Cannabis linked with mental health problems
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Independent Minds
REUTERS
In the television advert, the negative effects of the drug - memory loss, paranoia, memory loss and panic attacks - appear as unwanted guests at a party in the user's brain.
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An advertising campaign warning of the links between cannabis use and mental health damage was launched today.
In the television advert, the negative effects of the drug - memory loss, paranoia, memory loss and panic attacks - appear as unwanted guests at a party in the user's brain.
Cannabis user Simon smokes a joint and at first feels giggly, talkative and craves food, before the side effects of the drug take over.
The £2.2million campaign, which follows the reclassification of cannabis into Class B last month, is targeted at 11-18 year olds.
It urges youngsters with questions about the drug to "Talk to Frank" by calling an information line or visiting the campaign website.
Frank spokesperson Chris Hudson said: "Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in Britain and 'binge smoking' to achieve maximum effect may be putting peoples' mental health in serious danger.
"There is evidence of a link between cannabis and mental health problems such as schizophrenia, and those who first use it at an early age may be more at risk.
"You never truly know what you're getting and stronger cannabis, such as skunk, can increase the chance of suffering a nasty reaction."
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane, said: "This is a victory for the campaigning of Sane and other organisations who have for years been warning about the direct effects of cannabis in damaging the minds of young people, particularly if they take skunk and smoke from an early age.
"We need hard-hitting campaigns like this to convince people just how frightening the effects of cannabis can be, and that for those who are vulnerable, taking it may not be just chilling out for an evening but could mean robbing themselves of their chances in life."
New penalties for cannabis users were introduced when the drug was reclassified.
Anyone caught in possession of the drug is now given a warning, followed by a fine and prosecution for a third offence. Dealers can be jailed for up to 14 years.
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Comments
As for the more serious mental health issues "linked" to cannabis use, what does that mean? Does cannabis cause problems or is it being used to self-treat by those with problems already.
Can no-one in government do "whole world" vision anymore?
Repression of symptoms (drug use in this case) does not make the problem go away.
"In the television advert, the negative effects of the drug - memory loss, paranoia, memory loss and panic attacks - appear as unwanted guests at a party in the user's brain." Memory loss and more memory loss. Sorry I forgot. What?
Seriously though, I have loadsa human friends who've been smoking cannabis since the sixties and seventies and who do responsible jobs, have great memories, are perfectly well balanced, MENSA members etc but unfortunately because of the negative effects of government propagander can't come out and say "Yes I smoke dope and it's not had a bad effect on my mental health". And for balance, I've never met anyone suffering from " - memory loss, paranoia, memory loss and panic attacks - " as a result of illegal drug use. Mind you I don't know anyone who works for the Press Association.
As to 'skunk' there wouldn't be any need for extra powerful cannabis if it hadn't been made illegal in the first place. If booze were in the same position and the penalty for possession of a bottle of beer were the same as for a bottle of vodka, which one would you take to the party?
HM Gov have screwed up and now they've put their faith in throwing taxpayers money away on a feeble attempt at convincing the electorate that they had good reason to ignore the overwhelming body of evidence to the contrary.
Legalize it.
Sure, it can be overused, but the evidence is most definitely against it causing psychosis.
:)
The BMA says there is no proven link and that people with schizophrenia self medicate with cannabis and not vice versa.
News stories without fact that go against scientific and medical knowledge and base themselves instead on political grandstanding are PROPAGANDA. Shame on the name independant.
so to sum up on one side we have politicians, media, anecdotes and moral panic attacks vs medical evidence, scientific evidence and massive anecdotal evidence.
Someone is taking something to give them memory loss, paranoia and panic attacks, if it's not cannabis, could you tell me what it is you are taking.
If I drink similar amounts of vodka or other "hard" spirits then for sure it will cause similar damage
Legalise all drugs
Stop playing cheap politics
Treat all drugs the same way
Stop the lies and distortion
If you want to know the full story about how it got banned then read the Virginia Law Review - http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIB
And note how mendacity and misinformation has been a hallmark of the anti cannabis campaign from the very start.
It has more benefits than side effects and so it should be legalised.
But really, having seen my own sister hiding from 'people who are going to gt her' because her mind is fXXXXcked by cannabis and she's a paranoid nutter, I reserve the right to tell those who think cannabis is safe that they are ignorant twerps who have no clue what they are talking about.
Regards
A Canabis User
As far as short-term effects, if your use isn't a problem, go talk to a health care practitioner about this and make up your own mind. Don't follow the crowd. This is an issue with medical studies behind it.
To those contemplating using cannabis because these people say it is safe: Don't. Talk to someone who knows something of this issue first and get unbiased information so you can make up your own mind.
I do agree usign cannabis for terminally ill cancer patients but this is a tough subject, the government has very relaxed laws here in the UK. Either you ban it or you don't.
I say yes to medical use , like in Canada were a government appoint firm can control the quality, the rest heavy fines and jail sentences.
Your home can be violently entered with or without a warrant.
Your money can be confiscated.
You can spend many years in prison or be forced into unpaid work with a stigmatising slogan emblazoned across your jacket.
You may well find yourself harassed and victimised by the police later in life, there is no redemption.
You will often be obliged to inform prospective employers about your criminal conviction.
You can receive a criminal record that will haunt your entire life, barring you from many kinds of work, prejucing employers and causing travel problems to more than 100 countries.
Cannabis consumers don't suffer from paranoia, it's actually fear!
Incidentally, cannabis does NOT cause schizophrenia, but 'hash psychosis' can be a marker for developing psychosis.
FREE CANNABIS: Just ask your MP. (and criminalise horse riding)
As opposed to this article, in order to ascertain long-term damage, you need to first establish an ED50 and an LD50 for cannabis. Then recruit 5000 people to be split into am cannabis and a non-cannabis safe smoke similar to cannabis. Then smoke away and you measure lung volumes, coronary artery diameter, chest x-ray, etc for 20 years. Once this is done, I will examine the data and make my own conclusions. Until then, you cannot state it is a safe product.
Be careful of what you read and the conclusions drawn therein.
I believe we should start the education now based upon scientific truths, and in the near future legalize some drugs and bring them into the tax system, just the same as alcohol and tabacco. while we start this process the sentencing of people illegally using or possessing guns/knives should be made a mandatory 30 years in prison.
Any backers out there?
The funny thing is that, whatever they're puffing away at, smokers of all kinds can apparently never see how foul their activities are. Smelly, nicotine-stained individuals making their desperate grubby little roll-ups.
mmco: if people stopped using, dealers would stop selling. And having smoking legal sure hasn't stopped the smuggling of cigarettes. And how would drug legalization make it easier to enforce age limits? Is there underage drinking? Finally, why don't these heavy drug users get help now? You do not understand the mind of an addict at all.
We need laws to protect the vulnerable and deter abuse. Opium and cocaine were both legal at one time and look what happened there. Reinforcing a maladaptive behaviour makes it more common, not less common.
Cannabis is openly available to anyone who wants it in the UK and the only way to prevent young people from using it is to introduce suitable legislation monitoring its sale. Legal, illegal, class B or class C classifications have no link to numbers of people using the drug. 'To use or not to use' is a decision people make for themselves, not one the government makes for them. Most people who do smoke weed wish they had a legal means of purchasing it, they do not want to fund a criminal market, yet they are forced to.
People simply aren't buying the mental health argument. Cases appear to be isolated and most people who smoke cannabis experience no lasting ill effect on the mind.
'Skunk' cannabis is to blame of course... yeah right. Its clear by the means the government and media talk about skunk that they have no real idea what it is. Ill take some time to explain;
Skunk is just one strain of cannabis and the first stabilized hybrid to be grown on a commercial scale on the continent. The origional skunk hybrid was bred by crossing a series of plants (Acapulco Gold x Mexican Sativa x Columbian Gold Sativa). The majority of cannabis on the UK market is not skunk, but other hybrids created by cross breeding other individual strains of cannabis. UK weed can be poorly grown and could hold lower or higher amounts of THC than the skunk hybrid - no one knows unless samples are analysed in a lab. This is interesting; to me skunk is no more than a buzz word used by the government to repackage cannabis as a more dangerous drug. So remember, next time you hear the word 'skunk' thrown around in an article or on the news, the reporter probably doesnt know what it exactly is.
Binge smoking is no more of a reason for the prohibition of cannabis than binge drinking is for the prohibition of alcohol. The fact that the government simply cant trust its people to use a mild soft drug responsibly is outrageous. Do we realy need to be mothered like this?
However, vis a vis cannabis I am struck by the hypocrisy of opposition to its use as a recreational drug and/or a route to higher levels of consciousness and/or as a medicinal drug for specific health issues whilst alcohol continues to be entirely untouched as a subject of concern.
I took smoked excessive amounts of cannabis in the summer of 2007 and I ended up in hospital with a hypomanic episode following this consumption and the stress of a divorce court case. However, since then I have learned the lesson and use cannabis occasionally and mindfully and literally watch its effects upon me. The effects have been creatively stimulating, and psycho-therapeutically enlightening. I have been able to access parts of my sub/unconscious during affected periods smoking cannabis and this has enabled me to process and reflect on the pros and cons of cannabis use. In the end what I noticed most was the follow on effect of smoking cannabis - lethargy and demotivation - and this is what has decided me to avoid cannabis most of the time and entirely outside of holiday times or occasional weekends.
Alcohol, on the other hand I have failed to receive any positive benefit from at all, ever. I find that it is a depressant, a disinhibitor in ways that I don't enjoy since I like to be in full control of my senses. In the late 90's I chose to drink wine frequently at a time when my marriage was breaking down and this undoubtedly contributed to my mental health breakdown. Alcohol in moderation and taken for genuinely recreational purposes when one is not stressed or depressed and when one is not seeking to avoid difficulty or emotional pain may be fine, indeed I believe it is fine in such a context. However, it is all too frequently used for the wrong reasons to excess and the personal and social consequences of it are too often devastating in the longer term.
A balanced discussion about cannabis will incorporate the positives as well as the negatives. There is no doubt in my mind that whilst alcohol and nicotine are legal substances then cannabis should be legal too. The hypocrisy of it blows my mind!