Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2001
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2001 BBC
Contact: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/
Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558

CANNABIS LINKED TO VIOLENCE IN YOUNG MEN

Young men who take cannabis are more violent, researchers suggest

Young men who take cannabis are five times as likely to be violent as those 
who do not take it, research has revealed.

The drug is more usually associated with mellow moods.

But the scientists who carried out the study told BBC News Online the link 
to violence was not due to any effects of the drug - instead it was because 
users are involved in the illegal drug market.

New Zealand scientists have carried out the first study into the overlap 
between mental disorders and violence in young men.

Almost 1,000 babies born between April 1972 and March 1973, in Dunedin, New 
Zealand were studied as they grew up.

When they were studied at 21, 34% of the young men who had a cannabis habit 
had a conviction for violence or had committed violent behaviour in the 
previous year.

The research was presented to the Royal College of Psychiatrists' annual 
meeting in London.

Drug market

Dr Louise Arseneault, from the Institute of Psychiatry in London, told BBC 
News Online: "The cannabis users had an earlier history of conduct 
disorders as adolescents. Violence was associated with their involvement in 
the drug market."

There was also a three-fold risk increase associated with men suffering 
from schizophrenia or dependent on alcohol.

Of the total sample, 40% had mental disorders and were five times more 
likely to be violent than people without mental conditions.

Dr Arseneault said: "There is a substantial minority of young adults with 
specific mental disorders who are responsible for a substantial proportion 
of violence in the community."

She said people with at least one of the disorders constituted a fifth of 
the sample, but accounted for more than half the convictions for violence.

"People with two of these disorders have an increased risk for violence 
eight to 18 times greater than that for people with no disorders," she added.

Dr Arseneault added: "Not all mentally-ill individuals engage in violence. 
The link is limited to three groups - those dependent on alcohol, those 
dependent on cannabis, and adults with schizophrenia."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth