PM gets tough on marijuana dangers 18-12-2005

[silvia saint]

PM gets tough on marijuana dangers
By Tony Vermeer
18-12-2005
From: The Sunday Telegraph


THE Federal Government is planning a national anti-marijuana campaign to combat community perceptions that it is a relatively harmless drug.
Prime Minister John Howard has criticised health experts for adopting what he says is a "relaxed" attitude to marijuana in comparison with the attack on tobacco.

And he has called on states and territories to abandon a decade of decriminalisation and introduce tougher laws to deter marijuana users.

"It amazes me that we can be so zealous in dissuading people from smoking - and I used to smoke, I'm not a cleanskin - we're really up front about that ... but the same people who are virtually criminalising smoking are prepared to take a relaxed attitude to marijuana," he told The Sunday Telegraph last week.

Mr Howard said there was overwhelming evidence that marijuana posed greater health risks than it used to, and the Government would launch a further campaign in 2006 to highlight the risks.

"We really do have to completely disabuse people of this notion that there's a safe use of marijuana," he said.

"It's just not a safe drug. It can have life-long effects; it can lead to depression, other forms of mental disorders. It can lead people to other drugs.

"Any state that has decriminalised marijuana should reconsider that decriminalisation, and any states that are considering it should not."

Although there are signs that marijuana use has declined in recent years, cannabis remains the most popular illicit drug in Australia, with 33 per cent of the population aged 14 and over having used it in their lifetime.

Other research has shown that more 12- to 15-year-olds have tried cannabis than have smoked tobacco.

Offenders in NSW are cautioned for possessing small amounts of the drug.

Mr Howard said there was a clear link between marijuana usage and suicides.

"We're playing a very heavy price in mental health breakdowns for over-indulgence of so-called safe drugs.

"Marijuana is far less safe now than it was in the '70s."

The Prime Minister's comments won support from community workers involved in helping chronic cannabis abusers.

The Salvation Army's Captain Paul Morrice, who runs a recovery farm for drug addicts at Morisset, said society appeared to have gradually accepted marijuana use and considered it little different to alcohol.

"It's getting to the socially accepted stage, and I think that's dangerous. It's not socially acceptable, it's not good for you, and it can be addictive."

Thirty-year-old former user Greg Driscoll said he had become a cannabis addict after smoking as many as 150 cones a day in his water pipe or bong.

"It started with just a smoke once a week with my mates.

"Then it was every second day, and then it was every day for most of the day.

"For a while, I didn't think there was anything wrong. I knew better than everyone else."

Mr Driscoll, who is recovering at Morisset, said his 10-year habit had eventually left him unable to function normally.

"I couldn't work or go down to the shops to get something to cook," he said.

Paul Dillon, of the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said an official campaign would not deter users.

"It will reinforce those who have decided not to do it, and may be useful for those considering it," Mr Dillon said.

There was no evidence marijuana was getting stronger, he said.

if there is one thing that annoys me more than 150 cones a day smokers, it's the government pretending they actually give a damn about mental health. whilst the mentally ill sleep on the streets due to a lack of facilities, howard is gonna waste another few million on a pr job. ir reform? never heard of it

 

[tiptop]

its funny cause when i talk to ppl who have smoked for 20 years they claim the dope was better back then.

 

[eagle_eye]

And it just shows what a dinosaur Howard is. Still stuck in the times when everyone thought drugs were bad. Wonder if he has a drink at all? Maybe everyone should go and confiscate any alcohol that he has and wanr him of the dangers of it, telling him that it really isnt a relatively harmless drug as perceived.

 

[peaked]

That article is absolute tripe! Same old bs scare tactics. Weed's SAFER now, with more potent hydroponic buds available that reduce the amount of harmful smoke that must be inhaled to reach adequate effects.

I call bullshit on the guy who claims he smoked 150 cones a day. Thats a cone every 9.6 minutes, and thats not even taking into account that the guy has to sleep. Being an everyday smoker myself, I highly doubt anyone would smoke anymore than about 30 bongs in a day.

Im sick of that puppet Johnny and his lies just for more votes. Children overboard anyone ?

 

[Splatt]

I don't know how many cones I was smoking when I had the money (or actually, didn't have the money..), but I remember quater to half an ounce was pretty much what I was smoking somehow a day. I don't think I left the house much..

 

[Diacetylus]

"It amazes me that we can be so zealous in dissuading people from smoking - and I used to smoke, I'm not a cleanskin - we're really up front about that ... but the same people who are virtually criminalising smoking are prepared to take a relaxed attitude to marijuana,"

Mr. Howard, you have done it again! Not thinking out what you are about to say, will only make more of a ninkenpoop of yourself.
The argument lies in... tobacco is still legal, while marijuana is illegal. They are both not good for you, with nicotine and tobacco being extremely neurotoxic after years and years of ab/use. Ever heard the old saying, "what's good for one, is good for the other"? How many people have you met that are suffering a physically and mentally debilitating disease due to cannabis abuse? I'm saying diddly squat! No?
Tobacco related illnesses? Plenty! Alcohol? Plenty!
People are crying, "not fair!" because the fact lies in, none of these ubstances are really good for you, but the one that causes the least damage all over is still illegal.

I'm not saying cannabis is completely harmless. I certainly suffered from severe anxiety and depression when I was using it, but I am one of very few people that couldn't control how much I used, I suffered slight mental drawbacks that were repairable over time. Most people that have damaged themselves through alcohol and/or tobacco use have irrepairable physical damage done. Take a look at Cirhossis (sp?) of the liver causes by alcohol abuse, or even complete dementia. How about lung cancer from tobacco abuse, or cardiovascular diseases? Only a couple of many, many problems associated with both drugs.

 

[tiptop]

I am one of very few people that couldn't control how much I used

i find the vast majority of marijuana users i have met cant

 

[chugs]

don't you wish the world was a bit like Bluelight and you could just "ignore" John Howard and his cronies.

when doing it tough in the polls lay a kick into drugs and how strong you are against it.

 

[Hater]

howards a fuckwit through and through sydneys got bigger problems at the moment that fucking drugs we got dickheads running around smashing cars bashing people in the name of racism and our out of touch primeminister decides to devote half a page of his newspaper article to "the dangers of cannabis use" wtf what about the dangers of racism we got half our beaches closed off and covered in cops and he's telling us to be afraid of weed considering somebody whos stoned poses no threat whatsoever compared to someone whos drunk as fucked and full of racist pride?

 

[Prince Planet]

its funny cause when i talk to ppl who have smoked for 20 years they claim the dope was better back then.

Interesting research from Europe on Cannabis potency:

http://www.emcdda.eu.int/?nnodeid=429
An overview of cannabis potency in Europe

Maybe John Howard could do a bit of reading before he opens his 1950's Menzies loving mouth and get his facts right.

 

[Prince Planet]

I was recently at one of the National Cannabis Strategy Forums that NDARC (The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre) was facilitating nationally regarding the future of cannabis research amongst other things in Australia. One of the things that was specifically taken off the agenda was drug law reform and in the same breath John Howard is talking getting tough on cannabis users and subsequent drug laws with no reference to the research currently available regarding cannabis and health risks etc. Howard latest block buster. Reefer Madness: Revenge of the Spliff. The problem is that people lap this crap up.

 

[xcidium]

Yay, another useless, expensive campaign that won't do 1 single thing to deter smokers/prospective smokers.

Anyone hear about/see the US anti-marijuana ad's? They are so pathetically over the top and reak of propoganda it is not funny.

Sad

 

[Prince Planet]

Interesting piece about Cannabis potency and the myth of psychosis


Myths and fears about cannabis

Monday December 19, 2005
The Guardian


Blake Morrison (Where there's smoke ..., G2, December 16) tells us that cannabis is "not the same as it used to be" and "whereas 30 years ago an average joint contained about 10mg of THC, a joint of skunk today might contain as much as 300mg". While stronger forms of cannabis, eg "skunk", certainly have become more common, their THC content (potency) is only two or three times that of "traditional" herbal cannabis.
The situation regarding trends in cannabis potency in the UK and other EU countries was set out in a 2004 report, which I co-authored, from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (available on the publications page of www.emcdda.eu.int). Based on data collected by the Forensic Science Service, the amount of herbal cannabis or cannabis resin found in reefer cigarettes has not changed significantly in more than 20 years. The average weight of cannabis in an unsmoked reefer has remained at around 200mg to 250mg. In other words, not only does a typical joint not contain 300mg THC, it doesn't even contain 300mg of cannabis. A joint made from "skunk" with a typical potency of 12% would contain around 30mg, not 300mg THC.
Five years ago the Washington Post published comments by Alan Walters, the so-called US drug czar, in which he stated that "parents are often unaware that today's marijuana is different from that of a generation ago, with potency levels 10 to 20 times stronger than the marijuana with which they were familiar". The same misleading information can be found on the website of the Royal College of General Practitioners (www.rcgp.org.uk/corporate/position/cannabis.asp).

The repetition of this myth does nothing to help rational debate on the harmful effects of cannabis.
Dr Leslie King
Former head of the drugs intelligence unit, Forensic Science Service

As consultant psychiatrist in the NHS it was clear to me that simple cannabis intoxication was almost never the reason for admission to the psychiatric unit.

Rarely, very heavy use causes a mental state of chronic apathy. What we usually saw was diagnosable schizophrenia that had started after moderate cannabis use and after recovery was precipitated again by further cannabis use. Cannabis compounds stimulate dopamine receptors in the brain, and schizophrenia is known to start with extreme over-activity in brain circuits using dopamine.

Some families have single genes for susceptibility to schizophrenia; others have collections of genes and some individuals may have non-genetic predispositions. It is these young people in whom cannabis precipitates schizophrenia. Unfortunately we seldom have any way of predicting who might be so predisposed and thus cannot advise who should not take cannabis. Cannabis is not a safe recreational substance, and should not be legalised.
Dr RL Symonds
Mereworth, Kent

The risks of using cannabis are, as your experts conclude, the very reason why it must be legalised and regulated; that way we gain some control over who produces, who sells and who buys the stuff.

Between now and then we must ensure its dangers are kept in proportion. Prohibition has always been used to try and scare people off using drugs. The problem with this approach comes when people believe the risks are exaggerated and dismiss all other information as part of the attempt to get them to stop.
David Crane
Cannabis Sense

Blake Morrison sensitively challenges the myth that cannabis in general, and skunk in particular, are harmless. I know families, including my own, where suffering has been worse that it needed to be because of the force of that myth.

What his piece doesn't fully explore is the plausible theory that some young people experiencing the first symptoms of schizophrenia could be using cannabis to self-medicate. This may help not only to alleviate or distract from the symptoms - in the short term - but also to give the user a comforting sense that she is retaking control of her mental state. It's not hard to see how this could lead to a vicious cycle of symptoms and use.