Govt urged to introduce more restrictive drug policies

The director of a leading drug treatment centre is calling on the Irish Government to introduce more restrictive policies on cannabis following a new report on the drug in Britain.

The report, which is based on a number of previous studies, says people who smoke cannabis have a 1.4% chance of developing psychosis, compared to 1% in the general population.

Marie Byrne from the Aislinn Group says she frequently sees young people with side effects from smoking cannabis and the Government needs to review its policies to make them more restrictive.

She says existing policies do not seem to be working given the fact that Ireland has the highest rate of drug use in Europe.