8 OUT OF 10 MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS ARE HEAVY CANNABIS USERS

Eight out of ten people who suffer the onset of serious mental illness
are heavy cannabis users, claims a scathing report on the effects of
the drug. The report found that the huge majority of those undergoing
a first episode of psychiatric disorder, schizophrenia or similar
mental breakdowns are habitual users of the drug. The overwhelming
evidence of a connection between cannabis and schizophrenia was
confirmed in a report delivered to Tory chiefs as part of leader David
Cameron's review of party policies.

It listed no fewer than 400 different scientific studies that point to
links between use of cannabis, illness and destructive behaviour.

The findings will pile pressure on Mr Cameron to tie his party to a
pledge to reclassify cannabis as a seriously dangerous drug. The
report was prepared for the Tories' social justice policy review in
the wake of growing criticism of the Government's decision to
downgrade the criminal seriousness of cannabis from Class B to Class C
in 2004.

This means that police officers no longer regularly arrest adults
found with the drug, and critics say it has encouraged young people to
believe that cannabis is no longer officially regarded as dangerous.
But the new study said that the risks 'demand that cannabis now
receives the level of health attention that has been devoted to
Britain's other two most favourite drugs, tobacco and alcohol.' Among
authorities cited by the report is Professor Peter Jones of Cambridge
University, who found that 80 per cent of first episode pyschiatric
disorders occurred in those who were heavy users of cannabis.

It quoted
Professor Jones: 'Cannabis is a huge issue for psychiatric services at
the moment.

I work in a first-contact schizophrenia service and it might as well
be a cannabis dependency unit.' Professor Jones estimated that
children who start smoking cannabis at the ages of 10 or 11 may have
treble the risk of developing schizophrenia of other children.

He added: 'I think this is an iceberg effect.

If you were able to measure the toll on GCSE results, A level results,
training and social development, we were have a much bigger number of
deleterious effects.' Professor Robin Murray of the Institute of
Psychiatry told the inquiry: 'Five years ago, 95 per cent of
psychiatrists whould have said that cannabis does not cause psychosis.

Now, I would estimate that 95 per cent say it does. It is a quiet
epidemic.' The report said that 1.75 million people are thought to use
cannabis in Britain each month, that more than a quarter of 14- and
15-year-olds have used it, and that it ranks behind only alcohol and
tobacco as the country's most popular drug. It listed research which
identified links between cannabis and damage to the cardiovascular
system; cannabis and damage to the immune system; and smoking cannabis
and cancer.

The report also explored scientific literature linking cannabis to
depression and aggression; to driving risks; to impaired educational
performance and ability to reason; and the likelihood that heavy users
will become dependent on the drug. It pointed to the 'gateway effect'
under which users of the most harmful and addictive drugs like heroin
began their illegal drug habits smoking cannabis.

Using cannabis is also associated with problems for pregnant women
including lower birth weights and increased likelihood of premature
birth, the report said. Mary Brett, the researcher who prepared the
study, said she was angered to hear Tony Blair's remark last year that
downgrading cannabis was justifiable because 'it was worth seeing what
happened.' She said: 'Was this just some huge experiment conducted
primarily on our vulnerable young people? How many of them would,
prior to down-classification, ever have been tempted to try the drug?
And how many now find themselves with a psychiatric problem, perhaps
for life?'