DRUG REPORT VERY DANGEROUS

The brief report suggesting that marijuana may help treat
schizophrenia (TheAge, 19/15) is both misleading and dangerous. The
reports refers to the finding of a cannabis-like chemical in the
cerebrospinal fluid of schizophrenic patients, which is a long way
from justifying a claim that marijuana will benefit schizophrenic illness.

Psychiatrists at The Melbourne Clinic are appalled at the prospect of
schizophrenic patients reading the report and being encouraged to use
marijuana, which far from improving the illness, almost always
aggravates it, or causes relapse. (In the opinion of many
psychiatrists, it can actually precipitate schizophrenia or cause
schizophrenia-like illness.)

The last thing we want our patients with schizophrenia to do is to
take up marijuana smoking in the mistaken belief it will improve their
condition.

DR DAVID GROUNDS, consultant psychiatrist on behalf of 21
psychiatriasts, Melbourne Clinic, Richmond