THE DEBATE CONTINUES

RECREATIONAL use of cannabis can and does cause addiction, withdrawal
symptoms, poor school performance because of cognitive impairment, traffic
and other accidents, psychosis, depression and anxiety states, as well as
bronchitis, emphysema and precancerous lung changes.

All these effects are dose-related and the potency of cannabis preparations
have increased tenfold over the past decade. I and others presented the
evidence for these effects both orally and in writing to the House of Lords
Select Committee in 1998, and to the Home Affairs Drugs Inquiry Committee in
2001. We also wrote a comprehensive report on cannabis as requested by the
Department of Health, and one for the Ministry of Defence. All this
information seems to have been ignored by politicians. I have spoken about
cannabis to MPs and been amazed by their ignorance, despite the information
available to them; they do not seem to read it or heed it.

Heather Ashton, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Newcastle
University