de-criminalize pot

Pot can make you psychotic?
24 HOURS, February 24, 2006

Heads up potheads. Cannabis use may lead to psychosis.

At an SFU forum on cannabis, mental health and addiction, Professor David Ferguson from the University of Otago, New Zealand, told his audience pot is definitely not a harmless drug.

Based on an ongoing 25-year study of 1,200 youth, Ferguson found daily cannabis users reported various symptoms of psychosis about 1.5 times more than non-users.

But this small increase of symptoms in individuals will boost the rate of psychosis in society by about 10 per cent, he said.

The youths were tested for cannabis while aged 18 to 25 and control tested for additional social factors from birth.

However, Ferguson said it's important not to over-exaggerate his findings in the debate about marijuana de-criminalization.

"In susceptible individuals, cannabis use may lead to mental illness, but in many it does not have harmful effects," Ferguson said.

"It's about weighing the rights of the majority for whom use is not harmful, against the risk of the minority who experience adverse consequences."

He said youth are most susceptible to the mental health risks of pot use because their brains are still developing.
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INDEPTH: MARIJUANA
CBC News Online Updated Aug. 2, 2005

New statistics released in July 2004 suggest more than 10 million Canadians aged 15 or older have tried marijuana or hashish at least once. Under Canada's current laws, those 10 million Canadians are guilty of a crime.

But many people want marijuana possession decriminalized, and courts in some provinces have even struck down the federal law.

In some cases, the laws have been struck down because of people using marijuana for medicinal purposes, and courts have said blanket prohibition of marijuana infringes on their rights. Canada was the first country to regulate the medical use of marijuana. CBC.ca has an audio diary of a woman who uses marijuana to control her multiple sclerosis symptoms.

Even if the laws against possessing marijuana are decriminalized, growing marijuana will still be a criminal offence (except if done under contract from Health Canada). Grow operations, such as the one found in January 2004 at the former Molson brewery in Barrie, Ont., are getting more and more sophisticated.

The debate over marijuana has been raging for decades, and politicians and activists on both sides have had a lot to say on the topic. (So have readers of CBC.ca.) The CBC Archives has reports going back to 1969 on the marijuana debate from CBC Radio and CBC Television.
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Resource information courtesy the Canadian Marijuana Party