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Research Shows Drug Use Brings Increased Risk Of Depression
POWERFUL new evidence that regular cannabis smoking by teenagers causes depression in young adulthood has prompted a call for it to be taken as seriously as heroin and amphetamines in government drug-control efforts.
George Patton, leader of a seven-year Australian study of 1600 teenagers, said doctors already accepted that cannabis use and depression often went together, but "we haven't known what is the chicken and what is the egg".
"( Now ) we're able to say cannabis use predisposes towards later depression," said the Professor of Adolescent Health at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
Young women users were twice as likely as non-users to suffer depression or anxiety if they had smoked cannabis weekly, and eight times as likely if they had used it every day. For young men the trend was similar, though less pronounced.
Professor Patton said the research also showed that people who were depressed or anxious when 14 or 15 were not more likely than others to be heavy cannabis users by their early 20s meaning the link could not be explained in terms of "self-medication" of unhappiness.
The study was published yesterday in the British Medical Journal.
WA youth worker George Davies said he hoped the study would not strengthen the debate on prohibiton of the drug.
He said young people needed to feel as though they could talk openly about their use of cannabis without being afraid of the consequences.
"Young people are not stupid and if there was an honest, non-judgmental discussion they are likely to think about what is said.
"But at the moment education on these kinds of matters comes from police officers and headmasters and from where the young person is sitting those kind of lectures lack credibility."
Youth counsellor Duane Smith said he had worked with young people with mental health issues for a decade.
He said the research confirmed what most youth workers had suspected for a long time and said the best way to tackle the problem was with good education.
A separate New Zealand study also reported in the journal confirms cannabis can trigger other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
It says policymakers should concentrate on delaying young people's first experiments with the drug.
Figures from the Australian institute of Health and Welfare show that 42 per cent of boys and 38 per cent of girls have tried cannabis by the age of 15.
Pubdate: Sat, 23 Nov 2002
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact: letters@wanews.com.au
Website: The West Australian
POWERFUL new evidence that regular cannabis smoking by teenagers causes depression in young adulthood has prompted a call for it to be taken as seriously as heroin and amphetamines in government drug-control efforts.
George Patton, leader of a seven-year Australian study of 1600 teenagers, said doctors already accepted that cannabis use and depression often went together, but "we haven't known what is the chicken and what is the egg".
"( Now ) we're able to say cannabis use predisposes towards later depression," said the Professor of Adolescent Health at Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
Young women users were twice as likely as non-users to suffer depression or anxiety if they had smoked cannabis weekly, and eight times as likely if they had used it every day. For young men the trend was similar, though less pronounced.
Professor Patton said the research also showed that people who were depressed or anxious when 14 or 15 were not more likely than others to be heavy cannabis users by their early 20s meaning the link could not be explained in terms of "self-medication" of unhappiness.
The study was published yesterday in the British Medical Journal.
WA youth worker George Davies said he hoped the study would not strengthen the debate on prohibiton of the drug.
He said young people needed to feel as though they could talk openly about their use of cannabis without being afraid of the consequences.
"Young people are not stupid and if there was an honest, non-judgmental discussion they are likely to think about what is said.
"But at the moment education on these kinds of matters comes from police officers and headmasters and from where the young person is sitting those kind of lectures lack credibility."
Youth counsellor Duane Smith said he had worked with young people with mental health issues for a decade.
He said the research confirmed what most youth workers had suspected for a long time and said the best way to tackle the problem was with good education.
A separate New Zealand study also reported in the journal confirms cannabis can trigger other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
It says policymakers should concentrate on delaying young people's first experiments with the drug.
Figures from the Australian institute of Health and Welfare show that 42 per cent of boys and 38 per cent of girls have tried cannabis by the age of 15.
Pubdate: Sat, 23 Nov 2002
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact: letters@wanews.com.au
Website: The West Australian
