New centre will fight marijuana

[grace]

New centre will fight marijuana

 

May 5, 2008

 

Public information campaigns will try to counter the high rate of cannabis use among the young, writes Natasha Wallace.

 

Cannabis use and addiction have become such a problem, particularly among the young, that the Federal Government is funding a $12 million research centre at the University of NSW to try to turn the trend around.

 

The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre will focus on public information campaigns similar to those tackling tobacco addiction to try to cut the increasingly high rates of cannabis use among the young.

 

The centre's director, Jan Copeland, said the latest statistics showed that 20 per cent of people aged 14 to 19 had smoked cannabis, against 10.1 per cent trying tobacco.

 

Fifty per cent of presentations for drug treatment among 10- to 19-year-olds are related to cannabis, against 25 per cent for alcohol and 10 per cent for amphetamines.

 

Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug in Australia, with 33.5 per cent of adults having used it, Professor Copeland said.

 

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from last year showed that 750,000 people used cannabis weekly and 300,000 used it every day.

 

Eighteen per cent smoked tobacco, compared with 9 per cent for cannabis.

 

The number of those seeking treatment had tripled since 1992, but many young people still did not understand the significant potential for harm to their health nor that there were treatment services available, Professor Copeland said.

 

"Cannabis has a reputation of being a soft drug - 'It's just a herb, man; it can't do any harm' - and they think there's nowhere to go [for help]," she said.

 

She said about one in 10 people who tried cannabis would develop a dependence.

 

"They find it very hard to give up and they lose control over the use. It creates problems, particularly for young people in their education."

 

Those under 16 who had used it at all were three times more likely to either drop out of school or finish without attaining their Higher School Certificate, she said. Professor Copeland said those who began smoking cannabis in the 1970s were starting to develop respiratory, head and neck cancers.

 

"Amongst young male smokers they're also seeing early-stage respiratory problems like holes in the lung, and people don't realise until they get to hospital with pneumonia that they have got bullous lung disease from smoking marijuana."

 

Its impact on mental health was widely recognised, however its effects on the developing brain, from birth to adolescence, were only just now being explored, she said.

 

The centre would also research medical treatments such as THC in tablet form, which is under trial in the US, to overcome withdrawal symptoms and help addicts give up, she said.

 

Alan Budney, an addiction expert at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who attended the centre's launch last week, said demonstration studies of the THC tablet had shown that it suppressed withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, appetite loss and sleep disturbance, but clinical trials for treatment were still under way.

 

"We found that a low dose suppressed it somewhat and a higher dose suppressed it completely," Professor Budney said.

 

A single cannabis joint has the same effect on the lungs as smoking up to five cigarettes in one sitting, according to research published in the respiratory medicine journal Thorax last year.

 

NCPIC helpline: 1800 30 40 50, www.ncpic.org.au

 

<http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/new-centre-will-fight-marijuana/2008/05/04/1209839456343.html>

 

 

It's looking like another good news week for cannabis users and it's only Wednesday. What next?

[mull]

Fifty per cent of presentations for drug treatment among 10- to 19-year-olds are related to cannabis, against 25 per cent for alcohol and 10 per cent for amphetamines.

 

So what happened to the other 15%?

If prohibition was repealed, would the 10-19 yo cannabis use rate drop to 25% also?

 

 

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from last year showed that 750,000 people used cannabis weekly and 300,000 used it every day.

 

Compared to alcohol? Whose fudging figures for funding now Professor..

 

The number of those seeking treatment had tripled since 1992, but many young people still did not understand the significant potential for harm to their health nor that there were treatment services available, Professor Copeland said.

 

Prof. Jan, how does one treat a youth seeking treatment for the harm cannabis has done to their health?

 

First you'd have to establish the actual harm done and then single cannabis away from the other drugs used.

Then simply ask the youth to stop? That's about it right isn't it?

Please stop. Then wait till they do.

Scare them with some half truthes and some phoney hyped up information and expect them to quit.

They either do quit and find out it was hype, or already know and lose trust in their docs and you.

 

 

 

"Cannabis has a reputation of being a soft drug - 'It's just a herb, man; it can't do any harm' - and they think there's nowhere to go [for help]," she said.

 

That's right, cannabis is classed a herb, we've established that. You have a vested interest in calling our innocuous herb a harmful drug. Also in drumming up business for this 'cannabis harm help' and - 'cannabis prevention funding'.

 

 

Professor Copeland said those who began smoking cannabis in the 1970s were starting to develop respiratory, head and neck cancers.

 

People who began smoking tobacco in the 80's are developing respiratory, lung, bone, head and neck cancers.

The push now is to sell lozenges, chewies and patches to keep people addicted to nicotine. Yet can still get cancer from these.

 

 

Its impact on mental health was widely recognised, however its effects on the developing brain, from birth to adolescence, were only just now being explored, she said.

 

The cannabis impact on mental health can be recognized as extreme relief, calming, sleep recovery, better nutrition thro appetite, all from a soothing organic medicine for maintenance or recovery.

 

Also, if the effects on developing brains are only now being explored... where's the foundation for the hype then?

 

 

The centre would also research medical treatments such as THC in tablet form, which is under trial in the US, to overcome withdrawal symptoms and help addicts give up, she said.

 

Cannabis is bad, synthetic drugs as pills are ok tho? Never heard of youths abusing pills..

 

Alan Budney, an addiction expert at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who attended the centre's launch last week, said demonstration studies of the THC tablet had shown that it suppressed withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, appetite loss and sleep disturbance, but clinical trials for treatment were still under way.

 

A single cannabis joint has the same effect on the lungs as smoking up to five cigarettes in one sitting, according to research published in the respiratory medicine journal Thorax last year.

 

So that explains the health benefits of vaporizers and ingesting oil over smoking. It also highlights the fact that you can make anything look bad, by the angle you look at it from.

 

A normal joint cannabis smoker might smoke 1 or 2 joints a day average. Whereas a normal tobacco smoker might smoke 30 cigarettes a day average.

Heavier ratios for heavier smokers evenly.

No way any propaganda can deny the hunger nicotine causes to it's addicts. It's certainly not the same as cannabis. Nicotine users will almost always use more than 5 times the amount of tobacco daily av than cannabis smokers.

 

The NTPIC must still be getting set up... as they will mention things like this to your centre Jan.

[grace]

The centre's director, Jan Copeland, said ........... about one in 10 people who tried cannabis would develop a dependence.

 

"They find it very hard to give up and they lose control over the use. It creates problems, particularly for young people in their education."

 

So look after them if they want he he and leave the rest of us alone.

[Rocker]

All alcoholics started on milk and I would suspect cannabis users did too.

Maybe Jan should look into milk.

 

This is another useless outfit using useless research to prove useless points.

 

As Grace posted above; leave us alone.

[MongyMan]

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from last year showed that 750,000 people used cannabis weekly and 300,000 used it every day.

 

If 750,000 people use cannabis weekly, 107,142 people in this group use cannabis on average each day. Add this too the 300,000 that use it daily and you get a total of 407,142 people in Australia using cannabis on any given day in the year. This figure doesn't account for the smokers that use less than every week, of which there are a fair sized number also.

Now, if we take 407,142 and multiply it by 365 you get 39,106,830. So in Australia occording to official statistics, if each of these people only smoke once a day, there are at least 39,106,803 instances of cannabis use every year . This is just cannabis remember, not all illicit drugs.

Official Bureau of statistics figures show arrests for cannabis use over 05-06 (theses are the most recent I can find) totaling 47,390. So out of at least 39,106,803 crimes commited a year the police only arrest 47,390 people or 0.12% (Most people smoke more than once a day so this percentage is actually much lower in reality). Of the people commiting this 'crime' at least 99.88% of people get away with it. Their own figures show what a failure the 'war on drugs' is. It costs millions of dollars in police and court times to achieve such a miniscule result, not to mention the ongoing costs the community has to carry due to the lives destroyed by achieving it.

When statistics are important for getting your budget money allocation it is easy to overlook figures like 0.12% when you have figures like 750,000 and 47,390 to quote (big numbers always sound better ) Increased funding would have very little impact if any on this as there are already millions apon millions spent every year but they wont let that stop them asking for it. Prohibition does not, can not and never will be sucessful. the sooner they realize this the closer we will be to a persicution free lifestyle.

 

Peace MongyMan

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

I'm just curious...can anybody tell me if this is the university that some of us argued about a year or so ago (maybe 18 months?) regarding the questionaires they wanted us to fill in on here? The one that "had nothing to gain by portraying cannabis in bad light" (12 million is nothing to blow ya nose at) ? Or is this a new lot putting their two cents worth in now?

 

Bastards.

[freddie]

I'm just curious...can anybody tell me if this is the university that some of us argued about a year or so ago (maybe 18 months?) regarding the questionaires they wanted us to fill in on here? The one that "had nothing to gain by portraying cannabis in bad light" (12 million is nothing to blow ya nose at) ? Or is this a new lot putting their two cents worth in now?

 

The other organisation was NDARC who coincidently operate from the same uni (NSW). Big place.

 

This is a new lot, Check their site out here:

http://ncpic.org.au/

 

Could be worse, could be better. Some of the fact sheet stuff is surprisingly balanced, some isnt.

[MongyMan]

Well spotted Rob. A couple of links.

 

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners...c=15301&hl=

http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/

 

Peace MongyMan

[larfin1]

Why don't they combat: alcohol, a known cause of cancer,

tobacco, a known cause of cancer,

religions, the known fraud of humanity,

politicians, the absolute wankers of the world..