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Lothar121

'Cannabis Killed Our Lovely Son'
Kathie Griffiths | Craven Herald | 04/25/06

A grieving family today warned of the dangers of using cannabis which they believe cost their son his life.

Giles Brown, 22, was found frozen to death in an outhouse on wasteland in Keighley.

He had been living rough after experiencing mental health problems his parents believe directly resulted from years of cannabis use from the age of 15.

Diana Bayliss and Alan Brown said the personality of their son, a talented rock climber and musician, changed dramatically after he developed psychosis and paranoia through smoking the drug.

His mother said: "Giles stopped using the drug because he recognised it was making him paranoid. But the paranoia did not stop. He refused to see anyone or talk about his experiences."

Diana said the family had struggled to know how to help him and had to manage alone for seven years until his death despite efforts to get support from health and social services.

Diana said: "Cannabis is not a soft drug, it is damaging.

"Alan and I hope to bring about a greater awareness that the smoking of cannabis at an early age can cause severe psychosis, particularly in young men.

"Our idea is that through fundraising we can raise awareness and help other young people and their families to stop them having the same problems as us."

Last November, Giles spent a month at Airedale Hospital at Steeton, before being discharged on doctors' advice.

He went to Spain to visit one of his older sisters but he returned to the UK after another psychotic episode and bought a tent telling his family he intended to camp rather than rely on anyone else.

Diana, of Cowling, near Keighley, said during her son's illness he spent one month in The Mount, Leeds in 2003 and another month two years later under a Section 2 at Airedale in November.

She said: "Nothing was offered there to help him understand or address his problems only more drugs which he refused.

"With the right kind of support and counselling he could have overcome the worst of his difficulties and developed helpful strategies to enable him to lead a healthy life.

"His death was a tragic accident. He did not intend or expect to die and had much to live for and look forward to.

"We are still struggling to come to terms with Giles's absence.

"He was a gentle, kind, quite wise and witty lad, full of curiosity. He lived a rich life: climbing, walking, loving music and dancing, travelled round India twice, cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats at the age of ten and gained a Rope Access qualification which gave him a job he loved, climbing to incredible heights.

"He touched the lives of many people who remember his smile and mischievousness."

They have now started a fundraising drive to warn of the dangers of cannabis use and are organising a benefit concert in Giles's memory at Cowling Parish Church on Saturday, May 6, and a sponsored rock climb on August 5.

Money from the events will go towards the Hearing Voices Network charity which the Browns believe could have helped their son.

The money will commission Bradford's Shoestring Theatre group to tour schools with a play all about psychosis called Reading the Signs.

They also hope to fund a DVD and teacher's pack to tell teenagers more about hearing voices and the danger of cannabis-induced psychosis especially among young men.

Health experts said more research was vital into the links between cannabis use and mental illness.

A spokesman for the Hearing Voices Network said: "There is no doubt we are coming in to contact with a lot of young people who are using cannabis and LSD who hear voices and see things.

"We need to raise their awareness and encourage them to stop taking the drugs and get help by talking about their experiences.

A spokesman for drug information charity Drugscope said: "There are links between cannabis and mental illness but what is less clear is exactly what that relationship is.

"We need more research to find out how much cannabis is needed to trigger mental illness in those who have no previous history and those who are predisposed to it, we need to know who is more vulnerable and why."

In December last year the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recommended the Home Office keep cannabis as a Class C drug but emphasised it was still harmful and more research should be done supported by public and private funds to research the links between cannabis use and mental health problems.

Dr Louise Arseneault, a researcher into psychosis at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, said there is a small risk of psychosis developing among people who start using cannabis in their early teens.

She said: "The risk is there, it's significant but it's small. We shouldn't be alarmist though, there could be other contributing factors such as genetics.

"More work needs to be done on this to find out why it effects that minority."

Reacting to the Browns' concerns about Giles's medical treatment, a spokesman for Bradford District Care Trust which runs mental health services, insisted it had been "appropriate".

He said: "The decision to discharge him was made after careful consideration by a multi-disciplinary team in liaison with Mr Brown and he was offered a package of care to support him in a community setting.

"Mr Brown refused the treatment offered and shortly afterwards left the country. When he returned to the district members of the Trust's community mental health team tried to locate Mr Brown and were in contact with his family, in order to re-engage him with the service and provide appropriate support and care. These attempts sadly failed."

Part of the funds raised by the Browns' benefit concert in May will also go towards a scheme at Cowling Parish Church to take away pews and create a community space.

Tickets for the concert are available at the door for £3. It starts at 2.15pm.

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dedbr

us being born, we are bound to become old and die.

Does that mean we should stop birth's of any kind? You figure it out....



Somewhere in Ded Land....

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PotShot

I think Deddy is on to something... I think there is a direct link between breathing air and people who develop psychosis...

OUTLAW AIR!

Genetics too?!? You mean we could be genetically predisposed to psychosis?!?

OUTLAW GENETICS!


(what is with all this psychosis quackery in the UK?)

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dedbr

in our history about us kicking some british dudes out for coming up with some idjit stuff before???


Or something like that.....

goettel

If these were rational people instead of hype-mongers, they should have raised money to allow more scientists easier access to cannabis to study mental health and other medical issues related to its use.

They're probably feeling guilty, and think blaming cannabis will help. It won't.

 

nacrypt

So it was NOT the cannabis then... The effects of pot do NOT stay with you. However, a predisposition to psychosis could be aggravated by drug use. This should be obvious. However, the fact the he refused other medications that could have helped him is not the fault of cannabis.

Also, he died of freezing to death as a result of psychosis. I would blame that directly on the parents for not keeping an eye on him, esp. after knowing he was mentally not well.

weed.is.a.deed

wouldn't smoking cannabis be safer than climbing mountains with dangerous heights??? that's what i dont get with these people, and by the time of death he had quit for a long while

gods smoke too

This kid is just one who the few poor individuals who should'nt smoke. we should pick on him or the parents because of it, we should appreciate the fact that its not any of us who go crazy from smokin.

TheDoC_oc

I am a script holder and the reason for that script omong other things is psychosis. Basicly hard core Manic-Bipolar Disorder With a nice twist of Schizoactitive Disorder (not schizophrenia) Point is that being psycotic does not involve hearing voices. Its more of a depression to ultra happy swing rappidly and for no apparent reason and for the most the inability to controll emotions when they do come to the surface(more like the lack of desire to controll them)

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msh322

Mental illness usually starts showing symptoms in the late teens early 20's. Seems to me his cannabis usage started at the same time. A lot of people start self medicating themselves with cannabis and alcohol in lue of perscribed medication before getting help from mental health. Looks like to me that this poor sole needed a whole lot more mental health help and a whole lot less denile from his parents.

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