Lothar121

Child Drug Use 'Aggression Link'
BBC News | 01/31/06

Cannabis use by children increases the risk of aggressive behaviour, but does not lead to them becoming withdrawn, a Dutch study says.

Previous research on the drug has linked it to "internalised" problems such as depression.

But the British Journal of Psychiatry study of 5,000 children said it was more likely to cause external problems such as delinquency and aggression.

UK experts said the "jury was still out" about such an effect.

The findings comes as figures show more UK children are being exposed to cannabis.

Last year, a report by the Schools Health Education Unit, a government research team which has been tracking young people's experience of drugs since 1987, found over half of 14 and 15-year-olds had been offered cannabis, with one in four having taken it.

The latest study, by a team at the Trimbos Institute, a mental health research centre in the Netherlands, analysed the results of questionnaires filled in by 5,551 young people aged 12 to 16.

They found 17% had used the drug in the previous year.

Researchers found the strength of the link increased with higher use of cannabis.

However they found children who had used cannabis, but not in the previous year, were not at higher risk that those who had never used cannabis.

They also found more heavy cannabis users - children who used the drug 40 times a year or more - reported poorer school grades than those who did not use the drug.

Liberal

And researchers added that, while no link was found between cannabis and mental health problems such as depression, that did not mean there was no connection between the two for some vulnerable people

Previous studies has found that long-term cannabis use can increase the risk of depression.

Report author Harald Wychgel said the findings could be even more acute in countries which did not have such a liberal approach to cannabis - the drug is not illegal in the Netherlands.

He said: "At young ages the use of cannabis is already strongly associated with delinquent and aggressive behaviour even after controlling for strong confounders such as alcohol and smoking."

Paul Corry, of mental health charity Rethink, said researchers were beginning to look at the links between aggression and mental health.

"There have been some studies which have found similar things, but I would say the jury is still out. What is not clear is where it is cause or effect. "Are these children already aggressive and the environment they are in increases the risk of them using cannabis?

"We have much more evidence that cannabis use is linked to feelings of anxiety and hallucinations."

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TheNewGuy

Just like the schitzophroenia and depression thing, they can keep proving that people use MJ to self-medicate for problems that they already have, but they still, try as they might, can't prove that it causes those problems.

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"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." ~P.J. O'Rourke

Buzzby

What a difference one false word can make! Could it possibly be that the very young who participate in one socially disapproved behavior are more likely to participate in others? Nah! It must be caused by the Devil Weed.


And it does not mean that purple winged monkeys will fly out of their asses, but they might. Anything is possible, but why do they imply that there's a connection if the research hasn't shown one?


More recent studies have found that marijuana users are less depressed than is average for all members of the population.


You'd think that someone involved enough to write such a report would know that marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands. It is tolerated under certain circumstances.

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Ghanji

Great points Buzzby. It would be interesting to know how much money actually gets spent on conducting these reports. If they want to learn about the effects of MJ on the population, they should come on sites like this and observe.

Peace

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George W. must have earned his name from King George 3rd

Basically Baked

Does anyone else find it amusing that the dutch have the lowest teen use rates? 17% have used it in the past year?!? Almost anywhere else that number would be almost double. Hilarious, they prove decriminalization reduces teen consumption but never point it out.

thenatural

hahaha this makes me laugh when i smoke it helps me to be less angry at this world of hypocrits and all the grudges i hold seem to loose their grip more and more the more i smoke and umm well buzby you were right about the purple monkeys man that hurt soooo bad

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smoking cuts my string and lets me float away