Cannabis 'causes mental illness'

UK Telegraph ^ | April 8, 2003 | Sarah Womack

[FairOpinion]

A significant increase in cannabis smoking is leading to serious mental health problems among the young, two leading drugs experts said yesterday.

They warned that the effect of cannabis on the body was equal to cigarettes but was "far more dangerous" on the mind.

Prof John Henry, a toxicologist at Imperial College, London, said: "Regular cannabis smokers develop mental illness.

"There is a four-fold increase in schizophrenia and there is a four-fold increase in major depression and that is something very, very different to what cigarettes do to you."

Dr Ian Oliver, independent consultant to the UN Drug Control Programme, said cannabis on the market today was 10 times stronger than that smoked by the "flower power" generation of the Sixties. "The result is doped-up kids who lose all motivation to do anything except lie in bed," he said.

Doctors in Holland have given the medical condition its own label: "amotivational" syndrome. This, say medical practitioners in the field, simply means cannabis is creating a new generation of layabouts.

Last year the Government decided to reclassify cannabis from a class B to a class C drug after hearing recommendations that it was much less damaging than other drugs.

But there were fears that the reclassification would see an increase in smoking cannabis, and Prof Henry said that use of the "soft" drug was on the rise.

"There are 13 million cigarette smokers and the numbers are going down," he said. "There are 3.2 million cannabis smokers and the numbers are going up.

"There is no Government health warning against cannabis but there are all kinds of restrictions against tobacco. People who smoke cannabis ought to be aware that it has equal effects on the body to cigarettes and worse effects on the mind."

Prof Henry and Dr Oliver were speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine conference in London.

[Zon]

If a person thinks they have been harmed by another person that partakes in drugs they can take the person to court and do their best to convince an impartial jury that they have been harmed. If they succeed they can gain restitution for their pain and suffering. The fact is, they'd be lucky to convince a third of the jurors that they had been harmed by the person partaking in drugs.

I'm getting used to being astonished how many people on this forum are proponents of government initiating harm and suffering on people that are minding their own business who harm none in the process. They enlist government agent to act on their behalf to to initiate harm and suffering on people that are minding their own business

[Yeti]

We don't want your moral relativism in our party.

Moral relativism? What do you mean?

[Grut]

Why do ya' think they call it dope?

Any material used to modify another substance has been called a 'dope' for a long time; silicon is 'doped' to produce semiconductors, for instance.

People who modified their mood with narcotics were therefore called 'dopers', which later became 'dopes'. 'Dope' became a synonym for 'fool' because fools used dope, not the other way around.

[WaveThatFlag]

To Lefteratarians "Moral Relativism" means anything you want it to mean.

[oyez]

Sometimes the "straight dope" meanz the "straight poop".

[humblegunner]

I always thought Kermit's eyes looked suspicious!

[metalboy]

"It`s been a hard day protesting Bush and his evil regime. Now it`s time to relax! Oh wait, you lost your ATM card at the London protest! Now your in New York after traveling the world and you got no access to your trust fund! What`s to do?"

[NewRomeTacitus]

It was reported that there's now over 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S.
I was shocked when we passed a million just a few years ago. The private prison industry ran with that ball.
Seeing as how 25% of prisoners are illegal aliens and close to 40% are there on drug charges, proper deportation and restructuring of drug laws would create a lot of room for vicious thugs and eliminate the revolving door effect.
Those contractors would have to go back to endeavors that don't enrich them through other people's misery. Aaaw.

[FairOpinion]

One of the things I find hypocritical, is that usually the same people who treat smokers as the worst monsters on earth, and want to make smoking illegal, and ban it everywhere, make excuses for those who take drugs, even though drugs are the reason for many crimes, and other social problems.

I am personally ambivalent on legalizing drugs. As long as we could be sure that those who take them will not be in a position to hurt others (such as someone high on something piloting a plane, designing a bridge, driving a car, etc.) I wouldn't care if they burn out their brains. Actually I would care, as in trying to educate them, but my main concern is that if it became legal, and "socially acceptable" we would have a lot more people with fried brains causing serious problems in the society with their actions.

[FairOpinion]

I think the first step in "legalizing drugs" is legalizing NON-hallucinogenic drugs, that the FDA is keeping from people, not allowing people to import perfectly legal and useful drugs, that are prescribed in other countries, because the FDA, in the name of "protecting us" from ourselves, --- regardless of how long they have been prescribed and used successfully in other countries --- prohibits it. Not to mention the extreme standards and lenght of time they have to approve drugs in this country, thereby denying many people potentially useful medicines.

They spend more time worrying about people who may bring in some prescription medication for personal use from Mexico, than people who smuggle in truckloads of marijuana.

[TigersEye]

This explains liberals, most of them were pot smoking hippies and burned out their ability to think.

OK, what's your excuse?

[FairOpinion]

"OK, what's your excuse?"

----

I'll let you know when I figure it out. ;)

(No need to get hostile, or do you have some special love towards high-on-drugs liberal hippies? They were the only ones I insulted with the article)

[Snowy]

This explains liberals, most of them were pot smoking hippies and burned out their ability to think.

You've got that right. Thinking back to my college days, the drug house was full of pot-smoking hippies. One was my roommate. :) They are very nice people, but I kid you not when I say she did drugs every day and several times a day at that.

[tacticalogic]

One of the things I find hypocritical, is that usually the same people who treat smokers as the worst monsters on earth, and want to make smoking illegal, and ban it everywhere, make excuses for those who take drugs, even though drugs are the reason for many crimes, and other social problems.

Might want to check out the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They contribute subanstial amounts of money to the organizations pushing smoking ordinances and suing the tobacco companies. They also are the major source of funding for the Partnership for a Drug Free America, authors of the DARE program, and major financial backers and participants in the Clinton Health Care Task Force.

[TigersEye]

A challenge isn't necessarily hostile and there's no hostility here. The article doesn't insult me as I don't believe it. I am certainly no liberal so I can't take offense there. I'm not high either, and haven't been for over a year. I don't think of myself as a hippie either ... but I do have hair that about reaches my waist and I would smoke some rope if it were available so ... I guess I do chafe at the broad brush you painted with. I feel I'm able to think pretty well too.

I have to go, time to watch a movie with my wife. If you reply I'll have to get back to you later.

[thepitts]

Attention Libertarians: You are not Conservative. We don't want your moral relativism in our party. Get your own webpage.

Are you speaking officialy for JR?

[FairOpinion]

I think you took my general comments personally, and they were not meant that way at all.

People in general tend to generalize. See, here is another one. :)

As for the hair, I remember sitting behind someone in college, who had the thickest,fullest, most beautiful wavy chestnut hair I had even seen and it turned out to be a guy.

[DoctorMichael]

"Regular cannabis smokers develop mental illness."

This explains liberals.

Hell, this explains Lew Rockwell!

[Jorge]

Though I think this article over states the problem a bit....from my experience there is some truth in it.

I began smoking pot at 15 years old and smoked almost daily for approx 20 years...and when I finally stopped, I found many of my mental and emotional problems simply went away.

The things that used to strongly effect me, things I used to obsess with...I now see as small stuff, barely worth giving a second thought.
I have a much lighter outlook and am more optimistic in general.

I've noticed that my friends who are still smoking pot seem for the most part to be emotionally stunted...stuck in their own little worlds and preoccupied with the same sort of little crap that used to drag me down.

Still, I have nothing against smoking pot occasionally. I don't think it has the same effect as smoking regularly.

[FairOpinion]

I am glad you were able to stop, and realized how much better you feel without it. Thanks for sharing your story.

I don't know the ramifications of occasional use, as long as it is truly occasional. The problem with occasional use, as I understand it, is it that it is very hard to keep it occasional and many occasional smokers of pot end up using it regularly, and it leads to other, stronger drugs and so on.