REPORT SENDS 'MELLOW' CANNABIS THEORY UP IN SMOKE

Young men who take cannabis are five times more likely to be violent than
those who avoid the drug, it was claimed today.

The findings are at odds with the popular perception of cannabis as a drug
that makes people mellow.

They emerge from the first study to investigate the overlap between mental
disorders and violence.

Psychiatrists looked at 961 adults born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between
April 1972 and March 1973.

They were monitored every three years until the age of 26.

At the age of 21, a total of 34% of the young men in the group with a
cannabis habit had a court conviction for violence, or reported violent
behaviour in the previous year.

This represented a five-fold higher violence risk than the general
population. It was also higher than the three-fold risk increase associated
with men suffering from schizophrenia or dependent on alcohol.

The findings were presented today at the Royal College of Psychiatrists'
annual meeting in London.

They showed that 40% had mental disorders and were five times more likely
to be violent than those without mental conditions.

Dr Louise Arseneault, from the Institute of Psychiatry in London, who led
the study, said: "There is a substantial minority of young adults with
specific mental disorders who are responsible for a substantial proportion
of violence in the community.

"Not all mentally-ill individuals engage in violence. The link is limited
to three groups -- those dependent on alcohol, those dependent on cannabis,
and adults with schizophrenia."

She said people with at least one of the disorders constituted a fifth of
the sample, but accounted for more than half the convictions for violence.

"People with two of these disorders have an increased risk for violence
eight to 18 times greater than that for people with no disorders," she added.