What do we do about teenagers’ mental health if cannabis is legalised?

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My son suffers from depression, and he uses cannabis. Throughout his treatment, mental health services have said that the strength of the cannabis is having a massive impact on the mental health of users. They have described what they refer to as a “mental health explosion” waiting to happen among teens. Among my son’s friends I am aware of three who are receiving help from mental health services. All smoke cannabis. This would represent a much higher percentage of teenagers who smoke cannabis than mentioned in your article. According to my son ALL of his friends smoke cannabis. And he has lots of friends.

I try to maintain a dialogue with my son about cannabis, even though I am often accused of being too old to understand! What I have learned from my conversations with him is the proliferation of forums/chatrooms online that seem to refute any and all arguments regarding the harm that cannabis can cause. According to many, all of the non-users should be made to smoke cannabis, and then all would be right with the world!

The approach to this problem has to come from many areas. The legalisation of cannabis is sure to come soon. What happens to the mental health of our teens when this happens? A simple “dont take drugs” doesn’t work. Grouping cannabis in with other harder drugs during education lectures seems to draw scorn from teenagers, who see no comparison to their chosen substance and the likes of heroin and crack. Do we need to educate our young people about cannabis in a different category of its own?

Whatever the answer, we need to find it soon.

Name and address supplied

Cry for help

This is a public announcement: “Is there a politician in the House? If so could you please make your way to country number 28 in the EU, which is need of serious assistance.”

Matt Minshall
King’s Lynn

We need to criminalise marijuana further

Why is it necessary to take drugs like cannabis? What are people thinking of? It’s a poor state of affairs if the only way to keep going is drugs.

I think the way ahead is huge fines and prison to keep it off our streets. Murders are on a vast increase, mainly due to drugs.

Malvern Hutley
Colchester

Double standards

Why is it ok to keep re-voting on Theresa May’s deal, presumably until she gets the result she wants, not because of some change in the agreement, but through threat and fear of a no-deal Brexit? A people’s vote would at least represent what the electorate want now! Talk about double standards.

Simon Watson
Address supplied

Post-Brexit plans

In planning a Channel transport strategy in case of no deal, surely it is consistent to hire a company with no ships.

John Northover
London

The status quo will no longer do

At a recent anti-Brexit rally in Winchester, I dutifully donned a placard and joined the crowds. But as each speaker boomed into the microphone and repeated arguments about economic prosperity, I couldn’t help feeling that the pro-EU political class still hasn’t recognised that sticking with the economic status quo just isn’t a persuasive argument for people living in regions ravaged by de-industrialisation.

Instead, those who want a people’s vote should purely focus on pure, hard, democracy; for instance, it’s ludicrous to imply that people have endorsed a deal irrespective of its merits. Slogans like “no one voted to be poorer” and “leaving the EU will risk prosperity” carry no weight when the simple siren calls of “take back control” capture the anger and alienation of those let down by years of political failure.

Jude Wilkinson
Winchester