IRRATIONAL FEARS GO UP IN SMOKE

Ask The Doc

Many believe that relaxing the cannabis law later this month is a step
in the wrong direction; that it sends out the message that cannabis is
harmless. They predict an explosion in cannabis abuse and an
inexorable slide into a more permissive society where drugs pose an
ever-growing threat to the nation's health. It's a typical knee-jerk
reaction from people who have little understanding or experience of
the nature of the drug problem in this country - and they are wrong.

So, what are the risks?

Only a fool would argue that cannabis is harmless, but the health
risks for most of the three to four million people in the UK who use
the drug appear to be small. The risks contrast starkly with the
outlook for the tens of millions who use cigarettes and alcohol - two
legal drugs that kill, maim and injure more people in a weekend than
cannabis does in a year. Strict legislation hasn't slowed cannabis's
rise in popularity over the years - it is ubiquitous and easy to obtain.

Reclassification of the drug isn't going to change any of this. My
14-year-old daughter has never heard of the Misuse of Drugs Act. She
knows cannabis is illegal and has not tried it, but if she does
experiment with it one day I won't panic. The odds are she will be one
of a vast majority who will come to no harm. I worry far more about
her taking up tobacco - a gateway to premature death for one in three
users - or falling victim to alcohol, either through drinking too
much, or indirectly, at the hands of a drunk.

Can you become addicted?

We now know far more about cannabis than we did just five years ago
and it is nowhere near as safe as street lore would have it, but the
risks need to be put into perspective. Cannabis smoke may be worse
than tobacco smoke - four joints are thought to be as harmful as 20
cigarettes - but only a fraction of cannabis users smoke it that
heavily and the carcinogenic potential of the odd joint is negligible.
It's the mental dangers that worry doctors most.

Contrary to popular belief, you can become addicted to cannabis. One
in ten users risk becoming dependent on the drug - a proportion that
rises to at least 50 per cent in heavy users - and cannabis abuse now
accounts for ten per cent of all attendances at UK drug treatment
centres. There's also evidence that cannabis use can lead to harder
drugs, although only a minority of users - currently thought to be
fewer than one in ten - will do so.

The most alarming recent discovery is that prolonged cannabis use can
trigger serious mental illness such as depression and schizophrenia.
One top psychiatrist estimates it now accounts for as many as eight
out of ten new cases seen in some psychiatric units.

I'm not particularly liberal, just a realist. Maybe the world would be
a better place without cannabis, but it's here to stay. The
authorities have tried to reduce usage and failed, and are now
diverting their limited resources to tackling the harder drugs that
pose a much bigger threat to our welfare. If downgrading cannabis to
Class C helps them do that, then it gets my vote.