Increasingly liberal attitudes toward marijuana use are placing millions of young people at risk for developing serious depressions and psychosis.

In an address to the Royal College of General Practitioners in Britain, Dr. Clare Gerada warns that wide-spread acceptance and greater availability of cannabis is resulting in an alarming increase in major mental illnesses including schizophrenia and depressive disorders.

Gerada who is associated with the college's drug abuse centre said, "health warnings are falling on deaf ears, drowned out by the cries of powerful liberal pro-legalisation groups.There is clear evidence that high levels of use, especially among teenagers who are physically and mentally still developing, carries with it the increased risk of psychosis and respiratory conditions such as asthma."

At a time when governments throughout the world are relaxing their laws on cannabis possession and personal use, medical experts are becoming more and more alarmed as they witness a growing number of people presenting with complaints of decreased concentration, depression, poor short-term memory and paranoia.

Even more alarming is the increase in availability of super strong versions of marijuana known in some parts of the world as "skunk" which is a hybrid of the marijuana plant. Paranoia is one of the most common effects after smoking skunk. For certain segments of the population, cannabis use is as harmful as the effects of crack or herion but heroin does not affect the chemical brain messenger systems which are linked to diseases like schizophrenia.

Another recent report released by the British Medical Journal warned that using cannabis once or twice a week doubled the risk of developing psychotic related illnesses later in life.