How do you Define Mental Illness? Another (former) cannabis user writes

Peter Hitchens says: "Imagine what would have happened if fashionable opinion, professors,  rock stars, politicians and media figures had all lined up to defend tobacco against the growing evidence that cigarettes kill, as they now defend cannabis. My guess is that a lot more people would now be dead or ill, who are now alive and well".

Peter Hitchens says :"Yet again, some annoying wiseacre (ignoring what I have many times said on this very subject) brays that the figures on 'Psychosis' or 'Schizophrenia' haven't risen dramatically despite the undoubted increasing use of cannabis."

Peter Hitchens retorts: "As I have many times explained, mental illness is not exactly or objectively defined.  I try not to use the terms 'psychosis' and 'schizophrenia' because I am not sure what they mean or how they can be precisely defined. What's more, our government, which is trying hard to avoid the huge costs of proper mental health care, has a great interest in minimising it. Further, databases used to track such things tend to rely on general practitioners. But the sort of people whose lives are destroyed by drugs tend not to register with GPs."

Peter Hitchens asks:"Do the mental illness figures record the unknown number of young men who were doing well at school until they began smoking dope and fell to the bottom of the class? Is that 'mental illness'? I'd say yes, and I'd say the same about many other 'minor' tragedies which overtake the foolish dupes of propaganda and advertising who take this drug in the belief it is harmless."

And Peter Hitchens adds: "The recent survey on IQ and cannabis is clearly suggestive of a connectiion between cannabis use in the teens, and loss of IQ. It cannot possibly be advanced as evidence that use of the drug by older people is 'safe' - only that no comparably clear evidence of its dangers has yet been produced." I was shocked that a scientist should have been quoted as saying that it was 'safe' for any age . It was an unscientific statement.

I reproduce here another testimony from a former user of cannabis, which I think is relevant to the mental health question :

'After reading the article on your blog today, I feel more confident about sharing my experiences. I can relate entirely to the story told by the former cannabis user. I am only 21, but already feel that it has had a negative impact on me - something which suggests to me that harm can be caused by the drug even with moderate to little use. I went to university in 2009, and a number of my friends who I made there would often smoke it. In the course of around 8 months, I used it a number of times. By the time second year arrived, I suffered from extreme anxiety in almost any social situation, including lecture theatres, concerts and parties, and was filled with dread whenever I thought about the future. In the end I used beta-blockers for a year to control the anxiety, despite my doctor's suggestion that I use antidepressants (that's an issue for another time). Thankfully I realised early that there could be a relationship between the drug and my mental wellbeing, and as such have not smoked it since the summer of 2010. The year that followed was undoubtedly the worst of my life, due to the extreme anxiety and unhappiness which I was experiencing

 

'I regained the confidence which I had lost. However, I still feel that part of my life (albeit small) was wasted due to using the drug. There were other complicated issues in my life which could also have contributed to the anxiety, but I can trace my first panic attack back to using cannabis. I strongly believe that things could have been different had I not used it. 

 

'Something which has become apparent to me as my experience with the drug changed is the way in which arguments are made to suit ones own ends.. During my first year I could easily have been described as a conventional liberal, as I strongly believed there was a war on drugs and that cannabis would not inflict any mental damage - it was all correlation, not causation. However as my mental wellbeing began to suffer I started to reconsider my views. As I began to discuss this with friends who did use cannabis, I was met with opprobrium for even suggesting that it could cause mental damage or that there was in fact no attempt to control drug use.

 

'This means I share your belief that advocates of legalisation are "selfish." My experience has taught me that much. Many have not yet suffered the negative consequences of the drug, and even of those who have do not think that there is a relationship between usage and mental health. Additionally, having been a student for the past three years I can easily say I have never met anyone, student or otherwise, who seriously worries that they will be penalized for using cannabis. The situation in which they can smoke it without any remonstrance from the police or society already exists, they just haven't realised it yet because it is still technically "illegal." Your writing on the subject has provided an armoury of well reasoned arguments and facts to combat conventional wisdom on this subject. I can imagine you must find it fairly dispiriting to put up with simplistic attacks from the drug lobby for arguing your beliefs, but there is no doubt a large number of people who share your sentiments - they just aren't as noisy as the advocates of legalization.'

 

'I have found your writings on the subject helpful, given the tide I feel I am swimming against, particularly at university where use of the drug is so common and it is rarer to refuse to smoke it than use it. I have realised earlier than some the damage it can do, and as such my opinions on it have changed entirely. I look forward to your book on the subject.'

NB: I have spoken directly to the author of this letter, and verified his bona fides.