An article in the November 16, 2002 Globe and Mail out of Canada addressed deepening concerns, particulary in Britain, about the respiratory and psychiatric effects of cannabis. The article addressed both Canada’s and Britain’s leaning toward legalizing the use and possession of cannabis and what that might mean. One reason given for legalizing pot was that so many people already use it. This resonates of the teenage justification that “every body else is doing it.” Fortunately, such logic is not applied to justifying legalization of theft, smuggling, slavery, child abuse, and a host of other crimes.

Here are some excerpts from the article which reflect the concerns of the researchers. Comments by detractors have been left out.

…medical researchers are warning that smoking cannabis increases the risk of lung disease and, more disturbingly, that its use can exacerbate psychosis and that it is linked with the onset of schizophrenia in adolescents.”

“We have the evidence of cannabis and its dangers,” said Dr. Richard Russell, a respiratory specialist and a spokesman for the British Lung Foundation, which published a report this week on the dangers of cannabis.”What we really want to avoid is the situation we had in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s with cigarettes, where doctors were recommending tobacco as being good for you.” In its report, the lung foundation warns that cannabis is more harmful to the lungs than tobacco. It says smoking three joints a day can cause the same damage as 20 cigarettes, and tar from marijuana contains 50 per cent more carcinogens than that from tobacco.

Persistent users are risking lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses, it says.

One of the major problems is posed by the way users smoke marijuana and hashish: They take puffs that are almost twice as large as those tobacco smokers take and hold the smoke in four times as long. “This means that there is a greater respiratory burden of carbon monoxide and smoke particulates such as tar than when smoking a similar quantity of tobacco.” The foundation also noted that in the 1960s, the average marijuana joint contained about 10 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which accounts for the drug’s psychoactive properties. Because of sophisticated cultivation techniques, the average joint today has 150 mg of THC, a 15-fold increase.

Dr. Russell, the respiratory specialist, worries that young people think cannabis is a “cool drug” that is risk-free. A survey carried out this year showed that 79 per cent of British children believe cannabis is safe.

Dr. Russell says he recently saw a 40-year-old patient in his clinic with “severe end-stage emphysema” and has about 18 months to live. The patient has been smoking three joints a day for the past 25 years, the equivalent of smoking 60 cigarettes a day from the age of 15, he says.

Studies of heavy cannabis smoking among Rastafarians in the Caribbean have also pointed to increased danger of early lung cancer, Dr. Russell says.

Psychiatrists have also linked cannabis use to schizophrenia. “People with schizophrenia do not take more alcohol, heroin or ecstasy than the rest of us, but they are twice as likely to smoke cannabis regularly,” says Dr. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.Dr. Murray says cannabis, along with cocaine and amphetamines, encourage the release of dopamine in the brain, which in turn leads to increased hallucinations.

He notes that the incidence of schizophrenia in south London has doubled in the past 40 years, and he says increased use of both cannabis and cocaine could be at fault.

Research made public last year by Dr.[Louise] Arsenault showed that young men who regularly smoke cannabis are five times more likely to be violent than those who avoid the drug. Using data from a study of 961 young adults in Dunedin, New Zealand, she discovered that one-third of those with a cannabis habit had a court conviction for violence by the time they hit 21 or had displayed violent behaviour. That was three times the level of those who drank excessive amounts of alcohol.

Source: Northwest Center for Health & Safety