Cannabis;
evidence;
public health;
schizophrenia;
CORONARY-HEART-DISEASE;
STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS;
YOUNG-PEOPLE;
PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS;
ADULT PSYCHOSIS;
SCHIZOPHRENIA;
RISK;
GENE;
POPULATION;
DEPRESSION;
D O I:
10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02846.x
中图分类号:
R194 [卫生标准、卫生检查、医药管理];
学科分类号:
摘要:
In the United Kingdom, as in many places, cannabis use is considered substantially within a criminal justice rather than a public health paradigm with prevention policy embodied in the Misuse of Drugs Act. In 2002 the maximum custodial sentence tariff for cannabis possession under the Act was reduced from 5 to 2 years. Vigorous and vociferous public debate followed this decision, centred principally on the question of whether cannabis use caused schizophrenia. It was suggested that new and compelling evidence supporting this hypothesis had emerged since the re-classification decision was made, meaning that the decision should be reconsidered. The re-classification decision was reversed in 2008. We consider whether the strength of evidence on the psychological harms of cannabis has changed substantially and discuss the factors that may have influenced recent public discourse and policy decisions. We also consider evidence for other harms of cannabis use and public health implications of preventing cannabis use. We conclude that the strongest evidence of a possible causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia emerged more than 20 years ago and that the strength of more recent evidence may have been overstated-for a number of possible reasons. We also conclude that cannabis use is almost certainly harmful, mainly because of its intimate relation to tobacco use. The most rational policy on cannabis from a public health perspective would seem to be one able to achieve the benefit of reduced use in the population while minimizing social and other costs of the policy itself. Prohibition, whatever the sentence tariff associated with it, seems unlikely to fulfil these criteria.
机构:
Univ Cape Town, Dept Med, Div Cardiol, ZA-7925 Cape Town, South Africa
Ist Sci San Raffaele, Intervent Cardiol Unit, I-20132 Milan, ItalyEMO Ctr Cuore Columbus, Intervent Cardiol Unit, I-20145 Milan, Italy
Latib, Azeem
Colombo, Antonio
论文数: 0引用数: 0
h-index: 0
机构:
EMO Ctr Cuore Columbus, Intervent Cardiol Unit, I-20145 Milan, Italy
Ist Sci San Raffaele, Intervent Cardiol Unit, I-20132 Milan, ItalyEMO Ctr Cuore Columbus, Intervent Cardiol Unit, I-20145 Milan, Italy
机构:
NYU, Postdoctoral Program Psychotherapy & Psychoanal, New York, NY 10003 USANYU, Postdoctoral Program Psychotherapy & Psychoanal, New York, NY 10003 USA