Posted on 07/05/2003 4:39:53 PM PDT by FairOpinion
London - The increasing use of cannabis by adolescents is threatening the mental health of a generation because of the drug's capacity to trigger psychosis, a leading psychiatrist has warned.
Robin Murray, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, said growing evidence linking cannabis with mental disorder had failed to curb use of the drug. One study suggested cannabis users were at seven times higher risk of developing mental problems.
"In the past 18 months, a number of studies have confirmed that cannabis consumption increases later risk of schizophrenia," he told the Royal College of Psychiatrists annual conference in Edinburgh. "This research must not be ignored."
As Murray delivered his warning, doctors at the British Medical Association's annual conference rejected by a large majority calls for cannabis and other recreational drugs to be legalised.
'Prohibition does not work' Connie Fozzard, a retired surgeon, told the conference legalisation would help to cut crime.
"Prohibition does not work," she said. "Just look at the experience of the United States when it tried to ban alcohol. What arose out of that was Al Capone and armed gangs - and that is what happening now in this country."
Speaking at the psychiatrists' conference in Edinburgh, Murray said research suggested cannabis might interact with a genetic vulnerability in some people, sufficient to push them over the edge.
His review of research in Sweden, Holland and New Zealand found that cannabis use was higher among psychotic patients than the broader population. It had been thought that patients took the drug to counter the negative symptoms of the illness, but Murray said this had been ruled out by more recent research.
A Dutch study of 4 000 people found that those taking large amounts of cannabis were almost seven times more likely to have psychotic symptoms three years later.
'Just look at the experience of the United States when it tried to ban alcohol' A study in 1987 of 50 000 Swedish conscripts found that those who admitted at age 18 to having used cannabis on more than 50 occasions were six times more likely to develop schizophrenia in the following 15 years.
Research in New Zealand found that those who used cannabis at age 15 were four-and-a-half times at higher risk of developing psychosis by the age of 26.
Murray said the results held even when initial personality was taken into account. He concluded that the impact of cannabis on the mental health of young people "may not be negligible" and that reducing use among the young "may help to avoid some cases of psychosis".
The findings come as the British government prepares to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug next year so there will be a lesser penalty for possession. Most people caught in possession of a small amount will have it confiscated and receive a reprimand or warning.
A Home Office spokesperson said the intention was to free police time to concentrate on Class A drugs such as heroin.
This article was originally published on page 2 of The Cape Times on July 04, 2003
According to this article, a lot of minds have already been changed....
Close observation suggests that "leading psychiatrists" are seven times more likely to develop mental problems than cannabis users.
But it can't be good for young people to use drugs. They haven't had the time or experience to understand what's important in life and what drugs can and cannot do
LOL...Good point.
Radio Dinner, the National Lampoon |
This "Leading Psychiatrist" also warned that it was only through extensive studies and Gov't programs that blathering BS could continue to be used as an excuse to subjugate individual liberty to the state. This "Leading Psychiatrist", also mentioned in passing that he was just the man for the job and he would be happy to make a living over the next 25 yrs. spouting as much hyperbole and random nonsense as the taxpayers could handle.
Wherein a "reefer" of yesteryear could put one in "la la" land after a series of hits, today one can get the same effect on only one or two whacks.
I have seen people unable to stand after 4 or 5 hits of "quality stuff." We are talking a different ball game, which we are losing.
"Don't you try to equate liquor to marajuana, Mister, not with me. You may be able to sell that jazz to another pothead, but not to somebody who holds some sick kid's head while he vomits and wretches on a curbstone at 4:00 in the morning.
up and empty his pockets, you can bet he'll have a stick or two of marajuana. And you can double your money he'll turn up a sugar cube or a cap or two. So don't you con me with your mind expansion slop.
I deal with kids every day. I try to clean up the mess that people like you make out of 'em. I'm the expert here, you're not."
Not only does pot mess up your mind, the person who did this wanted to tell the world how screwed up in the head he was. Last time I was up there, he/or she had been back there and added another date.
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I see it as evidence of someone with a really mixed up mind. The ad about eggs frying in a frying pan comes to mind with the caption: "This is your mind on pot!"
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
For each study that says one thing there are equal, or more, studies that say the opposite.
The unfortunate fact is that research led by pro-cannabis attitude turns up pro-cannabis results, and anti-cannabis attitude turns up anti-cannabis results. Odd how that works.
Where in the world did we get the idea that the vast population of adults do not have the right to do consume something that may (but but no means will certainly) harm them over a period of time? Like every human attibute there is, predispositions for and against everything is found and not found in every percentage populations of adults.
We should probably just ban everything, because there will be a group it adversly affects.
Prohibition laws made under the police power can be applied to any aspect of life. But there are rules. The danger must be manifest and verifiable. The remedy must reduce the danger. With cannabis, the danger has never been proven and the remedy certainly can be shown to not work. So the police power, under which anti-cannabis laws are passed, has no business being triggered in the very first place.
The only reason ever presented for the prohibition of cannabis is that it was used by Negro jazz musicians and wetbacks liked to smoke it.
I'm afraid your study must be filed under"Ambiguous Phenomena". 
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If dope smoking doesn't damage your brain, then how come so many people thought Cheech and Chong were funny?