Researchers meet to discuss cannabis treatment
Posted on 6 June 2016
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people seeking treatment for problems related to cannabis use over the last decade. Cannabis has now overtaken heroin as the drug most likely to prompt calls for help. The increase in requests for treatment is in contrast with the steady decline in the population's use of cannabis.
Researchers at the University of York and the University of Leeds are investigating why so many cannabis users are seeking treatment and how services are responding. Initial findings suggest that individuals seek help with problems which are not usually associated with cannabis, such as irritability and poor impulse control. Also that treatment services are not sufficiently prepared to offer effective interventions, as cannabis is still seen as a benign drug.
In response to this emerging problem, Department of Health Sciences' lecturer in mental health Ian Hamilton has got together a group of national experts representing research, commissioning and practice to exchange ideas about how effective treatment can be provided. You can follow their day via Twitter using the hashtag #CannabisMatters.
More details are available at www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09687637.2015.1090398#.V07c6JEgvIU