Aim High

Young people need hope. Young people need vision.
Young people need drive. Young people need aspirations.
Young people need to take risks from time to time. To aim high. To try hard.
To reach out and take the opportunities on offer.
To achieve. To succeed. To realise their full potential.
Young people do not need to smoke skunk.
Skunk – this the generic name for an extra strong variety of cannabis – is having a devastating impact on lives up and down the UK and beyond. It is an issue not exclusive to adolescents (adults are experiencing significant issues as a direct consequence also) but it is here, amongst the teenage population, that some of the greatest damage is being done.
That damage? To cloud vision. To numb hope. To remove that all-important drive.
That damage can last a lifetime – about that there can be no question.
Cannabis is often considered in humorous terms, but in real life it’s not all Cheech and Chong.
The latest research, based on studies conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College in London, suggests that one in four new cases of psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia could be the direct result of smoking extra strong cannabis. Some 60,000 people in the UK are believed to be living with conditions that involve hallucinations and paranoid episodes related to this. Those who smoke skunk on a daily basis are thought to be five times more likely to suffer psychosis than those who never touch it.
Smoking cannabis? Cheech and Chong? Funny?
Those in its grip, their hopes and dreams dashed, don’t tend to do a lot of laughing.
Cannabis use in the UK has fallen during the last decade, but because the drugs on the streets have become more potent, the victims, whilst fewer in number, are suffering greater damage.
Young people in particular are at risk because they’re often impressionable, vulnerable and desperate to fit in. Here at CPUK, we’ve experienced all these issues at first hand: psychosis, depression, dropping out. No drive. No vision. No ambition. No hope.
It’s a tragic waste and a problem that must be addressed.
To quote Mark Winstanley, the chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, ‘Smoking cannabis is like playing a VERY real game of Russian roulette with your health’.
It’s a game in which the odds are stacked.
There’s just one loser.
The stakes couldn’t be much higher.
The answer? Like all things, it must start with greater awareness and education. Forget liberalisation and decriminalisation, because such things cloud the issues and sidestep the underlying problems.
Smoking skunk does damage. Real damage. Lasting damage.
It’s tragic because it’s so avoidable.
It’s devastating because it’s such a waste.
Here at CPUK, we have hope. We have vision. We have drive.
To aim higher. To try harder. To achieve. To succeed. To get this message across once and for all.
Young people do not need to smoke skunk. This is not a joke.
– Concerned about cannabis use or other issues discussed on our blog? Please feel free to contact the CPUK team.