Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jan 2005
Source: Scotland On Sunday (UK)
Copyright: 2005 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/405
Author: Christopher Claire
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CALL TO PROBE CANNABIS LINKS TO MENTAL ILLNESS

Campaigners have demanded an urgent government inquiry into links
between the use of cannabis and mental illness.

The charity Rethink made the call a year after the Home Office
officially reclassified cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug.

The charity said the Commons Health Committee should look into how the
drug affects mental health, after a series of studies linked it to
psychosis and other problems.

Rethink chief executive Cliff Prior said: "Government should
concentrate on the real and specific mental health dangers, not
general warnings that no one takes seriously." The charity said the
number of people who used drugs and had mental illness had increased
by 60% in five years.

Prior said reclassification had sent out a "mixed and confusing
message". He added: "There is a strongly held view that cannabis is
risk-free but it is not. We have known for years that using the drug
makes the symptoms of schizophrenia far worse.

"There is a growing body of evidence showing that cannabis can trigger
schizophrenia in people already at risk - and probably even in people
who should only be low risk."

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane, urged
the government to reverse its decision to reclassify cannabis.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin