PSYCHIATRIST ISSUES CANNABIS WARNING

Politicians should exercise extreme caution before legalising cannabis,
says a leading psychiatrist.

Professor Griffiths Edwards, of the National Addiction Centre, warned that
it would be wrong to legalise the drug without extensive examination of the
complex social reasons which led people to use it.

He warned that ill-thought out action could disrupt drug culture, and end
up being counter productive.

His comments follow a call from Home Secretary David Blunkett for an "adult
debate" on the reform of the cannabis law - paving the way for a possible
rethink in government policy.

But Professor Edwards, who spoke at the Royal College of Psychiatrists
annual meeting on Monday, said it was vital that politicians, health bosses
and others in positions of power were not bounced into a knee-jerk response
by media campaigns.

He said: "The whole message is that drug epidemics swing into sight very
quickly. The whole message is prudence, prudence.

"And I would plead with politicians and the media not to jolt the drug ecology.

"Liberating the laws on cannabis runs that risk and this is a plea of caution.

"If you make tranquillisers easily available then they will be used by mums
in tower blocks as a way of making their lives more bearable."

Rosie Brocklehurst, of Addaction, said it was time for a national profile
of drug addiction looking at cause and effect.

She said there was too little data available to give an accurate picture.

"I think the whole field of drug and alcohol misuse is fraught with a lack
of comprehensive data"