Posted on 01/30/2005 7:39:28 PM PST by Libloather
Mental Health Charity Calls for Cannabis Probe
Sat Jan 29,10:37 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A British health charity called on Saturday for an investigation into evidence that smoking cannabis may cause psychosis in people at risk of mental illness.
Rethink, which campaigns on behalf of schizophrenia sufferers, said the mental health risks of using cannabis were not widely understood.
"There is strong evidence from a wide range of sources that long term and short-term use of cannabis can 'trigger' a psychotic episode of schizophrenia in people who are at high risk of developing schizophrenia --- for instance, people who have close family members who have schizophrenia," it said in a statement.
The organization pointed out that it was a year since the government reclassified cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug, adding that a government awareness campaign that followed ignored the mental health dangers of using the drug.
"There is a general consensus that long-term, and in some cases short-term, use of cannabis by someone who has schizophrenia worsens the psychotic symptoms of the illness -- paranoia, hallucinations and delusions," it said.
The charity added that it believed many young people viewed cannabis as a risk-free drug.
"A long-term, well-funded, innovative campaign aimed at publicizing the real mental health risks associated with cannabis needs to be in place as soon as possible to counter the 'risk-free' message," the statement said.
"Rethink is asking MPs and Peers to support further research into the links between cannabis and severe mental illness that focuses on its widespread use among young people, the increasing strength of cannabis on sale on the streets and its short and long-term effects on mental health."
Cannabis Linked to Mental Illness Risk
Mental health campaigners are calling for a government inquiry into the effects of cannabis one year after the drug was reclassified from Class B to Class C.
Yesterday, the mental health charity Rethink said MPs on the health select committee should investigate possible links between cannabis and mental illness after the publication of several studies suggesting an association with psychosis.
Cliff Prior, Rethink's chief executive, said the number of people who use drugs and have mental illness has risen by 60 per cent in the past five years.
"There is a strongly held view that cannabis is risk-free, reflected in the rates of its use among young people," Mr Prior said. "Cannabis is not risk-free. There is a rapidly growing body of evidence showing that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in people already at risk, and probably even in people who should only be low risk."
Tomorrow, hundreds of mental health campaigners will attend a rally outside Parliament to demand changes to the Government's mental health reforms. The draft Mental Health Bill, which has already undergone significant changes since it was published in 2002, has been opposed by psychiatrists, mental health campaigners and patients, who argue it is geared more towards compulsion than meeting patients' health needs.
The health minister Rosie Winterton said she would meet the marchers to reassure them their concerns would be heard. "This is the biggest change to mental health law for 50 years and it has rightly been subject to extensive consultation," she said.
I know someone with a relative that has this very problem.
Isn't paranoia a common side effect of cannabis, even among non-schizoid people?
Well now we truly know what's wrong with the DUers. They actually had a thread 2 weeks ago titled, "Isn't valium wonderful?".
Mental Crackpots are proably due to hard drugs or Alcoholism
QUICK! EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!
Agreed... nuttiness runs in this particular family though. He smoked heavily, not just one or two pulls here and there. Enough to send him over the edge. Of course, people who are nuts and buying from street dealers don't know what the hell they're getting either. Street stuff is cut with all kinds of crap, meth even.
I have a relative that supposedly happened to. But I always wondered if the mentally more fragile are more inclined in the first place to try or use drugs. Maybe those more susceptible to peer pressure because of low-self-esteem, and maybe the more mentally healthy don't feel like messing up their minds.
LOL
? Really? And how about the ones that don't use "hard drugs" or drink?
I think you're right. I've never done drugs. I've never even felt tempted to do any. I like my marbles all in one bag. Anyone who has seen 'Frozen Addicts' will never touch a drug ever *lol*
About half the pot users I knew in college were very mellow and the other half became very paranoid. The paranoid group all dropped out. The mellow group all made it through college (although some took an extra year or two).
I work with a lot of schizophrenics in my civilian life, and drug or alcohol use is very common. There's the "chicken and the egg" problem of which came first, though. Booze and meth seem to be the kings.
The article is discussing schizophrenia. It's a serious mental disorder.
Please save the "Mental Crackpots" wisecracks for another thread or forum.
Somebody needs to email this to Luke, the guy who bikes to every left-wing protest in DC. Never mind, it's probably way too late.
Is there anything on God's earth that has no adverse consequences? I hear that jelly donuts make folks fat. I'm just a bit too Libertarian to get real worked up about the drug war.
They often can tell something is wrong and seek to self-medicate. A bad decision that only makes their illness worse.
It should be noted that university scientists and peer-reviewers in this field tend to be somewhat liberal in their political leanings but were not willing to hide the facts before them. On the contrary, they were quite willing to futher study and approve the funding of studies of said effects, and their findings will be appear in leading scientific journals starting in the middle of this year. Doubters should read these publications and then be honest enough to quit their roles as apologists for marijuana abusers. End of story....
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.