Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Teen pot link to depression
US banker pays £85k to slaughter a rare breed in Himalayas
UP to 60,000 cases of adult depression in the UK could be avoided if teenagers did not smoke cannabis, according to researchers.
A study of 23,000 people found about 7% of depression cases in those aged 18 to 34 in the UK were linked to using the drug under 18.
This amounts to about 60,000 cases at any time.
Study co-author Prof Andrea Cipriani, of Oxford University said: “This should be a priority for public health and the mental health sector.” AN American trophy hunter has sparked outrage after paying a record £85,000 to kill a rare mountain goat in the Himalayas.
Banker Bryan Harlan slaughtered the Astor markhor in Pakistan. He posed for a photo with the animal’s corpse, and said: “It was an easy and close shot. I am pleased to take this trophy.” He was widely criticised. Chandra Prasad wrote: “No one disgusts me more than hunters like this.” Another said: “You paid someone to murder an animal. Gross.”
After the hunt, Harlan, of Plano, Texas, said: “It is an honour to be back in Pakistan. I have hunted almost all animals here. I saved the markhors for the last.”
Footage shows the goat leaping in pain as Harlan fires a shot into its side. He then high-fives a member of his group.
Fewer than 6,000 Astors exist in the wild. The Pakistan government sold hunting permits for Astors in October. It said the cash goes to conservation efforts to help save species from extinction.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has reclassified Astors from endangered to threatened, to encourage conservation. Trophies can be taken back to the States.