Cannabis is usually regarded as a relatively harmless drug with rather benign affects. Cannabis intoxication is thought to render people muddled, mild and less likely to get into strife than alcohol intoxication. Some people even think that the only reasons that cannabis is illegal might be that it is too hard for governments to tax or too difficult to measure the level of intoxication at the road side such as is done with alcohol.
The truth is more sinister. Cannabis does cause harm, particularly to young users. The intoxicating drug in cannabis, THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) is absorbed in the bodies fatty tissue and lingers there for a long time. The drug can be topped up by regular cannabis use so a regular cannabis user may not be free of the drug for sometime after they stop using it. A significant repository for the accumulation of THC is the brain, a large lump of soft fatty like tissue.
Developing Brains Susceptible To Damage
Adolescent brains are still developing and THC seems to hinder normal brain development. Numbers of studies over some years have concluded that cannabis is not just a harmless short lived intoxicant and that regular use may impair the mental development of adolescents.
While there is debate about the cause and effect of problems linked to cannabis use there is little doubt that for adolescents the ill effects of cannabis use ranges a broad front which includes mental health risks. These risks to mental health become more apparent if there is already some risk from latent problems or a family history. There also seems to be a link that shows cannabis use leads to other drug use, under achievement in education, work and accidents, particularly motor vehicle collisions.
Thirty Five Year Long Study
In a report, Professor David Fergusson who is involved in the large Christchurch Health and Development Study which has been on going now for 35 years by the University of Otago, Christchurch Campus says that “early use of cannabis sets in train biological, individual or social processes which affect the young people’s motivation, learning or commitment to education”.
Poor education outcomes usually lead to poor employment prospects and cannabis users who start smoking cannabis under the age of 18, and persist with it for some years, are very likely to finish school with poor or no qualifications and are unlikely to pursue or achieve any tertiary qualifications.
Researchers tracked 6000 young people in both New Zealand and Australia who started using cannabis before the age of 18 and eliminated other causal factors thus demonstrating the reality that cannabis use by adolescents increases the incidence poor or non achievement at school.
Cannabis Leads To Other Drug Use
Two Christchurch biostatisticians, Associate Professors Elisabeth Wells and Magnus McGee report that "The direction of (drug) use, according to age, tends to move from alcohol, to 'soft' drugs and then onto 'hard' drugs," says Wells. "Most people first start using alcohol in mid-adolescence and then cannabis a few years later. First use of opioids is more common in the early 20s and then use of cocaine begins in the mid-20s, possibly when people have traveled overseas." In fact many studies have revealed a link between cannabis use and other illegal drugs although the reasons why the use of cannabis becomes a gateway to other illicit drugs is not clear.
The Christchurch Health Development Study found that “ that rates of subsequent or other illicit drug use were over 100 times higher amongst adolescent weekly users of cannabis (Refer paragraph 3:3) when compared with non users of cannabis.”
It is clear that cannabis use is highly undesirable on a number of fronts and while it may have some medicinal uses the uncontrolled random use of cannabis particularly by adolescents is clearly harmful.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий