|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Doctors warn of cannabis link to mental illness
Michael Day The Sunday Telegraph
Sunday 16 Jan 2005 Liberal attitudes to cannabis are putting millions of young people's mental health at risk, senior doctors have warned. The Royal College of General Practitioners said that acceptance of the drug and greater availability of stronger forms of it were leading to rising rates of depression, psychosis and schizophrenia. Dr Clare Gerada, of the college's drugs misuse unit, said: "Health warnings are falling on deaf ears, drowned out by the cries of powerful liberal pro-legalisation groups." Dr Gerada was speaking before a meeting of the college this week to discuss the health threat posed by the drug. Her attack comes a year after the drug was downgraded from Class B to Class C. People caught with cannabis are let off with a warning and the drug is confiscated. "With cannabis more popular than tobacco and higher potencies more widely available than before, it is time we looked again at the health risks," said Dr Gerada. "There is clear evidence that high levels of use, especially among teenagers who are physically and mentally still developing, carries with it the increased risk of psychosis and respiratory conditions such as asthma." The Conservatives have pledged to return cannabis to Class B status. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "The next Conservative government will reflect this by reversing Labour's decision to downgrade it." Almost a third of 16- to 24-year-old men used cannabis in 2003, according to the latest Department of Health figures. In November, figures from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction showed that two in five British 15-year-olds had tried cannabis - the highest rate in Europe. More worrying, Dr Gerada said, was the increase in super-strong versions of the drug, known as skunk. "The truth is, genetically modified forms of the drug are the norm," she said. The aim of the meeting is to give a voice to the thousands of GPs struggling to cope with the side-effects - often mental illnesses - of cannabis users. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "The Government has sent out a mixed message that cannabis is not as harmful as other drugs and yet for some people it is as harmful as crack cocaine or heroin. "Unlike cannabis, heroin does not affect the chemical messenger systems linked to schizophrenia." A recent report in the British Medical Journal revealed that smoking cannabis once or twice a week almost doubled the risk of developing psychotic symptoms later in life. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at King's College London, said that since the 1980s doctors had begun to see a link between psychotic symptoms and cannabis. Iain Shearer, 34, an archaeologist from south London who recently stopped smoking cannabis, said: "I smoked a lot, particularly skunk, and was getting worried about what it was doing to me. "It affected my concentration, made me depressed, affected my short-term memory. There were times when I got really paranoid about friendships and relationships. It was horrible." A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "The Government's message is that all controlled drugs, including cannabis, are harmful and that no one should take them."
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!