Skunk dangers

The figures today showing the mental health impact of cannabis on young people are shocking. An estimated 60,000 adults who smoked the drug as teenagers have been permanently damaged. The landmark Oxford University study says that around one in 14 cases of depression can be attributed to cannabis use. This has occurred despite an apparent decline in consumption among young people in recent years.

The explanation is that the THC content of the drug, the element that produces the so-called high, is far stronger than it once was. Most cannabis sold on the streets is super-strength “skunk”, which is highly potent and places users at risk of a range of mental disorders that include schizophrenia, psychosis and depression.

The lesson for parents is not to take a relaxed view of their teenage offspring using cannabis as though it is a mostly harmless pastime. This is a view encouraged by its virtual decriminalisation by default, now that the police largely turn a blind eye to personal use that does not involve trafficking. The lesson for policymakers unwilling to consider controversial drug law reforms is to focus as much on the public health consequences of cannabis use as on the criminal side.

Those in favour of legalisation argue that sales of safer forms could be controlled and taxed, while removing the supply from criminal gangs. However, although laws have been relaxed in some countries, there is no prospect of this happening in Britain. Given this, enforcement needs to be combined with prevention programmes based around clear warnings about the potentially devastating and long-term consequences for mental health of cannabis use.