Ganja to blame for crime
November 25, 2005
GANJA, ALCOHOL and hopelessness are contributing to the country's soaring murder rate, which has now reached 1,478. So says mental health experts at the University of the West Indies.
The assertion about ganja was made Wednesday night by Dr. Winston De La Haye, president of the Psychiatry Association of Jamaica while speaking at a public forum on gambling, sex and food addictions at the Courtleigh Hotel, St. Andrew. He was responding to suggestions that some persons may have become "addicted" to the use of the gun and to violence.
"Cannabis (ganja) can make you mad, so why take a chance and use it?" said the mental health expert.
"We do believe that cannabis is playing a role in violence in this country. Cannabis has tetrahydro cannabinol (THC) which brings out aggression in people," said Dr. De La Haye, who is also a consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of the Detoxification Unit at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).
But according to UHWI Professor, Fred Hickling: "The use of ganja can be a secondary issue. People are so frustrated and fed up with poverty that they believe the best way out of their problem is to resort to a spliff," he said.
FEELING OF HOPELESSNESS...
Author: Glenroy Sinclair
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
