Top psychiatrist warns teenagers against ‘stewing brains in cannabis soup’

Teenagers who smoke high-strength cannabis are damaging their brains, the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Dr Lade Smith CBE told teenagers who use the illegal Class B drug “you are literally growing your brain in a cannabis soup”.

In a recent collaborative project between the University of Bath and King’s College London, researchers highlighted the dangers of using cannabis, and how the level of the psychoactive component in the drug is on the rise.

Ruinous

Dr Smith, Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, explained: “People’s brains don’t stop growing until you’re an adult in your early to mid-twenties.

“The reality is — and this is evidence-based, therefore it’s the truth — cannabis is associated with a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and, unfortunately, a higher risk of psychosis.”

She added: “If you do have a problem with cannabis, the kind of problem that you have is so profound, it potentially could completely ruin your life. And the life of others.”

The top psychiatrist highlighted the “strong” influence of the ‘cannabis lobby’ and called on the Government to get “the public health message right”, that “cannabis is not a safe option”.

Messaging

Backing Dr Smith’s message, a former Oxford college student relayed how as a 19-year-old she found herself “in the grip of a cannabis-induced breakdown”.

Writing in The Times, the graduate said that she “started smoking cannabis when I was about 15”, convincing herself that it was “comparatively safe”. Infrequent use developed into “smoking almost every day”. Looking back, she now sees it was “slowly poisoning” her brain.

During her second term at university, she began “having increasingly unsettling thoughts, which mushroomed into a fear that I might hurt someone”. Panic attacks followed, and at one point she believed she had killed her boyfriend.

Although she no longer uses cannabis, she still suffers from “distressing intrusive thoughts”. She now believes the Government should educate people “that the drug is not safe, particularly for the young”, adding: “I just wish I’d heard that back then.”