The public are largely unaware of the danger of using cannabis and need to be educated, a GP has warned. 

As the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use continues its deliberations, the Irish College of General Practitioners have cautioned against too much loosening of Ireland’s drug legislation. 

UCD Associate Clinical Professor Ray Walley said evidence is mounting that the drug is far more harmful than thought. 

“We’ve got to be aware this has significant potential dangers in the young brain in males of 24, 25-years-of-age which can have consequences later on like an increase in mental health problems,” he told The Hard Shoulder. 

“Over the last six months, we have had massive amounts of information coming out of studies in Denmark indicating that up to 30% of psychosis, labelled as schizophrenia, has been due to cannabis… We have to get this education programme out there.” 

A cannabis spliff . February 2023. Image: Alamy.com

In recent years, a number of countries in the western world have relaxed their drug laws and Dr Walley said it had not been a universal success. 

“We’ve got to learn from the evidence that is accruing in places like Portugal,” he said. 

“The Mayor of Porto has talked about the fact that you can sell cannabis near a school but you can’t actually sell sugary compounds. 

“They’re looking at how they would modify their decriminalisation. 

“You’ve had decriminalisation of cannabis in Oregon which has not been a success. 

“So, we need to learn what the good things are from different venues and what the bad things are.” 

'All to play for'

Assembly chair Paul Reid has said it is “really hard hard to call” what will be recommended and that “ a whole range of scenarios… may emerge”.

“It’s all to play for in the Assembly,” he said. 

“But I think what we can say for definite is there’s definitely a mood for change and a strong feeling amongst Assembly members that the current status quo isn’t working, it is causing some harm and we need to look at what we can do differently.” 

Members of the Citizens’ Assembly will be balloted on October 21st and their recommendations sent to the Government for consideration.

Main image: A woman smoking cannabis. Picture by: Alamy.com