Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2003
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Frank G. Sterle, Jr.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT CAN EXACERBATE SOME MENTAL ILLNESSES

The U.S., for a change, makes a good point: Canada's laws and judges are 
quite lax about marijuana consumption (Relaxed pot laws prompt U.S. 
warning, April 19). This is, despite the fact that, according to many 
studies, pot-consumers' mental health depends in part on the reduction or 
prevention of cannabis consumption, more so than opiates.

For example, there were startling facts published in The Guardian newspaper 
last Sept. 17. Written by Robin Murray, professor of psychiatry at the 
Institute of Psychiatry and a hospital consultant, the article said in part:

"In the mid-'90s, a Dutch psychiatrist named Don Lintzen, from the 
University Clinic in Amsterdam, noted that people with schizophrenia who 
consumed a lot of cannabis had a much worse outcome than those who didn't. 
This was confirmed by other studies, including a four-year follow-up at the 
Maudsley Hospital. Those who continued to smoke cannabis were three times 
more likely to develop a chronic illness than those who did not consume the 
drug.

"Why does cannabis exacerbate psychosis? In schizophrenia, the 
hallucinations result from an excess of a brain chemical called dopamine. 
All of the drugs that cause psychosis --amphetamines, cocaine and cannabis 
- -- increase the release of dopamine in the brain. In this way, they are 
distinct from illicit drugs such as heroin or morphine, which do not make 
psychosis worse."

If people propose legalizing marijuana for practical reasons -- for 
example, less pressure on overburdened law enforcement and justice systems 
- -- that's a clear motive. But there's simply way too much of the 
media-propagated BS out there telling our impressionable youth that pot is 
harmless.

Frank G. Sterle, Jr., White Rock
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager