DOPE A DOWNER, RESEARCH REVEALS

Melbourne researchers say they have found the strongest evidence yet that
heavy marijuana smoking causes depression, especially in young women.

The results of the research at the Royal Children's Hospital are expected
to be published soon.

The hospital's Centre for Adolescent Health followed 2000 youths for seven
years from the ages of 14 to 21 to gather data.

"The findings are very, very striking," said the centre's director, George
Patton. "The effects are profound, particularly in young women where the
rates of mental health problems have increased many, many times in daily
cannabis users.

"This is the best evidence yet that ... cannabis is bad for your mental
health and does cause higher rates of depression and anxiety problems,"
Professor Patton said.

He was reluctant to give details because the findings had not yet been
published. However, he said the study would be submitted to a prestigious
international journal next month.

Marijuana has long been associated with various mental illnesses, but most
research has concentrated on its links with schizophrenia and psychosis.

Until now, it had not been established that marijuana use actually caused
depression. It was thought depressed people might be turning to cannabis
for relief or that some personality types were prone to both depression and
cannabis dependence.

"There's been a bit of a question in people's minds as to what was the
chicken and the egg here," Professor Patton said. "What we've been trying
to do is disentangle some of that in our work."

On top of similar, but less conclusive, research in the United States, the
latest study showed the "balance of evidence is shifting toward frequent
cannabis use being a cause of depression and anxiety", he said.

Occasional or experimental use probably had no effect on mental health at
all, Professor Patton said. Two-thirds of young adults have experimented
with cannabis.

"It's probably a sign that you've socialised and adapted to the environment
in which you're living so, if anything, the direction might be positive."

But many young people were smoking more frequently and often using more
potent, hydroponically grown marijuana than their parents' generation, said
Ian Hickie, chairman of the National Depression Initiative, beyondblue.

"We're not just demonising cannabis use. That's a waste of time," Professor
Hickie said. "We need to provide young people and their parents with useful
information about harmful patterns of use."

The study coincides with new concern about cannabis in Sydney, where a
32-year-old surfer, Marcel Mitton, who had been a daily smoker for at least
five years, drowned himself after a bout of depression last month.

His 73-year-old mother, Gundi Mitton, subsequently unleashed a fiery
condemnation of cannabis during her eulogy at his funeral.