain. “Preventing cannabis use is important for many reasons, including reducing tobacco and drug dependence and improving school performance,” said Dr Hickman. “But our evidence suggests that focusing on schizophrenia may have been misguided. Our research cannot resolve the question whether cannabis causes schizophrenia, but does show that many people need to give up cannabis in order to have an impact on the number of people with schizophrenia. “The likely impact of re-classifying cannabis in the UK on schizophrenia or psychosis incidence is very uncertain.” Using data on the number of cannabis users and the numbers of people affected by schizophrenia – a mental disorder which can affect the perception of all senses, and often produces hallucinations, paranoia and delusions – the scientists found that it would be necessary to stop 2,800 heavy cannabis users in young men and over 5,000 heavy cannabis users in young women to prevent a single case of schizophrenia. Among light cannabis users, those numbers rise to over 10,000 young men and nearly 30,000 young women to prevent one case of schizophrenia. Last year, the government reclassified cannabis from a Class C drug to Class B, in response to fears that the drug would increase the chances of users – particularly young people – of developing mental health problems. Professor Louis Appleby, the national director for mental health, told the Home Office’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in February 2008 that “the evidence is pointing towards cannabis as a cause of severe mental illness”. On the FRANK website – a government-backed portal to provide young people with information on drugs – regular use of cannabis is “known to be associated with an increase in the risk of later developing psychotic illnesses including schizophrenia. If the recent increase in availability of stronger forms of cannabis does lead to an increase in total use by some people, this might also lead to an increase in their future risk of developing mental health problems. Nobody knows the answer to this question yet…” The research comes a week after Bristol University’s Professor David Nutt was forced to resign from his post of chief drugs adviser to the government for his public views that alcohol and tobacco were more dangerous than cannabis. The head of the university’s pharmacology unit was accused of “campaigning against government policy” by Home Secretary Alan Johnson. As reported by Bristol24-7, Bristol-based think-tank Transform said the decision was made because Prof Nutt had spoken “an inconvenient truth” in an “evidence-free” area of policy driven by “fear and propaganda”. Two members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resigned in protest at Prof Nutt’s removal and the government’s refusal to base policy on science. http://www.bristol247.com/2009/11/05/mental-health-fears-over-cannabis-may-be-misguided/
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