How prohibition-based policies caused a cannabis problem
- The article highlights the harms of higher-strength cannabis on individuals vulnerable to psychosis.
- It explains that prohibition-based policies have unintentionally increased the strength of street cannabis, worsening the problem.
- Data from the Drug Science T21 project and global prescription databases show medical cannabis can treat psychiatric and neurological disorders without causing psychosis.
- Limiting medical cannabis access is flawed and may harm patients who currently benefit from it.
Your article correctly raised concerns about the harms of higher-strength cannabis on people vulnerable to psychosis (‘I’d run down the road thinking I was God’: a day at the cannabis psychosis clinic, 16 November). However, it didn’t explain how previous prohibition‑based policies designed to reduce cannabis use have driven up the strength of street cannabis, the source of most cannabis for people with psychosis, thus making the problem worse.
Furthermore, growing data from the Drug Science T21 project and other prescription databases globally shows that medical cannabis can alleviate a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders, without inducing psychosis. Any suggestion that rates of cannabis-related psychosis could be reduced by limiting medical cannabis access is flawed and is likely to harm patients currently benefiting from it.Prof D Nutt and Prof Ilana CromeDrug Science
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