We will, in years to come, look back and wonder how we could have been so foolish — so incredibly blind to the dangers of cannabis.
We will be horrified at our reckless disregard for young minds. We will berate our liberally-minded politicians for their weakness, and the police for allowing, what is, in effect, its decriminalisation.
And we will feel justifiable fury towards those who demanded the liberalisation of drug laws; who denied the mountain of evidence that this is a highly damaging intoxicant with a profound effect on the structure and function of the brain, and a ‘gateway’ to other illegal drugs….
It all began, his mother told me, when he started ‘dabbling’ with cannabis. As his habit grew, they pleaded with him to stop — but a vicious cycle was established.
The more dope he smoked, the more depressed he was. So he smoked even more to escape his despairing mood.
Robert is just one of countless young people I’ve seen over 15 years of working in mental health, their minds broken by cannabis….
I am sickened by campaigners and politicians who tell us that the only way to deal with this scourge is to decriminalise the drug, as several U.S. states have done. And this despite reports of increasing violence and of a mental health crisis that’s followed in the wake of liberalisation.
What I’d like to see right now is a major public education campaign that tells youngsters the truth about cannabis and spares them none of its horror. We owe it to the generations to come.