24/10/2007 00:00:00
UK: Concern over heavy cannabis use
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Heavy cannabis use among vulnerable young people has a greater
detrimental effect than the user realises, according to a new study.
A new report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation from the University of
Bedfordshire found that young people with the greatest number of social
problems exacerbate their situation by smoking the drug.
When asked about the positive and negative consequences of taking the
drug, the young people initially only listed what they felt to be
positive: relaxation, socialising, and the feeling of being stoned.
Interviewers found it was only when various aspects of their lives were
probed in more detail that associations between their use and problems
such as unemployment, educational under-achievement and homelessness
became apparent particularly for those with less structured lives.
The report, published on Wednesday, found those with the greatest number
of social problems tended to use most heavily.
Researchers, drawing on 100 interviews with 16 to 25-year-olds who
smoked cannabis every day for the past six months, found the
consequences for others, particularly those in higher or further
education, appear to be relatively benign.
The report also found that some of the 30 professionals working with
young people - such as youth workers and hostel workers - saw cannabis
as less harmful than the young people in the study did.
Researchers have suggested this may be because of their differing
experiences of cannabis use in previous decades, when high-strength
herbal cannabis was less widely available.
A spokeswoman for the JRF said this "raises questions about
professionals awareness of the potentially compounding effect of heavy
cannabis use on the problems experienced by vulnerable or excluded young
people particularly if young people are unlikely to identify these
problems themselves."
Dr Margaret Melrose, the report's author, said: "Young people may not be
aware of the extent to which cannabis use might exacerbate their
existing social problems, and professionals who have had experience of
cannabis users in the past may assume the effects are relatively
harmless if they take young people's assessment of the impact of
cannabis use in their lives at face value.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7019736,00.html
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12936
Author:
The Guardian via UKCIA
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