Question: how does cannibis harm your body

Stephen Curry answered on 19 Jun 2010:

Hi Jonesy96 – If you mean ‘in what ways does it cause harm’, there are short term effects: apart from the euphoria (which I guess is the attraction for some), it can induce anxiety or short-term memory loss. Long term, there appears to be an increase in the likelihood of having ‘physchotic experiences’ – distortions of perception and episodes of schizophrenia.

It’s a controversial area – some people have linked it to an increased risk of becoming schizophrenic but my understanding is that the evidence for a link is not great.

It is a difficult scientific area because drug use causes many problems in society (many related to the crime results from people trying to fund their addictions) so politicians have to take an interest. A professor from Imperial College (David Nutt) was sacked from his advisor’s position by the government last year because they didn’t like him talking about the fact that there was not much good evidence for long term harm of some drugs, including cannabis. But it is the job of scientists to try to talk about the evidence as accurately as possible.