| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Cannabis legislation | |
| Posted by: | Andrew OSullivan | |
| Date/Time: | 11/09/15 12:50:00 |
| Although Dan's evidence is anecdotal it is impossible to verify what is actually happening in a rigorous way due to the obstacles to collecting data. Therefore for the time-being anecdote is the best we have and my experience confirms Dan's. It may be that there is a bit of double-counting going in with us unknowingly being aware of the same cases but I've never met a teacher or parent involved with teenagers who doesn't think there is a strong link between psychosis and cannabis. I was talking to somebody at one of the London University colleges recently who said that usage amongst students had dropped sharply in recent years. She put this down to two factors - firstly that familiarity with cases in which their peers who were heavy users had suffered serious mental health problems had served as a powerful deterrent, secondly she felt that fewer users were gaining admission because they tended to struggle to meet the more rigorous grade requirements. You might think it is a sign of declining educational standards that young people don't seem to know the difference between correlation and causation but in my view it demonstrates that they have a higher degree of common sense than many adults. Sadly, dealers are apparently responding to the collapse in demand in this market by trying to sell more directly to school children. The comparison of health impact between cannabis and alcohol and tobacco is completely bogus. If you use alcohol in excess and tobacco for long periods you will later in life develop chronic illnesses and your life expectancy will be reduced. The mental health problems associated with cannabis use can emerge after relatively short periods and affect the young most drastically. In many cases the problems caused are irreparable. The reason for the change in classification back to B was not political. At the time of the change there was a sharp rise in A&E admissions amongst younger age groups for drug related mental illnesses and the Government wisely decided to put that particular genie back in its bottle. |