Flexistentialist
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2002
- Messages
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NEWS - ABC 4 Corners 7/03/05 *TONIGHT* 8.30pm - "Messing with Heads"
Messing With Heads
Reporter: Janine Cohen
Broadcast: 07/03/2005
"Imagine taking every single emotion, memory, experience, tablet all into one … and those fighting each other to see who is the victor." - Danny, 22.
"It just f… with your head. I had to sleep with a knife under my bed 'cos I used to think people were going to come in and bash me during the night or something. Just for me mull or something, yeah." - Danni, 17.
A whole generation of Australians has grown up believing that smoking pot is a harmless pastime.
They need to think again. The view of cannabis as a benign drug is under challenge – not from conservative family or religious groups but from the science and medical community.
Clinicians now believe that modern strains of super-strength cannabis are increasingly triggering psychoses, depression and anxiety disorders in teenagers.
Many young people begin smoking cannabis before they have even hit their teens – and experts are warning that the younger the smoker, the greater the risk of mental illness.
About half the young people who seek help for psychosIs have a cannabis problem. According to doctors the proportion of cannabis users among these young patients has doubled in 20 years.
For some teenagers there is no second chance. Ten to 15 per cent of young people with serious mental illnesses commit suicide or die from other causes within a few years of diagnosis.
Even for those who do recover, only half return to meaningful work or study.
Q: "And Jake how old were you when you started smoking?"
A: "Twelve."
Q: "And when did it become a problem for you, how old were you?"
A: "About 14 I started smoking regularly." – Jake, 18.
Q: "Where would you be if you never smoked pot?"
A: "Still be at school. I ... didn’t even pass year eight." – Sam, 16.
So what accounts for this new concern about cannabis and youth psychoses?
Recent research shows that the human brain does not fully develop until a person reaches their twenties. Teenage brains, therefore, are more vulnerable than adults to cannabis.
Modern technology multiplies the dangers. Hydroponically grown, genetically modified varieties of marijuana plants are believed to contain much greater concentrations of the chemical THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. Cannabis is cheap, too, making it more easily available to today’s teenagers than it was for their parents’ generation.
In this wake-up call to a disturbing new trend, young cannabis users in treatment for psychoses speak openly about their experiences to reporter Janine Cohen, while doctors and drug specialists explain what the new research means for young people’s mental health.
"Messing With Heads" will be screened on ABC TV’s Four Corners at 8.30 pm on Monday 7 March.
A repeat will be aired at 11 pm Wednesday 9 March February.
Reporter: Janine Cohen
Broadcast: 07/03/2005
"Imagine taking every single emotion, memory, experience, tablet all into one … and those fighting each other to see who is the victor." - Danny, 22.
"It just f… with your head. I had to sleep with a knife under my bed 'cos I used to think people were going to come in and bash me during the night or something. Just for me mull or something, yeah." - Danni, 17.
A whole generation of Australians has grown up believing that smoking pot is a harmless pastime.
They need to think again. The view of cannabis as a benign drug is under challenge – not from conservative family or religious groups but from the science and medical community.
Clinicians now believe that modern strains of super-strength cannabis are increasingly triggering psychoses, depression and anxiety disorders in teenagers.
Many young people begin smoking cannabis before they have even hit their teens – and experts are warning that the younger the smoker, the greater the risk of mental illness.
About half the young people who seek help for psychosIs have a cannabis problem. According to doctors the proportion of cannabis users among these young patients has doubled in 20 years.
For some teenagers there is no second chance. Ten to 15 per cent of young people with serious mental illnesses commit suicide or die from other causes within a few years of diagnosis.
Even for those who do recover, only half return to meaningful work or study.
Q: "And Jake how old were you when you started smoking?"
A: "Twelve."
Q: "And when did it become a problem for you, how old were you?"
A: "About 14 I started smoking regularly." – Jake, 18.
Q: "Where would you be if you never smoked pot?"
A: "Still be at school. I ... didn’t even pass year eight." – Sam, 16.
So what accounts for this new concern about cannabis and youth psychoses?
Recent research shows that the human brain does not fully develop until a person reaches their twenties. Teenage brains, therefore, are more vulnerable than adults to cannabis.
Modern technology multiplies the dangers. Hydroponically grown, genetically modified varieties of marijuana plants are believed to contain much greater concentrations of the chemical THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. Cannabis is cheap, too, making it more easily available to today’s teenagers than it was for their parents’ generation.
In this wake-up call to a disturbing new trend, young cannabis users in treatment for psychoses speak openly about their experiences to reporter Janine Cohen, while doctors and drug specialists explain what the new research means for young people’s mental health.
"Messing With Heads" will be screened on ABC TV’s Four Corners at 8.30 pm on Monday 7 March.
A repeat will be aired at 11 pm Wednesday 9 March February.
/end sarcasm