Pubdate: Mon, 27 May 2013
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2013 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Melissa Davey

CANNABIS DISORDERS LESS LIKELY TO BE DIAGNOSED

More than 185,000 Australians will no longer be diagnosed with 
cannabis use disorders under changes to the controversial diagnostic 
manual used by psychiatrists, released this month.

Sydney researchers looked at the revised diagnostic criteria in the 
latest version of the manual, known as DSM-5, to see if it would 
impact prevalence.

In DSM-5, cannabis abuse and dependence symptoms were combined into 
one disorder and included new criterion for withdrawal and craving. 
When these factors were considered, University of NSW researchers 
found thousands currently categorised as having a cannabis disorder 
fell below the diagnostic threshold.

An author of the study, Tim Slade, said he was surprised by the 
finding because a similar study had found a dramatic increase in 
alcohol use disorders under DSM-5.

"Essentially, the same criteria are being used for both cannabis and 
alcohol," said Associate Professor Slade, of the National Drug and 
Alcohol Research Centre at the university. "It's concerning for a 
classification system when you apply the same criteria to one drug 
and diagnosis goes up but, for another, it goes down."

Professor Slade put the discrepancy down to abuse criteria being 
merged with dependence in the new manual. Because cannabis has a 
higher ratio of abuse to dependence compared with alcohol, more 
cannabis than alcohol users were likely to drop below the diagnostic 
threshold. Of those reclassified as no longer having a problem, many 
were young men, which Professor Slade said may be cause for concern 
because they were already less likely to seek help.

But Jan Copeland, director of the National Cannabis Prevention and 
Information Centre at the University of NSW, said she was not 
concerned by the reduction.

"It is not surprising that those who may have been over diagnosed in 
the [previous] system, that included the concept of abuse, are young 
males who are more likely to be risk takers and use in hazardous 
situations  but are not on a predictable pathway to addiction at this 
stage of their use," Professor Copeland said.

The study, led by Dr Louise Mewton through the Clinical Research Unit 
for Anxiety and Depression, will be published in the July edition of 
the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom