Pubdate: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 Source: Irish Independent (Ireland) Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd Contact: http://www.independent.ie/ Author: Eddie Lennon WHY SMOKERS SHOULD FEAR THE REEFER Have we become too liberal and complacent about the possible effects of cannabis? Go to any house party these days and, more likely than not, somebody will be smoking a joint. Cannabis resin (aka "pot" and "hash"), along with its dried plant version "grass", is now the most widely used illegal substance in Ireland. The popularity of cannabis as a trendy recreational drug has made it almost as socially acceptable as alcohol, largely because its use has been overshadowed by ecstasy and other "hard" drugs. And it has its fair share of advocates. American actor Woody Harrelson last week brought his campaign to legalise cannabis to Ireland. The Texan actor, known for his controversial role in Natural Born Killers, was speaking at the Galway Film Fleadh. Mr Harrelson has narrated Grass, a documentary chronicling 50 years of US government anti-cannabis policy, which is being shown at the fleadh. The actor didn't choose to be a campaigner for legalising cannabis, he said. "It chose me because my friends went to jail over it. That's when I started speaking about it." Cannabis's mellow allure is easy enough to understand. It gives you a gentle "high", making you mildly euphoric, pleasantly relaxed and rather giggly. It can also make you more talkative, and more sensitive to the feelings of others. But are we becoming a bit blase about this so-called "soft drug" do we really know what we're dealing with when somebody passes us a joint? Rolande Anderson, a Dublin-based addiction counsellor, believes we're definitely too complacent about the risks of cannabis. "For example, there's a risk of depression with heavy use. I believe that, together with alcohol, cannabis can cause the death of young people as a result of depression." The vast majority who use cannabis won't get depressed but there is a significant risk. "Though the jury's still out on its long term effects, the effect on people's personality greatly worries me. One of the big dangers when people take cannabis is that their inhibitions are lowered and they take more, or don't know what they're taking. "I'm dealing with loads of situations where young people get into serious trouble with cannabis problems with the law, relationships, and lowering of inhibitions in every way. "Parents are up the wall and are losing touch with their kids because they don't have the knowledge to deal with the problem," he adds. Despite what people say, there is a risk of addiction. "People say you can't get physically addicted to cannabis. But that's irrelevant to the person who's psychologically addicted." About 10pc of users become dependent on cannabis. He agrees that the media hype about ecstasy has trivialised the potential dangers of cannabis. "I also think some of the terms people use, like `recreational use', can muddy the waters as well. I'm not saying people don't use cannabis recreationally but in talking like that you're not stressing the possible dangers of cannabis." Anderson does not agree with DrugScope, the British institute for the study of drugs and dependence, who say "the consensus is that moderate, long-term use of cannabis does not cause any lasting damage to your physical or mental health." "That's irresponsible. It's like saying anyone can drink alcohol without any problems." Dr Eamon Keenan, consultant psychiatrist in substance misuse, works with drug addicts. He also believes the risks of cannabis are seriously underestimated now that there's a certain amount of social acceptance of it. "Any recent debates about cannabis haven't been about its dangers, but about whether it should be legalised. There's clear evidence that cannabis causes subtle impairment of memory and brain function, especially when taken with alcohol. Whether this is temporary or not hasn't been clearly shown." However, he believes that "amotivational syndrome" is more a feature of chronic cannabis use than just occasional use. He adds: "People with a history of serious mental illness are more likely to suffer a relapse of psychotic behaviour." It also seems some people have an innate weakness to mental illness and there's no way of knowing who they are. For them, using cannabis may be extremely dangerous in unmasking mental illness. Dr Keenan disagrees that moderate long term use is harmless. "It's the same argument people have used for years about cigarettes. You can't know who will have problems. The evidence suggests cannabis causes chronic bronchitis more so than cigarettes do." He says cannabis also brings an increased risk of cancer and leukaemia in children in the womb. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D