UK Cannabis health risk ‘not rising’
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 5:23 pm | By: Radical Russ
Men who take cannabis regularly have a one in 5,000 chance of developing a disease like schizophrenia, according to one of the top drug specialists in the UK.
But Professor David Nutt, who chairs the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), told Newsbeat the risk to mental health from smoking cannabis is no greater than getting drunk.
“We’ve written three reports and read every paper published for the last 30 years. We do not believe the risks are going up,” he said.
“When we look at the evidence, we have seen a huge increase in the use of cannabis but a fall in schizophrenia.”
“Alcohol is probably more likely to cause dependence than cannabis.
“It causes brain damage through vitamin deficiency and withdrawal can lead to psychosis. Overall the mental health risks of alcohol and cannabis are not dissimilar.”
via BBC – Newsbeat – Health – Cannabis health risk ‘not rising’.
The government implicitly recognizes a right to intoxication when it allows the consumption of alcohol. For government to then ban the safer form of intoxication is tantamount to government incentivizing the use of the more dangerous drug. It’s the recognition of a right with the government maximizing the harm to self and society for exercising that right.
It’s like government saying you have a right to ride a motorcycle, but only without a helmet as you try to jump it Evel Knievel-style over a line of fifty schoolchildren.
Topics: advisory council on the misuse of drugs, BBC, SAFER, UK
