A recent report in the Financial Times highlighted the health costs of legalising cannabis. The report contained a dire warning that campaigns to end prohibition should take account of the psychiatric risks involved. At a time when Malta has already licensed a number of foreign companies to grow cannabis here, together with an apparent strategy moving towards the possibility of legalising cannabis for so-called recreational purposes, it is worth taking note of the ill-effects of such liberality in other countries.
To start with, it is reported that a study published recently showed that smoking potent cannabis strongly increases the risk of psychosis. An international scientific team led by King’s College, London analysed the cannabis consumption and psychiatric records of 2,100 persons in 11 cities. Daily users of cannabis containing more than 10 per cent THC, the main psychoactive ingredient, were five times more likely to suffer psychosis than non-users matched for demographic characteristics.
Psychiatrists’ greatest concern is that psychotic episodes may turn into life-destroying schizophrenia. The researchers warned health authorities against rushing into legalising cannabis even for purely medical reasons. So far Canada and Uruguay are the only countries to have made fully legal the buying and selling of cannabis. In the US some states have legalised the drug for recreational use with more expected to follow.
A worrying factor is that this had led to competition between suppliers who have quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Regrettably Malta is also accommodating those who see the potential of making money in complete disregard of the misery and ill-health to users that the indiscriminate use of cannabis will obviously bring with it.
It is admitted in the report that the health risks do not mean that cannabis legislation should be resisted at all costs as there are potential benefits from a well-regulated market with the possible benefit that criminals will be eased out of illicit trading activities.
The researchers expressed the view that, if European countries wished the buying and selling of cannabis to be placed on a legal footing with adequate regulation, they should not follow their North American counterparts. Instead it is recommended that high-THC products are penalised while favouring those containing more CBD, a less psychoactive component of cannabis.
The researchers accept that disorders known to benefit from the use of cannabinoid compounds range from epilepsy to multiple sclerosis and so they recommend the responsible use of medical but not recreational products. This notwithstanding, governments remain under pressure from business interests that, for sheer greed, want to see cannabis being legalised for non-medical purposes.
One hopes that Malta will not fall for such pressures and thus hold back the widespread use of cannabis which, if legalised, would undoubtedly wreak havoc especially among the younger more vulnerable generation more so in an overpopulated small island that hosts well over two million incoming tourists annually.