"Cannabis as addictive as heroin" announced the headlines in The Daily Mail (UK) and The Telegraph (UK). The news outlets were reporting on a paper published this week in the journal Addiction which reviews the last 20 years of research into the adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use.
But the headlines were misleading, as author of the paper and NDARC conjoint Professor Wayne Hall explains:
"The reporting in The Daily Mail spun the contents of my paper in a predictable direction. The article contains no statement that would justify the headline in The Daily Mail.
The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience has put a simple summary of the paper up on their website along with a link to the paper to correct the more egregious misrepresentations.
The website Sense about science has also published a correction."
Anyone interested in reading the paper in Addiction can access it online. It covers the evidence relating to recreational cannabis use and the following:
- Dependence (addiction)
- Brain function and cognition
- Psychosis and schizophrenia
- Other mental disorders such as anxiety and depression
- Heart and lung health, including cancer
- Other drug use
- Car crash injuries and deaths
- Pregnancy
- Educational attainment
- Changes in cannabis potency
Pictured: Professor Wayne Hall.