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Dagga can drive you nuts
07/04/2003 10:42 - (SA)
London - A drugs expert is predicting an increase in cannabis smoking could lead to a surge in mental illness.
Smoking cannabis causes similar illnesses to smoking cigarettes, such as heart disease and cancer, but is far more dangerous than tobacco for mental health, according to Professor John Henry.
Professor Henry, a toxicologist at Imperial College London, told the BBC cannabis could cause a four-fold increase in schizophrenia and depression.
"Regular cannabis smokers develop mental illness," he said.
"There's a four-fold increase in schizophrenia and there's a four-fold increase in major depression and that is something very, very different to what cigarettes do to you," he said.
He adds there is a lot of recent evidence from Switzerland and New Zealand "showing that cannabis actually causes these problems".
"People who smoke cannabis ought to be aware that it has equal effects on the body to cigarettes and worse effects on the mind," Professor Henry added. - Ananova.com
- News24
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South Africa
