I am strongly in favour of legalisation of cannabis.
There seems to be a lot of anecdote in this thread so I'll offer up some of my own.
I have met many people, often in MH hospital, who have complex interactions with their mental illness and cannabis use.
Some of those people had a psychotic illness and self medicated woth cannabis and other drugs. (Some of these people said their illness was easier to deal with now they had been off cannabis for a while).
Some people probably had underlying psychosis that was brought out by heavy cannabis use. They had family history of mental illness; their cannabis use was on the heavy end.
But then I've met people who had no family history of mental illness and who believed that cannabis caused their illness. They felt that since cannabis can cause temporary psychosis it can probably cause long term psychosis.
And it wasn't just psychotic illnesses. I've met people woth anxiety disorders and depression who's illness was made much worse hy cannabis.
The illegality of the drug makes good quality research really hard. It also makes people dismiss research as government funded propaganda.
So, while cannabis is great for some people we need to acknowledge that it is peoblematic for an unknown quantity of other people and put in place safeguards - nonise by under 18s; helplines and treatment for people having problems.
Being honest about the possibility of harm makes legalisation easier.
There seems to be a lot of anecdote in this thread so I'll offer up some of my own.
I have met many people, often in MH hospital, who have complex interactions with their mental illness and cannabis use.
Some of those people had a psychotic illness and self medicated woth cannabis and other drugs. (Some of these people said their illness was easier to deal with now they had been off cannabis for a while).
Some people probably had underlying psychosis that was brought out by heavy cannabis use. They had family history of mental illness; their cannabis use was on the heavy end.
But then I've met people who had no family history of mental illness and who believed that cannabis caused their illness. They felt that since cannabis can cause temporary psychosis it can probably cause long term psychosis.
And it wasn't just psychotic illnesses. I've met people woth anxiety disorders and depression who's illness was made much worse hy cannabis.
The illegality of the drug makes good quality research really hard. It also makes people dismiss research as government funded propaganda.
So, while cannabis is great for some people we need to acknowledge that it is peoblematic for an unknown quantity of other people and put in place safeguards - nonise by under 18s; helplines and treatment for people having problems.
Being honest about the possibility of harm makes legalisation easier.