Advertisement
"We're effectively seeing a surge of people presenting for treatment, but centres are not sure what to do with them," explained Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health in the Department of Health Sciences at York University. "It's like going in for heart surgery but finding the doctors don't have the necessary equipment to do it."It's not that patients aren't seeking out the appropriate help, either. The researchers pointed out that an increasing number of people seeking help for drug use are citing cannabis as their primary problem, but that the drug is not taken seriously by many healthcare professionals. "It was people using cannabis who had the knowledge and expertise of the drug and its effects, rather that the treatment staff," concluded Hamilton.The numbers asking for help make up an overwhelming majority of those seeking help for any kind of drug use – especially among young people. Of those seeking treatment for drug use in 2014, 43 percent of the 18-24 age group named cannabis as their primary issue, compared to just 16 percent for opiates including heroin.The researchers seemed to have lumped together synthetic cannabis with bog-standard weed, which is a little misleading, as the synthetic stuff – which was banned under the Psychoactive Substances Act – works on different neuro-receptors, has a different effect on users and has been shown to be physically addictive, with withdrawal symptoms similar to those experienced by heroin users going cold turkey. It might be called synthetic "cannabis", but that's where the similarities end.READ: Smoking Weed Can Be a Lot of Fun, But Let's Not Pretend it Doesn't Fuck You Up
Advertisement