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Reclassification of cannabis linked to cannabis psychosis

Source:  (As reported in ScienceDaily, July 18, 2013)  University of York. (2013, July 18). Reclassification of cannabis linked to cannabis psychosis. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 1, 2014 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130718101156.htm

ScienceDaily Summary:

Researchers have demonstrated that the change in cannabis declassification in 2009 has coincided with a significant increase in hospital admissions for cannabis psychosis – rather than the decrease it was intended to produce.

Journal Reference:

Ian Hamilton, Charlie Lloyd, Catherine Hewitt, Christine Godfrey. Effect of reclassification of cannabis on hospital admissions for cannabis psychosis: A time series analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.05.016

WTR-RI Research & Analysis Team Note:

(The following is an excerpt from abstract of the above noted Journal Reference.  It is included here to clarify the references to the British controlled drug categories referenced in the preceding two ScienceDaily summaries.  The link to the abstract is http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(13)00090-X/abstract)

“The UK Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) divided controlled drugs into three groups A, B and C, with descending criminal sanctions attached to each class. Cannabis was originally assigned by the Act to Group B but in 2004, it was transferred to the lowest risk group, Group C. Then in 2009, on the basis of increasing concerns about a link between high strength cannabis and schizophrenia, it was moved back to Group B. The aim of this study is to test the assumption that changes in classification lead to changes in levels of psychosis. In particular, it explores whether the two changes in 2004 and 2009 were associated with changes in the numbers of people admitted for cannabis psychosis.”