Booze crusade ignores bigger evil=CANNABIS * WTF *

[Jess Stone]

Booze crusade ignores bigger evil=CANNABIS * WTF *

Miranda Devine <--- hahaha devine? she is not

March 13, 2008

 

It's a bit rich for a man who got famously stonkered at a lap-dancing club in New York five years ago to be lecturing the rest of us on binge drinking.

 

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said he was so drunk during a visit to Scores club with the New York Post's editor, Col Allan, that he couldn't remember a thing that happened.

 

And yet now he has identified the "epidemic" of teenage binge-drinking as Australia's No.1 scourge, so important he must allocate a staggering $53 million to combat it, despite the fact he doesn't really know if it is a problem.

 

"I think we've got a real problem in this country when it comes to binge drinking," he told journalists at a press conference in Canberra. "I don't have a whole lot of science to back it up."

 

Great.

 

For the Prime Minister, the binge drinking campaign was an excellent diversion from the political bother caused by reported cutbacks to carers' allowances in the budget.

 

Teen binge drinking is a great push-button topic for parents worried about their children experimenting, but even if Rudd had looked for evidence to back up his assertion of an "epidemic", there is none. In fact, the number of 15- to 17-year-olds drinking alcohol declined from 68 per cent to 63 per cent between 2000 and 2003, surveys by the Federal Government's National Alcohol Campaign found.

 

But by declaring binge drinking to be the nation's most urgent social problem, at a time when alcohol consumption per capita has remained steady for more than a decade, the Prime Minister has provided succour to the illicit drug harm-minimisation lobby, who have always tried to derail attempts to clamp down on drugs such as cannabis by claiming alcohol abuse is a far greater scourge.

 

Fuelling the breathless reporting of Rudd's initiative in recent days has been a paper, "Supporting Families of Young People With Problematic Drug Use", released by the Government's advisory body, the National Council on Drugs.

 

It found that one in 10 of 12- to 17-year-olds - that's 168,000 people - reported binge drinking at harmful levels, that is "consuming seven or more standard drinks in a day for a male and five or more for a female". And one in five 16- and 17-year-olds reported binge drinking in any given week.

 

But frankly it's more disturbing that one in seven, or 237,000 high school children, have used cannabis in the past 12 months, and 18 per cent reported having used the drug at some time, a statistic from the paper that received far less attention.

 

While large amounts of alcohol are not good for the plastic adolescent brain, new research has shown cannabis is much worse. Once considered a benign drug, today's more potent hydroponic cannabis can trigger psychosis indistinguishable from schizophrenia. A study of 50,465 Swedish Army conscripts found those who had tried cannabis by age 18 had 2.4 times the risk of schizophrenia in the following 15 years than those who had never used.

 

A Victorian study released last year found the risk of long-term damage, including poor mental health, is greater among cannabis users who started smoking the drug when teenagers than in drinkers who started using alcohol at an early age.

 

Researchers at the Melbourne University's Centre for Adolescent Health who compared the effects of cannabis and alcohol use found overwhelming evidence cannabis was "the drug for life's future losers".

 

So where is the $53 million campaign against cannabis?

Humans have always needed some form of mind-altering drug - whether it's coca, kava, Corona or cab sav. Even nicotine served a purpose, calming emotions and focusing concentration. No doubt road rage and other violent forms of impatience have worsened in response to the decline of cigarette smoking.

 

Thus, you can expect that any decline in youth alcohol use will be compensated for by a rise in illicit drug use. For instance, when police praised the docile water-sipping crowds in the millennium New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, they were praising the effects of the "love drug" ecstasy.

 

As a society we have sensibly tried to quarantine this human urge to consume mind-altering substances by authorising the time-tried relatively safe substance alcohol and outlawing other drugs. This has been a sensible approach, causing problems for a few and avoiding the potentially socially catastrophic effects of unrestricted drug use.

 

What alcohol has going for it is a sort of built-in aversion therapy, also known as a hangover. The big night out is punishable by vomiting, bed spins and a seedy feeling which can last for days. Hangovers get worse with age - so binge drinking becomes an increasingly rare indulgence.

Most teenage binge drinkers will go on to be normal useful citizens. A few will become alcoholics.

 

But even if Rudd's promised "Grim Reaper" ad campaign against binge drinking were a raging success, and teenagers became terrified of alcohol, it defies belief that they would suddenly become choirboys or girl scouts. They may just turn to other substances they perceive as less dangerous.

 

The only surefire way to curtail binge drinking - at no cost to the taxpayer - is to limit pub-drinking hours. Extended trading hours were claimed, in Orwellian fashion, to be a way of reducing binge drinking because drinkers would supposedly "pace" themselves at 3am.

 

At least when pubs used to close at 10pm or 11pm, patrons had a chance to pause from drinking while they worked out their next move. For some it was a taxi ride to a late-opening Kings Cross establishment. For others it was home for a quiet nightcap - which invariably turned into a snooze on the couch.

 

What it didn't mean was the inevitability of a continuing stream of alcohol down the gullet until dawn, turning a fun night out into an alcoholic marathon.

 

Then there are the alcopop-style drinks which appeal to younger teens and pre-teens because they taste like soft drink. Slapping a prohibitive tax on such drinks would cut teen alcohol consumption, as happened in Switzerland, Britain and Germany.

 

But such sensible strategies would require politicians to slap the hand that feeds them with donations and taxes.

 

Rather than lecture us on the evils of the demon drink, governments should go cold turkey from booze profits.

 

devinemiranda@hotmail.com

 

Truely an OUTRAGEOUS ANTI-Cannabis hit piece by this pseudo journalist/opinion inventor/internet troll , this CLOWN is paid for this ! Good money $$$ ! Hmm I strongly suspect the rapid anti-cannabis-nazis AAMI the insurance clowns or a drug testing business/racket has shouted her a holiday or lunch or something for writing this drivel for them. I also strongly suspect that AAMI is a major shareholder in drug testing businesses/rackets as well OR also a very likely scenario BOOZE Businesses/legal pushers giving "it/her" a pay off for diverting attention away from KR Anti-Binge Boozing campaign which if this idiot notdevine would know if she left her safe yuppy suburb and hit the "burbs" on a Saturday night ('s alrights for fighting ' even Elton knows )

Cannabis more evil than BOOZE/BINGE BOOZING ! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ... Ha ! "it" must be kidding ,

here is a picture of " it " http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/03/07/th_mirandadevine_index-thumb__60x40.jpg Crikey "it's" a 5 paper bag job (with the lights out ! ) Drop the troll an email and let "it" know what you think of "it's" opinions.

 

source ... SMH

Edited March 13, 2008 by Jess Stone

[Luke Skywalker]

Unbelievable. It's more dangerous for a kid to have smoked cannabis once in twelve months than to have a 5-7 drink PER DAY habit on alcohol? What planet is this on? Bizzarro world?

 

*shakes head and mutters*

[WantDaChronic]

that was obviously paid for by the alcohol industry, sadly alot of people will take it to heart that alcohol is much safer than cannabis because of it

 

it would have been nice of them to include the fact that a heavy night of drinking can result in a much worse outcome than a hang over...death being one of the posibilities and all

[freddie]

Miranda Divine is an idiot. Always has been.

 

While large amounts of alcohol are not good for the plastic adolescent brain, new research has shown cannabis is much worse. Once considered a benign drug, today's more potent hydroponic cannabis can trigger psychosis indistinguishable from schizophrenia. A study of 50,465 Swedish Army conscripts found those who had tried cannabis by age 18 had 2.4 times the risk of schizophrenia in the following 15 years than those who had never used.

 

That study has more holes in it than Swiss cheese (not recent research either). Check the Marijuana, myths and misconceptions thread. Elizabeth Finkel had a bit to say about that. (Can't find a link for that anymore). There aren't many researchers pushing the schizophrenic line any more because that particular problem has remained stubbornly at 1% of the population regardless of cannabis use. Psychosis may be a different thing although cause is hard to prove with any mental illness.

[ConvexConepiece]

Personally I think it detracts attention away from us weed smokers which can only be a good thing... I have seen alot in the papers recently about Mr Rudd getting tough on booze, but no mention of cannabis - infact one paper even had a POSITIVE article about medicinal use of cannabis, however it was about one of the substances which do not contain THC which was able to be used but anyway for some reason I get the hunch that Mr Rudd knows his fair share of smokers and perhaps will leave us more or less alone?

[Rocker]

Devine is just a stirrer. Most of these people don't believe in what they write.

They are merely word factories.

It would be nice if just for once they kept their stupid opinions to themselves.

 

Freddie's post a couple above this nailed it.

Edited March 15, 2008 by old rocker

[Amdrew]

yes coz closing pubs earlier will cut teenage binge drinking.

[Rose Gardener]

Oh for fuck's sake!

 

With this sort of bullshit out there it is a little wonder why Mr is so resistant to hearing what I have to say about our blessed 'erb!

 

It truly DOES completely baffle the fucking mind!

 

Sorry. Had to get that out...

 

When I was at high school, all you ever saw at school in the loos n locker rooms n even during some classes were deals taking place! And I went to a half decent high school too....

I reckon a good portion of the faculty smoked too.

 

And don't even get me started on the alcohol issue...

 

Argh. Need sleeps.

 

~Rose.