One in six Irish are junkies - with the state's blessing

[caveman]

My mother had a rough time recently and was being oevr-prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping pills. These pills are not good for people.

Nothing to do with the fact that her GP's daughter owns a pharmacy next door to the GP's office though..

[Cato]

I have to say that I find this tread highly insulting. Some time ago I began to suffer from depression, anxiety and panic attacks. It cost me my job and nearly cost me my marriage. I began to deal with by going to therapy, exercise and improved diet. I was against using drugs.

However, it did not help. Eventually, I went on medication. After a few weeks things started to improve and I started to be able to function properly and enjoy my life. I was on two different tablets. I was taken off one in January and my doctor and I have started to the process of cutting down the dosage and I will be off them in three months. Life is now immeasurably better.

Having myself labeled a junkie by someone who is clearly ignorant of the reality of mental disease is very insulting. I hope that you never have to face the challenge that I did.

[Fezziekid]

Sorry,

I look at this site a bit, but until now i really didn't really know if I'd much to contribute, but I work in this whole area, so maybe I have.

Firstly, I support an informed adult's right to put whatever they want into their body. Why do we stop people from taking drugs when attempting suicide is not a crime? Absurd. Why is alcohol legal and many other equally or less dangerous substances illegal? Once again, absurd. Having said that...

The fact that cannabis is thought to have a causative effect in psychotic episodes paired with a genetic predisposition to psychosis does NOT mean that cannabis is not responsible for such episodes. Most people who smoke tobacco do not get cancer. People who do not get cancer when they smoke for long periods of their life are not genetically predisposed to having cancer. However, if you do smoke it is more likely that your genetic pre-disposition to develop cancer (if you have such genes) will kick in.

Note that I said psychotic episodes above. This is not the same as schizophrenia. Psychotic episodes are similar to some of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia i.e. paranoia.

Of course, if cannabis were legal we could do some proper research that examined the effects of cannabis across a wide demographic. As it stands, most studies have only examined short-term users (college students etc.). So we need legalisation for a greater understanding of the effects.

[Fezziekid]

It's like a peanut allergy , if your allergic to peanuts DON'T EAT THEM.....
If cannabis was brought into the mainstream the possibilities for the education of users and the prevention of ill-effects increases dramatically.
The theory that it causes psychosis is just not true.
Statistics show that in and around 20% of people WORLD WIDE have smoked it at some stage .... over a billion people , do all of them suffer from schizophrenia or serious psychosis ?
I DON'T and i've smoked it for over 10 years......

This is what I mean about the lack of research on cannabis use. The argument above could be applied to anyone who has smoked tobacco regularly for more than 10 years, anyone who has been drinking and driving for more than 10 years. We need proper info, not hearsay and "Well I'm fine, amn't I?" arguments.

[Pedro Pique]

Your basic point, that sedatives/anti-Ds are often inappropriately prescribed, is a good and valid one but you do yourself no favours by the way you make your argument.

15% of the population have used sedatives or tranquillisers at one point in their lives becomes 1 in 6 people are junkies.

It's both innacurate and perjorative.

I think the OP makes a controversial but valid point . The way we view a useful substance like cannabis is markedly different to the way we view a useful drug like valium . Use the former and you are 'a junkie' liable to be punished by law , use the latter and you are a 'patient' and may well recieve your drugs from the state . Is this fair on cannabis users ?