MIND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH - WARNING ON CANNABIS TARGETS TEENAGERS

Teenage 'Dabblers' And Binge Smokers Targeted

Ukp 2m Campaign Welcomed After Drug's Reclassification

Drugs campaigners welcomed a new television advert shown last night
aimed at warning teenagers of the mental health problems associated
with cannabis.

The UKP 2.2m government campaign is targeted at 11-18 year olds. In
the advert, one actor demonstrates the symptoms associated with
smoking the drug. The film shows the mind-altering effects of the
drug. The voiceover at the end warns: "The more you mess with
cannabis, the more it can mess with your mind."

Promoted by Frank, the drugs advice and information service for
teenagers run by the Home Office the Department of Health and the
Department for Children, Families and Schools, it aims to tackle the
high number of teenagers treated for cannabis use. In 2005, 10,000 11
to 17-year-olds were treated - 10 times the number a decade ago. It
also aims to curtail the increasing use of skunk, a potent form of cannabis.

While it is not the first anti-cannabis advert to appear on British
television, it is the first to specifically target 11-14 year-old
"dabblers and contemplaters", children considering smoking the drug
without awareness of any consequent problems. It is also aimed at
slightly older peers who may have already tried the drug.

The campaign follows the reclassification of cannabis last month from
class C to class B. The home secretary overruled the opinion of the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which advised that cannabis
should remain class C.

A spokesman for Frank, Chris Hudson, said: "Cannabis is the most
commonly used illegal drug in Britain and binge smoking to achieve
maximum effect may be putting people's mental health in serious
danger. There is evidence of a link between cannabis and mental
health problems such as schizophrenia, and those who first use it at
an early age may be more at risk. You never truly know what you're
getting and stronger cannabis, such as skunk, can increase the chance
of a nasty reaction."

Steve Rolles of the drug policy foundation Transform welcomed
spending on drugs education because it was "usually starved of
resources". American campaigns showing how cannabis can make people
boring had been more successful than the "just say no" message", he said.

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity Sane,
said: "We need campaigns like this to convince people just how
frightening the effects of cannabis can be, and that for those who
are vulnerable, taking it could mean robbing themselves of their
chances in life."

For some viewers, the advert will have overtones of Reefer Madness,
the 1936 film originally meant as a warning to parents.

But the public health minister, Dawn Primarolo, is convinced that
this message is needed. "Cannabis is a destructive drug. What can
start as a few giggles and being part of the crowd can have serious
and long-term health problems," she said. "Young people need to know
cannabis isn't a soft drug."

It is still unclear whether the psychotic symptoms linked to cannabis
use are only short-term, or whether they may persist after use of the
drug has ceased. In 2005, a Danish study found that almost half the
patients treated for cannabis-related mental disorder went on to
develop schizophrenia.

The mental health charity Mind found the number of people taken to
hospital with psychotic episodes had risen since cannabis was
downgraded to Class C. A study in the British Medical Journal in 2004
found that while there was a slight risk of psychotic symptoms, the
drug had a much stronger effect on those who already had mental
health problems.

A summary of research into the effects of cannabis on psychosis was
published in the Lancet last year. It concluded that smoking cannabis
increased the risk of schizophrenia by at least 40%.

Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental Health Services, said:
"Cannabis is a harmful drug that can damage your mental health. We
have known for years that it can be part of a pattern of relapse and
risk in people with severe illnesses such as schizophrenia and
bipolar disorder. Now the evidence is pointing to cannabis as the
cause of psychosis in some people."

*SIDEBAR*

Neon signs mess with our minds Review Simon lights a spliff and opens
the door of his bedsit to a gaggle of other Simons. Each of these
Simons has a neon sign above his head - "Giggles", "Munchies",
"Happy", "Talkative", "Relax" and "Dr Chill". It's like Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs for the Skins generation.

But wait! Another knock at the door, another gaggle of Simons.
"You're not invited!" exclaims Ur-Simon. For they are labelled
Paranoia, Pukey, Panic Attacks and Lazy. For a few febrile seconds
all the Simons act out their adjectives together, until the voiceover
comes in: "The more you mess with cannabis, the more it can mess with
your mind" - urging them to talk to FRANK, the government phone
helpline, to find out more.

Now, no one is expecting Jamesian subtlety in a 40-second government
health ad - but neon signs above people's heads? Really? Sometimes
you just gotta love the government for trying. But alas, suggestion
and allusion aren't optional extras in successful advertising - they
are its defining feature. That's why the Flake advert entered into
legend and why the pizza splattering across the windscreen in the
public road safety campaign of a few years ago sticks in the mind.
It's why we were advised to Go to Work on an Egg, rather than Eat an
Egg for Breakfast Every Morning Because Then You Won't Be Hungry All
Morning in the Office. Even the much-parodied American "This is your
brain on drugs" campaign, which involved a lot of eggs being smashed
and scrambled piqued the interest momentarily, in a way that
adjectives rendered in neon simply do not.

Perhaps the problem is that now there are (ex) dope smokers with
knighthoods, in the Home Office and in every other walk of life, it
must be hard to find a team of people who can still be horrified at
the thought of soft drugs, rather than filled with happy memories of
student days. Passion and imaginations unsparked, they have to fall
back on the facts, which are, with cannabis, not overly dramatic.

The result is a dismal, deadening literalness that I suspect won't
even cause its target demographic to lift an eyebrow, never mind a phone.

Lucy Mangan