Life Skills Education

Posts Tagged ‘Cannabis’

Using cannabis for the first time under the age of 15 is linked to an increased risk of hallucinations or delusions, a new study has found. However, the findings are still not definite.

What do we know already?

Previous studies have found that using cannabis at a young age is linked to psychosis, a condition where someone loses touch with reality. Someone with psychosis might hallucinate or have false beliefs called delusions. Schizophrenia is one cause of psychosis.

Although cannabis use seems to have a link with psychosis, it’s harder to find out whether it’s the cause of the problem. The sheer number of things that could influence someone’s mental health makes it difficult for researchers to investigate whether cannabis really has an effect. Some doctors think people at risk of psychosis may be more likely to use cannabis because of problems in their lives, or to help them cope with their mental illness.

A new study solves some of the research problems by looking at siblings. Siblings usually grow up in a similar environment, and they also share many of the same genes. So, if siblings have a different pattern of cannabis use, researchers can be more confident that it caused other differences between them, such as differences in their mental health.

What does the new study say?

The study looked at nearly 4,000 Australian people born in the early 1980s. At 21 years of age they were asked about whether they’d used cannabis, and also completed questionnaires asking if they’d ever had symptoms like hallucinations or delusions.

People who’d started using cannabis before age 15 were more likely to have had symptoms of psychosis by the age of 21. Of the people who’d used cannabis at an early age, 3.9 percent had developed a psychotic illness. This compared with about 3 percent of people who’d started using cannabis after age 15, and 2.1 percent of people who’d never used cannabis.

The study included 10 pairs of siblings among whom one had developed a psychotic illness but not the other. Within these pairs, there wasn’t a big difference in cannabis use. However, among the 218 pairs of siblings where neither had developed a psychotic illness, siblings who’d used cannabis at a younger age tended to score higher on a questionnaire measuring “delusional-like experiences”.

The article continues here

Article taken from

McGrath J, Welham J, Scott J, et al. Association between cannabis use and psychosis-related outcomes using sibling pair analysis in a cohort of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry. Published online 1 March 2010.

‘Grossly irresponsible’ Robbie Williams blasted after describing cannabis as ‘lovely’ during an interview

By Liz Thomas

Robbie Williams was yesterday accused of being ‘grossly irresponsible’ for encouraging his young fans to try cannabis after he described the illegal drug as ‘lovely’ during an interview.

The controversial singer, who has battled addictions to cocaine and prescription drugs, said he was still smoking the illegal substance last year and claimed it was ‘a shame’ that it ‘did not mix well’ with him.

But charities and campaign groups have reacted with fury at his comments and claim he is effectively promoting a Class B drug that has been linked to the development of mental illness and psychosis.

The majority of the stars fans are in their teens and his new song Morning Sun has just been selected as the official Sport Relief song, which aims to raise money for disadvantaged people – many of whom will have been affected by drug abuse.

In an interview in the Radio Times Williams told how the tendency to binge eat after smoking marijuana had caused the pounds to pile on.

He said: ‘Have a look at [me] last year. Yep. Year of the Munchie 2009.

‘Weed, it’s such a lovely drug. It is such a lovely drug. But it doesn’t mix well with me – at all.

‘It doesn’t take much to trigger – I mean, I’ll get psychosis from having this cup of tea! Seriously. The caffeine in that is enough. A cup of tea will make me feel like s***. But it’s just a shame about weed, because I did love it.’

David Gilbert, chief executive of drugs education and awareness charity DARE, branded Williams comments ‘disgusting’.

He said: ‘This is grossly irresponsible. He is a role model. Young people look up to him, they admire him, they want to emulate him so saying something like this is thoughtless.

‘His comments make it sound like he is promoting cannabis use – even though it is known that it is harmful and has links to mental illness.

‘In saying cannabis is a ‘lovely drug’ young people who had not previously tried it  – may be tempted to – and others may believe that there are no ill effects.

The article continues here…

Article taken from