New research that links cannabis with depression and suicide in teens is nothing short of alarming.
One of the more idiotic statements made by Bill Clinton throughout his career was that as a student he smoked cannabis, but didn't inhale. That statement sprang to mind during the week when the results of a study on cannabis use in the student generation, were published in the medical journal The Lancet.
But at least, despite his somewhat ambivalent moral attitude, ex-President Clinton's progress in life was not impeded. Others in his own age group and younger may not have been so lucky: The Lancet research found that young people who smoke cannabis daily in their teen years are 18 times more likely to become dependent on the drug than those who have never smoked it. They are also eight times more likely to use other illicit drugs than those who never smoked cannabis.
But the most startling and disturbing finding was that daily users of cannabis in the teen years are seven times more likely to take their own lives than others in their peer group, with the risks increasing according to the level of dosage. The study was carried out by researchers in Australia and New Zealand by an academic team who followed nearly four thousand participants. All the participants had begun using cannabis before the age of 17 and they were monitored to the age of 30.
Teenagers who smoke cannabis regularly before the age of 17 are 60 times less likely to finish school than those who don't. The research also found significant links between frequent cannabis use among young people and depression.
Alarming figures all. But what does it mean in practice here in Ireland? For a start, we know that an average of one Irish teenager under the age of 17 dies by suicide every month.Depression almost always plays a part.
Source: Emer O'Kelly, Irish Independent, 15/09/14
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