Pubdate: Sat, 27 Aug 2005
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Margret Kopala
Note: Margret Kopala's column on western perspectives appears every other week.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT MARIJUANA

Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew recently bemoaned Justice Minister 
Irwin Cotler's failure to speak up on behalf of Marc Emery, British 
Columbia's "Prince of Pot" and self-described benefactor-cum-martyr to the 
cause of marijuana legalization. Mr. Emery is facing charges in the U.S. 
for alleged money laundering and marijuana-related conspiracies. Worse, 
during a press conference, it appeared the minister was disavowing Bill 
C17, which will see tickets issued for simple possession of marijuana.

"Anyone who thought this former law professor was going to usher in an era 
of reform in the criminal prohibition against pot should read the writing 
on the wall," Mr. Mulgrew lamented.

It is the justice minister who is reading the writing on the wall -- the 
wall in Europe, that is, where politicians are having second thoughts about 
prematurely liberalized marijuana laws. In Britain, for instance, Home 
Secretary Charles Clarke is reviewing legislation that reclassified 
cannabis as a less-serious drug, while in Holland, health minister Han 
Hoogervorst is reconsidering state involvement in the sale of medical 
marijuana and the reclassification of high-potency "skunk" marijuana.

Why these changes of heart?

This column previously discussed the work of a handful of British, Dutch, 
Swedish and New Zealand scientists who established connections between 
adolescent use of marijuana and the development of psychosis and 
schizophrenia. Their studies were cited by both Mr. Clarke and Mr. 
Hoogervorst but it is the Head of Psychiatry at King's College Institute of 
Psychiatry, pre-eminent authority and co-editor of Marijuana and Madness 
(published in 2004), Robin M. Murray, who first raised awareness on this 
subject. Working with patients in South London, and as lead or co-author of 
many of these studies, he also issued public warnings about the dangers of 
cannabis and the failure of the British government to consult experts in 
psychosis before reclassifying marijuana.

I spoke with Mr. Murray earlier this year. Many of the issues we discussed 
were subsequently raised during his interview with BBC television's current 
affairs program Panorama. An edited transcript is available online; 
paraphrased highlights follow:

* Schizophrenia, a severe form of psychosis, affects patients from 
childhood. Though cannabis has been used for thousands of years, it was 
during and after the 1960s that consumption of cannabis with increasingly 
high potency by increasingly younger users accelerated. By the early 1990s, 
more patients displayed psychotic symptoms despite having had normal 
childhoods. Cannabis use by such patients suggested a connection that led 
to recent research. Since the 1960s, incidence of schizophrenia has doubled 
in south London.

* Psychosis results from an excess of dopamine, the pleasure/perception 
chemical. The resulting chemical imbalance can cause a heightened sense of 
self-importance, anxiety, memory loss and ultimately paranoia. Cannabis, 
like alcohol and amphetamines, revs up dopamine, hence its usefulness for 
people in pain. In most people dopamine just gives pleasure; in others it 
can produce psychosis.

* Of those who become psychotic, genetic susceptibility is a factor. The 
COMT gene, consisting of an MET type and a VAL type, metabolizes dopamine. 
A MET/VAL mixture increases risk of psychosis from cannabis twofold. A 
VAL/VAL mixture increases the risk 10 times. A quarter of the population is 
VAL/VAL, a quarter is MET/MET and the rest is a mixture.

* Studies of large adolescent cohorts indicate that those who take a lot of 
cannabis are more likely to develop psychosis. The earlier the consumption, 
the bigger the risk. While dependency is also a possibility, the more 
worrying possibility is that since changes in the dopamine receptors occur 
in the developing adolescent brain, early cannabis use may permanently 
alter it.

For instance, it is known that the neuronal system of adolescent rats given 
a range of drugs from cocaine to amphetamines to cannabis becomes 
permanently altered.

Mr. Murray is agnostic about marijuana legalization. Education, he says, is 
the key. In Britain, he told me, the pro-legalization lobby accepts 
cannabis as a factor in psychosis.

What does this mean for marijuana law reform in Canada? Until an updated 
national drug strategy is in place, Bill C17 must simply be shelved.

Current decriminalization and legalization advocacy fails to distinguish 
between recreational use among sophisticated adults and the clear and 
present risk to adolescent users.

Since adolescents will obtain cannabis anyway, this risk will not disappear 
under legalized adult use while decriminalization merely provides a green 
light for adolescents to continue use.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom