Dramatic rise in Cannabis admissions under new Labour

Former Member

From the Beeb

This is an interesting story, and a little troubling.

Awareness of issues around cannabis is thought to be one reason for the rise in Cannabis related cases emerging. Also it is not clear what the criteria for diagnoses of primary cause of psychosis is.

However... these figures, en bloc, are concerning. I think we need to start looking more critically at the problems caused by Cannabis use. I said it when it happened, declassifying Cannabis was a stupid idea...discretionary prosecutions and a much-needed boost to community mental health initiatives would have helped much more.

We could then have moved to full decriminalisation, with mental health services in place, and then proceeded to deal with the issue in a similar manner to cigarettes.

Former Member

The headline suggest that this is the fault of New Labour though, which I dont think is fair. Canabis use has increased especially amongst younger people but I dont think thats the fault of the current government.

I understand the government have taken a softer approach to cannabis, but even if they were to take a tough stance, the numbers smoking it would have still increased.

Its more to do with it being more acceptable in society, which unfortunaltley goverment legislation doesnt do anything to stop.

Nothing suprises me about the number of people with mental health issues who have smoked canabis. I do think there is a link between the two. But then I do think more people especially younger people are smoking the drug these days.

:thumb:

Former Member

Its a tough one, I know that referals for it are up, but is that because of awareness is better?

I really dont think however that the change in law really has anything to do with this, use has stabilised if not gone down a bit since that - so the arguement that the law is encoraging use doesnt hold water.

Frankly I think the only way to get a proper hold on use is to have legal supply.

Former Member

Calvin wrote: »

The headline suggest that this is the fault of New Labour though, which I dont think is fair. Canabis use has increased especially amongst younger people but I dont think thats the fault of the current government.

It is at least a large part because of the government, whose drug strategy is it? Who writes the laws? Who enforces them? Who hasnt done anything constructive to stem the rise in problem drug use?

Former Member

budda wrote: »

It is at least a large part because of the government, whose drug strategy is it? Who writes the laws? Who enforces them? Who hasnt done anything constructive to stem the rise in problem drug use?

But im not convinced that even if the government took a really tough stance on canabis it would make any difference. The UK government is supposed to be taking a tough stance on cocaine, yet the street price of cocaine is at rock bottom and more cocaine is getting into the UK then ever.

I think the headline suggest, its all the problem of New Labour, which is misleading, the government should take some responsibilty, but just blaming the government isnt that answer. Its more complex than just blaming it on New Labour

:thumb:

Former Member

I'm certainly not suggesting they take a 'hard line' on cannabis at all, as you rightly point out (and the government has admitted) the law is no deterant at all.

But they could have made moves towards full decriminalisation and legal supply and they have failed to do so. They have continued with the failed Misuse of Drugs Act even though everyone knows its a stupid mess which can only make the problem worse.

Former Member

So there were 945 admissions last year, from 2 million regular users.

That means that 0.047% of everyone who uses cannabis regularly last year was "admitted to hospital" for a mental health problem. Thats about 1 in every 2000 "regular users" (whatever that means). So when Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said:

"We strongly urge the government to heed the growing evidence and take urgent action to warn young people that some of them are risking lifelong mental illness - that they are playing Russian roulette with their minds."

She actually means playing Russian roulette with a revolver with more than 2000 chambers.

Also, the fact that "admissions are not the same as patients, so one patient may have been admitted more than once," makes the data somewhat useless really. Also, "experts" are quoted as saying that its the "tip of the iceberg" and that the numbers may have risen because of increasing "awareness" of the link. Whats the basis of causation here? How do they determine whether or not it was cannabis that caused the mental health disorder? Do they simply ask "are you a regular cannabis user" and if the answer is yes nod their head and tick the appropriate box? That would seem pretty foolish considering that its estimated that between 15-25% of the British population suffer "significant" mental health problems, regardless of whether they use cannabis (let alone "regularly") (http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Factsheets/Statistics/Statistics+1.htm#How%20many%20people%20in%20Britain%20experience%20mental%20health%20problems?)
How do they determine which mental health disorders are "due to cannabis" and which are not? This all seems extremely dubious.

To be honest, on the basis of those statistics, I'm wondering if I've been over worried about cannabis use.

I'm not doubting that cannabis use can cause serious mental health problems, and in fact I'm suprised that the figures are not higher. But talking about an 85% increase over ten years seems pretty hysterical considering that the increase has only been about 40 people a year. (edited to say: sorry, 40 admissions a year - patients are admitted multiple times).