Cannabis, Mental Disorders and the Precautionary Principle a Reason to Sustain Prohibition?
Journal Title: Acta Psychopathologica - Year 2017, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
We are lately witnessing an increasing awareness that the War on Drugs has failed, exemplified among others by the work of the Global Commission on Drug Policy [1-3] and of recent position statements of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [4]. As a result, an increasing number of countries and states/regions are abandoning their prohibitionist legislation and jurisprudence to pass over to various types of regulated cannabis markets. For example, several Swiss cities have e.g. launched a working group to consider pilot projects of regulated cannabis access. In the light of these recent developments, the issue of harmfulness of cannabis, and particularly its potential effects on mental health, has once again become a passionately debated issue. While the existence of multiple correlations between mental disorders and cannabis consumption is undisputed, it still remains open to question whether these correlations imply causation [5]. Although it is true that the limited ability to identify or to quantify causal relationships may occasionally be misinterpreted as evidence of safety, failure to take precautionary action can possibly have catastrophic social and economic costs. For example, the history regarding tobacco and its effects on public health may provide abundant evidence of avoidable costs due to waiting for convincing proof of harm.
Authors and Affiliations
Daniele Zullino, Stergios Tsartsalis, Gerard Calzada, Sandro Cattacin
Keywords
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