reland is “sleepwalking” into the legalisation of cannabis on the back of a campaign of misinformation about the drug, according to doctors who have set up a new group to campaign against liberalisation.
The initial 20 members of the Cannabis Risk Alliance include the head of the College of Psychiatrists, Dr John Hillery, and former president of the Irish Medical Organisation Dr Ray Walley.
Criticising the “one-sided debate” on cannabis, the doctors say society has “taken its eye off the ball” in relation to the harmful effects of the drug.
In their practice, they say they are treating ever-growing numbers of patients suffering a range of side effects from abusing the drug.
Suicides, epileptic seizures, psychosis and “wasted lives” are some of the cannabis-related complications Dr Walley, a GP in Dublin’s north inner city, says he comes across.
“I’m concerned about the dishonest debate out there. Society, politics, the medical fraternity, too – we’re sleepwalking into this. The only place you read about cannabis now is in the business sections,” he says.
Source: Paul Cullen, Irish Times, 20th May 2019