Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
( L - R )DE LA HAYE AND HICKLING
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
He said the root cause of the violence in Jamaica could be the feeling of hopelessness among inner-city youths, who believe that the easiest way out of their problems is to take up a gun and shoot and kill people.
"These young people (the ones committing violent crimes) are well respected and supported by the community where they are from," said Professor Hickling.
The professor described Jamaica as being divided into two halves: one for the rich and the other for the poor.
"I don't see any hope for the masses of poor people," he concluded.
