DRUG GOOD FOR SOME, BAD FOR OTHERS

The latest Visions magazine featuring a guest editorial by Victoria
councillor and medicinal-marijuana activist Philippe Lucas is no
stoner's guide to getting high.

Instead the magazine, B.C.'s mental health and addictions journal
published by B.C. Partners for Mental Health and Addictions, presents
an unvarnished view of some of the pros and cons of marijuana use,
including some disturbing tales of links between marijuana use and
psychosis.

"I think the issue is a good balance showing that for some people with
medical conditions and particularly with mental-health disorders,
cannabis has been incredibly helpful," Lucas said in a recent interview.

Certain strains of cannabis are regularly used by people with doctors'
recommendations to help with bi-polar disorders, psychosis, depression
or anxiety, said Lucas.

"Yet for some there seems to be a very negative effect and that's not
altogether surprising, [for] people who have a history of
mental-health disorder who are then taking a psychoactive substance
like cannabis," he said.

Lucas, who is also a graduate research fellow with the Centre for
Addictions Research of B.C., notes mental-health disorders are complex.

"No two are alike. While cannabis can be very helpful for one, it's
not necessarily for others. What we do find at the Compassion Society
is that there are certain strains that are more effective at treating
people's anxiety than others.

"Unfortunately, on the black market, where so many people are getting
their cannabis supply, there is no real strain differentiation and
there is certainly no one asking your history of mental-health
disorders or your family's history of mental-health disorders."

Lucas said the fact that cannabis can be both helpful and at times
harmful for people with mental-health disorders is a strong argument
for more research into the potential therapeutic effects of marijuana
and for moving toward a regulated market for the recreational use of
cannabis by adults.

Lucas said one of the benefits of cannabis is that in many ways it's
self-regulating.

"There's a percentage of our population that cannabis doesn't agree
with them. It's kind of that simple.

"That's why despite the wide availability of cannabis, we have about
40 per cent of the Canadian population [who] will try it in their
lifetime but only 10 per cent will use it on a regular basis."