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Issue Description
Cannabis is the most widely-used illegal substance in Britain. Users say it helps them to relax: however, there are worries that smoking the drug can trigger mental health problems, with highly potent ‘skunk’ strains causing particular concern. This book looks at the cannabis debate, including issues such as reclassification, cannabis use for medical reasons and cannabis-related health problems.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
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Key Facts
- Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in Britain. (page 1)
- Cannabis is illegal; it’s a class B drug. (page 1)
- 20- to 24-year-olds are the age group most likely to have used cannabis in the past year. (page 4)
- Approximately four per cent of the world’s adults – some 162 million people – use cannabis at least once in the course of a year, making it the world’s most widely-used illicit drug. (page 6)
- Cannabis sativa and cannabis indica are members of the nettle family that have grown wild throughout the world for centuries. Both plants have been used for a variety of purposes including hemp to make rope and textiles, as a medical herb and as the popular recreational drug. (page 9)
- The amount of the main psycho-active ingredient, THC, that you get in herbal cannabis varies hugely, from as low as 1% up to 15%. The newer strains, including skunk, can have up to 20%. (page 11)
- Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London (KCL) have found that people who smoke skunk, the most potent form of cannabis available in the UK, are almost seven times more likely to develop psychotic illnesses than those who use traditional cannabis resin (hash) or grass. (page 13)
- Cannabis was first made illegal in 1928. (page 15)
- Cannabis has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes. It has even been claimed that Queen Victoria was prescribed the drug to relieve period pain. (page 16)
- Cannabis use has become a ‘normal’ part of young people’s lives in many Western countries: up to 50% of people born after 1980 have at least tried it. (page 20)
- Cannabis has been used for more than 4,000 years, including for medicinal purposes in Indian, Chinese and Middle-Eastern civilisations. In China, it has been used to treat such conditions as malaria, constipation and rheumatism. (page 25)
- The British Lung Foundation estimates that smoking three to four joints a day causes the same level of damage as smoking 20 cigarettes a day. (page 28)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Effects of Cannabis
Cannabis, Cannabis controversy, Risks of cannabis use, Impact of cannabis on bones ‘changes with age’, Behind the medical headlines – cannabis, Cannabis and mental health, Schizophrenia link to cannabis denied, Skunk ‘poses greatest risk of psychosis’, ‘Cannabis alters DNA’, Cannabis and your health, Medicinal use of cannabis, Marijuana use around the world, The world drugs problem, ten years on, Home Office cannabis drugs potency study 2008, Why does cannabis potency matter?, The families torn apart by teenage skunk epidemic, Helpline tells children ‘pot safer than alcohol’, Cannabis and the risks.
Chapter Two: Cannabis and the Law
Cannabis: the law has changed, Cannabis and psychosis, Poll reveals anger at cannabis law, David Nutt: my views on drugs classification, Politicians intoxicated by cowardice in drugs debate, The phoney war on drugs – summary, The streets don’t care what class drugs are, The big question.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: Cannabis Use - Volume 186
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.95
ISBN: 978 1 86168 537 7