|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Doctors call for drug legalisation
Isabel Oakeshott Evening Standard, London
Wednesday 02 Jul 2003 Doctors will today make an extraordinary call for the legalisation of all drugs. The move comes as a devastating new report by scientists sparked fears of an epidemic of schizophrenia caused by the widespread use of cannabis by young people. The study - by Professor Robin Murray, head of the Institute of Psychiatry in London - claims that cannabis users are seven times more likely to develop mental illness. It says the drug affects the brain so seriously that it is already a leading cause of psychosis in the UK. Yet at the British Medical Association's annual conference today, dozens of doctors are lining up in support of radical moves to make illegal drugs including heroin and cocaine available from authorised government outlets. They believe the time has come for a new solution to Britain's drugs problem. But the suggestion has appalled many members of the medical community, who believe such relaxation of the law would be catastrophic. Many medics believe changes should be limited to the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal uses, in particular for pain relief for multiple-sclerosis sufferers. But others want the Government to go far further. They say so-called recreational drugs - such as ecstacy and cocaine - should be quality controlled, taxable and made available in purified form from licensed outlets. Dr Connie Fozzard, who leads support for a motion urging relaxation of the law, said: "I have no doubt that it would be wise to decriminalise drugs. "At the moment, some of the problems are due to the fact that they are not getting the drug in pure form. This would not happen if they were available from licensed premises. We are an adult society, and should treat people as adults." She is expected to be backed by dozens of colleagues including Dr Keith Brent of the Junior Doctors' Committee, who said: "Prohibition of drugs simply doesn't work. "It absorbs more and more money, and more and more police time. Something different needs to be done, and that is to legalise everything. "If the authorities provided drugs, that would be a way of monitoring it." The motion to make decriminalisation of all drugs official BMA policy is certain to be voted down today, though the level of support for it reveals a high degree of frustration with government drugs policy. Psychiatrist Dr Robin Arnold, who frequently works with drug addicts, claimed the widespread black-market availability of methadone - a heroin substitute supposedly available only on prescription - showed legalisation is unworkable. He said: "The streets are awash with it. Anyone who wants to legalise all drugs is living in cloud-cuckoo land." The cannabis study by Professor Murray - one of the world's leading authorities on mental illness - points to official figures showing a third of all 15-year-olds have tried the drug. And Professor Murray warned: "The more cannabis that's consumed, the more psychiatrists we are going to need." He told the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Edinburgh that 80 per cent of his patients suffering a first episode of psychosis had been taking cannabis. His study showed a strong correlation between such episodes and sustained use of cannabis. Professor Murray also pointed to earlier studies in Holland, Israel, Scotland and New Zealand which found that people taking more cannabis as teenagers and young adults were more likely to suffer mental illness later.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!