R.O.A.C.H. – a dodgy cannabis campaign

Drugs education campaigns aimed at kids are of more than a passing interest to UKCIA, especially when they’re done badly.

Let’s make something very clear before we go any further: UKCIA has a simple message about cannabis; it’s not for kids. Actually that’s a message that applies to all drugs including caffeine, it’s not only cannabis, but it certainly does apply to  mary-jane. As we say in the Risks section

Young people under 18 are best advised not to get stoned – at least not very often – because their brains are still growing and developing. This is good advice not only for cannabis but also for any drug. Getting stoned is an adult thing, don’t give it to young people under 15.

However, it’s no secret that a lot of kids do get stoned, the cannabis trade is totally unregulated of course because of prohibition and there are no controls such as age limits as a result and no dealer will lose his licence for selling to kids. We do have a very real problem with kids and drugs, so in the absence of any protection from the law something needs to be done to influence youngsters in the hope of keeping them away from the drugs trade for as long as possible – there is plenty of scope for cannabis awareness campaigns aimed at kids.

When it comes to teaching very young kids – children – about cannabis, clearly we need a simplified and easy to understand approach which speaks to the kids in a way they can relate to, but it does need to be truthful and factual.

So it was interesting to see a new campaign based in Northampton called ROACH – “Rule out Adolescent Cannabis Harm” which seems to have obtained funding from the Nothamptonshire Community Foundation.

The name “ROACH” is a bit dodgy, hardly something that is likely to appeal to kids (adolescents!?!) but it’s probably as good as any other. However UKCIA hackles were raised right from the start where the aims of the campaign are described:

The education of young people in Northamptonshire aged between 11 and 16 about the long term psychiatric harm that cannabis use can cause.

There are of course a lot of issues regarding cannabis use and young people, but this site seems to concentrate on the fears that cannabis causes mental illness. Now it’s true that this has been a big issue in recent times, but it’s an issue that’s far from clear cut and there’s an obvious danger that if kids are told something awful will happen if they use cannabis and they then find out it doesn’t, all the other issues will be totally ignored.

Reading the description of ROACH, this seems to be the brainchild of Vanessa Turvey

Currently providing NHS mental health support at Princes Marina Hospital, Northampton, she was previously employed for over 10 years in a psychiatric unit of St Andrews Hospital Northampton. She has considerable experience with patients who have developed psychotic behaviour after using cannabis. She also has first hand experience gained when her son was adolescent and two friends suffered psychotic episodes as a result of cannabis use.

Now cannabis and mental health is something we have discussed at great length both in this blog and on the wider UKCIA site. There is no doubt that people with psychotic illness seem to use cannabis and that this use appears to lead to worsening outcomes in some cases, although even that is in doubt. But it’s fair to say that the situation is far more complex than a simple causal relationship. However, that said there’s no doubting the value of a cautious approach and, as we say above, a well founded campaign to encourage kids to stay away from drugs is welcome, so how good is ROACH?

The education programme is based around a Brochure (PDF) for kids which is intended to act as a basis for discussion handed out in a school setting. It contains some graphics which although strange are probably OK, although what relevance some of them have is unclear.

Page 2 is the first page of information, which introduces us to Vanessa Turvey and her son, Fred. Perhaps this isn’t so bad, it creates a personal aspect to the whole thing which young kids might relate to, but of course the risk is the kids might take a dislike to Vanessa when they meet her which, given the programme is so closely identified with her would be totally counter productive. It’s actually very possible that any cannabis using kid would be put off, she makes it quite clear that she takes a stern line with cannabis use

Eventually I spoke to the local policeman who offered me advice and he also spoke to Fred.

Ouch!

The first page of information is Page 4 which contains this gem of information

Cannabis is a natural substance from the cannabis plant.

She then describes in simple terms the action of THC, which isn’t too bad an explanation for  young kids although any 16 year old who’s any good at English might wince a bit at the stilted sentences. But then we get this:

It is said that the amount of THC in cannabis today can be between 5-100 times the amount that was in it in the 1960s.

I don’t think even the Daily Mail has claimed there’s been a 100 – times increase in THC levels since the 60’s. Apart from being a rather meaningless statistic for people who weren’t even born before the mid – 90’s it’s just plain stupid and wrong. Now any education campaign aimed at kids needs to be simplified, but does need to be factual and relevant, this is neither.

It gets worse:

THC causes a psychotic effect only lasting up to 1hr per cigarette. On the average person and as we are all not the same the effects maybe shorter or longer so basically the more you smoke the longer these effects will last.

This clearly hasn’t been proof read, it simply should never have been published with wording like this.

Page 6 lists some of the “myths” about cannabis and it’s confusing to say the least

Myth – Cannabis/ marijuana is harmless.
Fact – Cannabis/ marijuana can cause psychotic problems when smoked as a teenager leading to mental health problems.

Cannabis is not harmless, nothing in the world is. However, the claim that it can cause psychotic problems leading to mental health problems is hardly a fact, although it may be a concern. Why the sudden use of  “Cannabis/ marijuana”, was this a cut and paste job?

Myth – Kids that smoke cannabis/ marijuana move on to harder drugs.
Fact – 80% of kids that smoke cannabis/marijuana do not move on to harder drugs but that does not mean that they will not get psychotic problems.

Again, this is just strange and it’s not clear what she’s trying to say here, it could be trying to saythat the progression theory isn’t true?

Myth – Cannabis/ marijuana is addictive.
Fact – Cannabis/ marijuana is not physically addictive but you become dependant upon it.

Oh dear, again this is muddled and confused – even for someone who understands the issues let alone for kids, but at least we learn cannabis isn’t physically addictive. It is correct of course, but could be put so much clearer.

Myth – There’s a minimal risk that smoking cannabis will go on to lead to psychotic diseases such as cannabis psychosis and schizophrenia.
Fact – On average cannabis smokers have a 41% more chance of getting these disorders.

It’s hard to know where to start with this one, the 41% figure has its origins in a study by Prof Stanley Zammit who looked at the famous Swedish study which claimed to show that

those who had used the drug were 41 per cent likelier to experience an episode of this kind than people who never smoked

The Daily Mail reported this as meaning

Smoking just one cannabis joint raises danger of mental illness by 40%

Which is not true and seems to be what Vanessa quoting as a fact. Again, this simply should not be on a leaflet aimed at educating kids.

Page 8 isn’t too bad. It talks about the way cannabis affects the ability to study and learn – it’s simplified but just about right for the target audience.

Page 10 talks about the effects of cannabis, again not too bad. It describes the good effects and then says about unpleasant effects:

Around 1 in 10 cannabis users experience unpleasant effects including…
• Confusion
• Hallucinations
• Anxiety
• Paranoia (fear, mistrust, suspicion)
• Dependence

Most kids will work out that if one in 10 experience this, 9 out of 10 won’t, so most of them won’t. Not only that but “confusion” and “hallucinations” might not really be considered bad effects, not that you get real hallucinations from cannabis of course. But what’s this last one: Dependency?

Page 12 explains dependency in a reasonable summary of DSM-IV criteria, but then it goes on to explain “addiction”, which we’ve already learned doesn’t apply to cannabis in the “myths” section. Quite why it does this isn’t clear, what’s really needed is some explanation of psychological dependence and how it works.

I sent Vanessa an e-mail outlining these points in some detail back in April, the reply was short but to the point

Thank you for your email,the booklet is now being updated as i do now know that there are some mistakes. I have been receiving some help to make sure the next copy has more info in it. I welcome your comments .
Thank you again for your advise .

That was nearly two months ago and nothing has changed. If anyone is wondering who she is recieving help from, a clue can be found in the links section of the ROACH website:

Cannabis Skunk Support – 0844 335 1506 www.cannabisskunksupport.com/

This is a website which came about as a result of the split within Debra Bells “Talking about cannabis”, it’s run by someone we’re familiar with here, Mary Brett. We’ll look at CSS in a later blog, suffice to say ROACH is one of the few sites linked to from the CSS website.