Pubdate: Tue, 13 Oct 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mike Hager
Page: S1

POT LEGALIZATION URGED FOR OPEN DEBATE

Addiction experts, psychiatrists say full, frank discussion on
possible risks of marijuana use is currently hampered by liability
issue

Legalizing and regulating marijuana would help - not hurt - young
people who suffer from mental illness or use the drug to
self-medicate, say psychiatrists and addiction experts, who argue that
is the only way for the public to have an open dialogue on the harms
associated with the illegal drug.

Marijuana has emerged as an issue in the federal election campaign.
The Liberals promise legalization, the NDP pledge at least to
decriminalize it, and the Conservatives vow further crackdowns and are
using the debate to attack their opponents.

Among the Conservatives' main arguments against legalizing pot is that
doing so would put youth at risk, pointing to evidence that the drug
is linked to psychosis and schizophrenia.

But Elisabeth Baerg Hall, a youth psychiatrist and clinical professor
at the University of British Columbia, says that if marijuana were
legalized and regulated, Canadians could "really talk about the
dangers," as teachers and public health officials do with tobacco and
alcohol.

"The reality now is I have many, many patients in my young adult
population who are self-medicating with pot," said Dr. Baerg Hall, who
also runs Langara College's mental-health program.

Young cannabis users do not often have examples of what responsible or
excessive consumption looks like.

"I try to say, 'Okay, we all understand alcohol is a bit of a social
lubricant, so you have a glass of wine, but has anyone ever said to
you, 'You're anxious and depressed, so you should take five glasses of
alcohol a day?' Nobody talks like that, and for a good reason," she
said.

As long as pot remains illegal, young Canadians, who according to the
UN, consume more cannabis than any of their peers in the
industrialized world, will have no official source of information
about it, says Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

"No teacher today can give any advice to young people about cannabis,"
said Dr. Fischer, whose organization released a framework for
legalizing the drug last year. "If they say anything except, 'It's
illegal, don't do it,' it could be interpreted as promoting drug use
and the next day, they're sued by parents."

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, funded by the government to
study the use and abuse of drugs, estimated that about a quarter of
teens and young adults used marijuana in 2013, which is more than two
and half times the percentage of adults over 25 years old.

Last December, Health Canada spent millions of dollars on an
anti-marijuana ad campaign that claimed smoking too much pot reduces
the IQs of teens. Three leading national medical bodies refused to
endorse it, calling it a "political" anti-pot campaign, and experts
have questioned the IQ claim.

Conservative party spokesman Stephen Lecce said in an e-mailed
statement that the party believes "marijuana is an illegal drug with
dangerous and lasting health effects, especially on our youth."

"Protecting kids from the very real mental-health risks of marijuana
such as psychosis and even schizophrenia are paramount for our
Conservative government," Mr. Lecce's statement said.

Scientific evidence indicates the two conditions are linked to heavy
use of the drug, but no causality has been proved, experts say.

At a North Vancouver forum on youth marijuana addiction and ADHD late
last week, Anthony Ocana, a family doctor and addiction specialist,
said his younger patients who have mental health issues such as
anxiety or bipolar disorder will often smoke marijuana, which is
easily attainable, to calm their symptoms.

Dr. Ocana told the crowd he has noticed one serious long-term harmful
effect among his patients who smoke almost daily: the gradual decline
of their cognitive function.

He added that psychosis is the biggest short-term risk to his patients
under 25 years old that consume cannabis on more than 20 days a month.

These episodes often come from doses that are too high in THC,
marijuana's psychoactive substance, or mixing the drug with other
substances or medicines.

Research has shown the brain develops its neuro-pathways well into a
person's 20s and it is important that the full effects of cannabis use
during this time are understood, Dr. Baerg Hall said.
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