HEAVY CANNABIS USE BY TEENS IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN ALCOHOL

Ten-Year Study Finds Long-Term Users Have Problems With Work and in
Relationships

People who start using cannabis as teenagers are more likely than
drinkers to suffer from mental illness, have relationship problems,
and fail to get decent qualifications or jobs, according to a new
study by academics.

"Cannabis really does look like the drug of choice for life's future
losers," says Professor George Patton, who conducted the 10-year
study that followed the fortunes of 1,900 schoolchildren until they
were 25. "It's the young people who were using cannabis in their
teens who were doing really badly in terms of their mental health.
They were also less likely to be working, have qualifications or be
in a relationship and more likely to be taking other drugs."

The 10-year study is the first of its kind to compare drinkers with
cannabis users. Almost two-thirds of people had tried cannabis before
they turned 18.

Heavy users of the drug were between three and six times more likely
to use other drugs, compared with drinkers, less likely to be in a
stable relationship and up to three times more likely than drinkers
to have dropped out of education or be unemployed.

The results reflect the changing use and attitudes to cannabis by
teenagers, according to Professor Patton. "Twenty or 30 years ago,
cannabis was uncommonly used by teenagers," he said. "Alcohol use is
still more prevalent, but cannabis use has become widespread in many
countries."

The findings, from Melbourne University's Centre for Adolescent Heath
and published in the current issue of Addiction journal, come after
the health risks of cannabis were highlighted by The Independent on
Sunday last month.

The debate intensified last week following a report by the newly
launched UK Drug Policy Commission, which revealed how Britain
remains in the grip of a serious drug problem. It says that one in
four people in their late twenties have tried heroin or cocaine at
least once and that nearly half of all young people have used
cannabis. Britain's drug addiction rate is more than twice that of
France, Germany, Sweden or Holland.

More than 22,000 people needed treatment for cannabis use in Britain
last year. The number of emergency hospital admissions due to
cannabis has almost doubled in five years - from 581 in 2001 to
nearly 1,000 last year. Britain's teenagers are most at risk as the
drug acts on the developing brain, according to leading experts.

Concerns have spread to some of Britain's top teachers amid worries
that it is joints and not cigarettes that are now most likely to be
smoked during breaks.

In response, Dr Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College,
Berkshire, held a conference on Friday. Dozens of the country's top
schools, including Harrow, Bedales, Kingston Grammar and Uppingham,
met senior police officers and experts from drugs and mental health charities.

"Most schools are in a muddle about how to deal with drugs," said Dr
Seldon. "We know the problem is growing and about the new evidence
linking cannabis to schizophrenia. But the absence of clear
guidelines on what to do, or a clear message from the Government that
cannabis is dangerous, does not help us."

But drug reform organisation Transform says that legalisation of
cannabis is the way forward. A spokesman said: "It is precisely
because drugs are dangerous that they need to be appropriately
regulated rather than be left in the hands of criminal profiteers."