Cannabis Misuse Effects on Wellbeing

Cannabis Misuse Effects on Wellbeing How does cannabis misuse impact on the health and well-being of young people between the ages of 11-17 in England ? Introduction The major focus of this research will be to explore how the misuse of cannabis can affect the health and wellbeing of young people in England and who are between the ages of 11 – 17 years. Gaining understanding on the impacts on the impacts on health and well being of these young people within the age group will help the researcher to make informed and evidence based recommendations on the appropriate health promotion interventions to tackle the health issue. Therefore, the research will involve an extensive review of journals that have specific relevance to the cannabis misuse among young people between the ages 11 – 17; and the review will be followed by critical discussions on the key themes that will arise from the results of the literature review. Also the discussions will be drawn from the activities of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that is involved in tackling cannabis misuse among young people in the UK. Background and Rationale for Study Cannabis is from flowering plant known as cannabis sativa and it produces both euphoria and reduces anxiety (Naftali et al, 2013; Moore, 2007). The drug can be used occasionally by individuals without causing significant social or mental problems but heavy users or addicts may experience anxiety and disturbed sleep after withdrawal from its use (Schaub et al, 2013; Moffat et al, 2013). In the year 2009, the UK Government reclassified cannabis from being Class C drug to Class B making it illegal for anyone in possession of supply quantity (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2011). The reclassifying of cannabis represents Government intervention to discourage poor lifestyle choices especially among young people who have been found to be indulged in cannabis abuse and also to promote healthy lifestyles. The 2011 data from the Health and Social Care Information Ce ntre revealed that the â€Å"prevalence of young adults ever having taken drugs has decreased from 48.6% in 1996 to 40.1% in 2010/11; and in 2009/10 lifetime prevalence was 40.7%. The number receiving help for primary cannabis use has increased by more than 4,000 since 2005/06 to 13,123 in 2009/10. The number of under- 18s treated for problem drug use associated with primary use of heroin and crack is 530, less than half the number in 2005/06† (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2011). Furthermore the data reveals that number of young people receiving help for primary cannabis use has increased by more than 4,000 since 2005/06 to 13,123 in 2009/2010. This increase in the number of young people receiving help for cannabis use is a major concern and this has prompted the decision to choose this topic. The concern here is that cannabis the misuse of cannabis health risks and which will widen the gap in the inequalities in the health of the population in the UK. According to Moffat et al (2013) the use of cannabis affects the nervous system and causes anxiety and this has the potential to affect the health and wellbeing of the individual in the long term especially where the body metabolism is not able to resist those effects. Another rationale for choosing to research on cannabis misuse among the young people of this age group is that, though there is recorded decrease in the use of cannabis based on the data by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (2011), the 2013 report shows that â€Å"as in previous years cannabis was the most widely used drug among pupils in 2012 with 7.5% reporting they had taken it in the last year† (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2014). The data suggests that the cannabis use among pupils is becoming a lifestyle and that if appropriate and adequate behavioural interventions are not implemented to cause a significant change of behaviour, this lifestyle may become a way of life of the 7.5% of the p opulation of pupils. The wider implication of this unhealthy lifestyle is that the 7.5% of pupils may likely experience inequalities in health and also exclude them from maximising potentials. Health inequality simply means lack of uniformity in health or differences in health and this is often caused by various factors among which is the lifestyle of the population (Naidoo and Wills, 2011). This clearly suggests that the social distribution of health is linked to the differences in the risk behaviours of the individuals and that a change of risky behaviour reduces the differences in health (Naidoo and Wills, 2011).