UK: Time to rethink the cannabis law

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Daily Mail

Monday 28 Feb 2005

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Disturbing new research by eminent medical specialists - reported for the
first time in the Mail today - reveals just how much damage cannabis can do
to young people.

It found that those who smoke the drug regularly at the age of 15 are more
than four-and-a-half times more likely to be schizophrenic by their mid-20s
than those who do not.

At a similar age the illness had struck one in ten of those who had taken
cannabis just three times as young teenagers - compared to just 3 per cent
of those who had not used the drug.

The reason for this, the researchers found, is that teenagers who use the
drug risk boosting levels of dopamine in their brains, which are still
developing - and this can lead directly to schizophrenia.

The decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug - the
same as steroids and anti-depressants - fuelled a popular misconception
that it was relatively harmless and has led to a dramatic rise in use since
the law was changed a year ago.

The reality is very different from that misguided belief - using cannabis
can have devastating long-term effects. It is widely blamed for leading to
the use of other stronger narcotics.

And the profound impact on mental health is as evident from a series of
shocking high-profile cases as it is from the research.

Just look at the lives that have already been destroyed.

On Saturday the Mail showed how it fuelled the psychotic behaviour of
mental patient John Barrett, who stabbed Denis Finnegan to death.

Cases linked to cannabis include the Scottish satanist Luke Mitchell who
killed and mutilated his 14-year-old girlfriend.

Then there is Reece Wilson, a promising young golfer whose life slid
disastrously downhill after he began to experiment with the drug at the age
of 14.

Can there be more compelling evidence that this country will face a mental
health timebomb if it does not make teenagers aware of the real risks of
taking this drug?

And the only way to do this is for the Government, which has sometimes
talked tough but invariably acted soft on drugs, to admit that it blundered
by downgrading cannabis and reconsider the legislation.

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