Pubdate: Mon, 28 Feb 2005
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

TIME TO RETHINK THE CANNABIS LAW

Disturbing new research by eminent medical specialists - reported for
the first time in the Mail today - reveals just how much damage
cannabis can do to young people.

It found that those who smoke the drug regularly at the age of 15 are
more than four-and-a-half times more likely to be schizophrenic by
their mid-20s than those who do not.

At a similar age the illness had struck one in ten of those who had
taken cannabis just three times as young teenagers - compared to just
3 per cent of those who had not used the drug.

The reason for this, the researchers found, is that teenagers who use
the drug risk boosting levels of dopamine in their brains, which are
still developing - and this can lead directly to schizophrenia.

The decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug -
the same as steroids and anti-depressants - fuelled a popular
misconception that it was relatively harmless and has led to a
dramatic rise in use since the law was changed a year ago.

The reality is very different from that misguided belief - using
cannabis can have devastating long-term effects. It is widely blamed
for leading to the use of other stronger narcotics.

And the profound impact on mental health is as evident from a series
of shocking high-profile cases as it is from the research.

Just look at the lives that have already been destroyed.

On Saturday the Mail showed how it fuelled the psychotic behaviour of
mental patient John Barrett, who stabbed Denis Finnegan to death.

Cases linked to cannabis include the Scottish satanist Luke Mitchell
who killed and mutilated his 14-year-old girlfriend.

Then there is Reece Wilson, a promising young golfer whose life slid
disastrously downhill after he began to experiment with the drug at
the age of 14.

Can there be more compelling evidence that this country will face a
mental health timebomb if it does not make teenagers aware of the real
risks of taking this drug?

And the only way to do this is for the Government, which has sometimes
talked tough but invariably acted soft on drugs, to admit that it
blundered by downgrading cannabis and reconsider the
legislation.
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MAP posted-by: Derek