Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jan 2005
Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Authors: Steve Bloomfield and Sophie Goodchild

CANNABIS LINKED TO MENTAL ILLNESS RISK

Mental health campaigners are calling for a government inquiry into the
effects of cannabis one year after the drug was reclassified from Class B to
Class C.

Yesterday, the mental health charity Rethink said MPs on the health select
committee should investigate possible links between cannabis and mental
illness after the publication of several studies suggesting an association
with psychosis.

Cliff Prior, Rethink's chief executive, said the number of people who use
drugs and have mental illness has risen by 60 per cent in the past five
years.

"There is a strongly held view that cannabis is risk-free, reflected in the
rates of its use among young people," Mr Prior said. "Cannabis is not
risk-free. There is a rapidly growing body of evidence showing that cannabis
can trigger schizophrenia in people already at risk, and probably even in
people who should only be low risk."

Tomorrow, hundreds of mental health campaigners will attend a rally outside
Parliament to demand changes to the Government's mental health reforms. The
draft Mental Health Bill, which has already undergone significant changes
since it was published in 2002, has been opposed by psychiatrists, mental
health campaigners and patients, who argue it is geared more towards
compulsion than meeting patients' health needs.

The health minister Rosie Winterton said she would meet the marchers to
reassure them their concerns would be heard. "This is the biggest change to
mental health law for 50 years and it has rightly been subject to extensive
consultation," she said. 
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MAP posted-by: Josh