Pubdate: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2002 The Age Company Ltd Contact: http://www.theage.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5 Author: David Wroe, Health Reporter DOPE A DOWNER, RESEARCH REVEALS Melbourne researchers say they have found the strongest evidence yet that heavy marijuana smoking causes depression, especially in young women. The results of the research at the Royal Children's Hospital are expected to be published soon. The hospital's Centre for Adolescent Health followed 2000 youths for seven years from the ages of 14 to 21 to gather data. "The findings are very, very striking," said the centre's director, George Patton. "The effects are profound, particularly in young women where the rates of mental health problems have increased many, many times in daily cannabis users. "This is the best evidence yet that ... cannabis is bad for your mental health and does cause higher rates of depression and anxiety problems," Professor Patton said. He was reluctant to give details because the findings had not yet been published. However, he said the study would be submitted to a prestigious international journal next month. Marijuana has long been associated with various mental illnesses, but most research has concentrated on its links with schizophrenia and psychosis. Until now, it had not been established that marijuana use actually caused depression. It was thought depressed people might be turning to cannabis for relief or that some personality types were prone to both depression and cannabis dependence. "There's been a bit of a question in people's minds as to what was the chicken and the egg here," Professor Patton said. "What we've been trying to do is disentangle some of that in our work." On top of similar, but less conclusive, research in the United States, the latest study showed the "balance of evidence is shifting toward frequent cannabis use being a cause of depression and anxiety", he said. Occasional or experimental use probably had no effect on mental health at all, Professor Patton said. Two-thirds of young adults have experimented with cannabis. "It's probably a sign that you've socialised and adapted to the environment in which you're living so, if anything, the direction might be positive." But many young people were smoking more frequently and often using more potent, hydroponically grown marijuana than their parents' generation, said Ian Hickie, chairman of the National Depression Initiative, beyondblue. "We're not just demonising cannabis use. That's a waste of time," Professor Hickie said. "We need to provide young people and their parents with useful information about harmful patterns of use." The study coincides with new concern about cannabis in Sydney, where a 32-year-old surfer, Marcel Mitton, who had been a daily smoker for at least five years, drowned himself after a bout of depression last month. His 73-year-old mother, Gundi Mitton, subsequently unleashed a fiery condemnation of cannabis during her eulogy at his funeral. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens