Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 2008
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2008 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Debra Bell
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n1062.a07.html

IT IS OUR DUTY TO SAVE KIDS FROM CANNABIS

It was with deep dismay that I read the letter from Dr  Evan Harris MP
et al (November 25) urging the  government to postpone plans to
reclassify cannabis.  The writers say that the level of cannabis use
has  fallen in recent years, but among young teenagers drug  use
continues to rise, and the choice of 14- to  15-year-olds is still
cannabis.

The brain does not finish its development till the 20s,  so the
younger a person starts using cannabis, the  higher the risk of
becoming addicted, suffering mental  illness or moving on to other
drugs. Dr Harris et al  claim that there is no new research, but
currently  Professor Robin Murray is finding that giving THC - the 
active ingredient in cannabis - to healthy volunteers  does indeed
cause psychosis, it's simply a matter of  the amount given.

Restoring cannabis to class B will give some comfort to  the thousands
of parents whose children have been  affected by cannabis use becoming
the norm since  downclassification, many of whom have contacted our 
organisation. The home secretary must stick to her  guns. The message
needs to go out that the government  is listening and acknowledging
this appalling public  health issue.

I wonder how many of the writers of the letter have had  first-hand
experience of living with the misery and  desperation caused by skunk
cannabis use among the  young? The message that will be sent by
restoring the  drug to class B is a good start to eradicating the 
problem, and thereafter school drug education policy  must return to
focus on prevention. It is our duty to  protect children, not to leave
them to make critical  life decisions many years before their brains
have  matured.

Debra Bell

Director, Talking About Cannabis
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