Would decriminalising personal use of cannabis lead to higher rates of mental illness?

Smyth, Bobby P; Cannon, Mary; Molodynski, Andrew; Curran, H. Valerie; Eastwood, Niamh; Winstock, Adam

doi:10.1136/bmj.l6975

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…If this was to occur across Europe, it would mean an increase of 16,000 in the number of 16-year-olds using cannabis on a monthly basis. Even a small increase in prevalence carries risk of significant adverse public health impact given the large population involved (Smyth et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deterrence effect of penalties upon adolescent cannabis use

Smyth

Davey

Keenan

2023

Ir. j. psychol. Med.

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Objective: Penalties are used in an effort to curtail drug use by citizens in most societies. There are growing calls for a reduction or elimination of such penalties. Deterrence theory suggests that use should increase if penalties reduce and vice versa. We sought to examine the relationship between changes to penalties for drug possession and adolescent cannabis use. Method: Ten instances of penalty change occurred in Europe between 2000 and 2014, seven of which involved penalty reduction and three involved penalty increase. We conducted a secondary analysis of a series of cross-sectional surveys of 15–16-year-old school children, the ESPAD surveys, which are conducted every four years. We focused on past month cannabis use. We anticipated that an eight-year time span before and after each penalty change would yield two data points either side of the change. A simple trend line was fitted to the data points for each country. Results: In eight cases, the trend slope in past month cannabis use was in the direction predicted by deterrence theory, the two exceptions being the UK policy changes. Using the principals of binomial distributions, the likelihood of this happening by chance is 56/1024 = 0.05. The median change in the baseline prevalence rate was by 21%. Conclusions: The science seems far from settled on this issue. There remains a distinct possibility that reducing penalties could contribute to small increases in adolescent cannabis use and consequently increase cannabis-related harms. This possibility should be considered in any political decision-making influencing drug policy changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deterrence effect of penalties upon adolescent cannabis use

Smyth

Davey

Keenan

2023

Ir. j. psychol. Med.

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“…This change in market profile has been argued to be a result of prohibition of cannabis, and traditional drug control legislation has proven ineffective at reducing harmful illicit market features [22]. Proponents of legal regulation cite this as one of the reasons for regulating its supply and distribution [23]. Limits on the maximum concentration of THC in legally supplied products could be imposed in a regulated market, or product price could be based on THC content to discourage purchase of higher concentration products.…”

Section: Cannabis Potency Frequency Of Use and The Nature Of Cannabis Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are we any closer to identifying a causal relationship between cannabis and psychosis?

Hamilton

Sumnall

2021

Current Opinion in Psychology

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The increasing availability of high potency cannabis increases the risk of developing cannabis psychosis, as a dose response relationship has been established as a risk factor. • Defining and standardizing terms and measurement of cannabis products and use could usefully transform research and practice for cannabis psychosis.• Evidence based interventions for patients with cannabis psychosis are limited and those that show promise are symptom-specific rather than treating all symptoms.• Liberalisation of cannabis policy in some countries may support studies designed to better understand the impact of cannabis on mental health

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Would decriminalising personal use of cannabis lead to higher rates of mental illness?

Abstract: Removing criminal penalties for possession could increase adolescent use, say Bobby P Smyth, Mary Cannon, and Andrew Molodynski. But H Valerie Curran, Niamh Eastwood, and Adam R Winstock find no evidence for this and say that liberalisation of drug laws could reduce harms

Cited by 2 publications

References 21 publications

Deterrence effect of penalties upon adolescent cannabis use

Deterrence effect of penalties upon adolescent cannabis use

Are we any closer to identifying a causal relationship between cannabis and psychosis?

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