Cannabis growers questionnaire

[Lollygag]

I completed the survey, hope I'm not too late.

 

In regards to NT respondants, I'm not really surprised you didn't get any, I was there recently and had to pay $500 for an ounce, which had been shipped up to Katherine/Darwin from Adelaide. For whatever reason, there doesn't seem to be much marijuana available there. I'd specualte the problem may be that NT is very remote, and in a lot of places internet connections etc aren't reliable (or even available at all) so while people may be growing in NT,  they may not be able to communicate very easily with the rest of the country.

[Ozzy420]

I completed the survey, hope I'm not too late.

 

In regards to NT respondants, I'm not really surprised you didn't get any, I was there recently and had to pay $500 for an ounce, which had been shipped up to Katherine/Darwin from Adelaide. For whatever reason, there doesn't seem to be much marijuana available there. I'd specualte the problem may be that NT is very remote, and in a lot of places internet connections etc aren't reliable (or even available at all) so while people may be growing in NT,  they may not be able to communicate very easily with the rest of the country.

 

 

 

Never to late thanks for doing it, if you have any mates that may want to fill it out pass on the link to them please.

The more ppl that fill this out the better...

[mjbarratt]

"I'm all for research but am a bit concerned that the info will be used against us by the Government in their policies and legislation. Australian politics just has no tolerance for anti social behavior especially around drugs  eg cannabis, cigarettes, alcohol and now fast food.  I am concerned that they will just use the data to help profile new targets in order to push the zero tolerance policy onto those that have been in the closet for almost 20 years without a problem, just  because they can. Education is the key for tolerance but Australian Governments just want clean healthy tax paying individuals that  wont be a burden in the future to the health care system period. I would rather see decriminalisation of cannabis in Australian law, as it would ease the burden of knowing getting caught today could destroy my family and everything we have worked hard for the past 20 years. I just hope the research will be used for good not evil. 

 

cheers"

 

You are right that there is a strong preventative health push by the government which does not seem to be able to recognise alternative views on the importance of health and the definition of health. The ANPHA is a new federal government organisation focused on preventative health.

 

I don't have a problem with the idea that we should assist people to be healthy... but I have a similar concern to you - what is the motivation behind it and who decides what is healthy?

 

As for this study, we have designed it with the input of growers and we have plans to use it to illustrate the wide variety of people who grow in Australia, reasons for growing, ways of growing, and interact with the justice system. E.g. we are getting many respondents who grow for medicinal reasons and we now have information on what diagnoses they have.

 

At least we can use this to say 'look, some people are using cannabis to treat their illnesses - for some people, they believe this is what works best for them'. Others may define this is 'unhealthy' but it is contested - is it unhealthy compared to pumping oneself with pharmaceutical drugs?

 

So we hope the results will open up certain debates in Australia when we release them. We intend to use the results to question assumptions and to illustrate diversity (to break stereotypes).

 

"I completed the survey, hope I'm not too late.

 

In regards to NT respondants, I'm not really surprised you didn't get any, I was there recently and had to pay $500 for an ounce, which had been shipped up to Katherine/Darwin from Adelaide. For whatever reason, there doesn't seem to be much marijuana available there. I'd specualte the problem may be that NT is very remote, and in a lot of places internet connections etc aren't reliable (or even available at all) so while people may be growing in NT,  they may not be able to communicate very easily with the rest of the country."

 

No, not too late, thanks!

 

Interesting thoughts on the NT respondents. Things are a bit different up there. I think we would need dedicated people on the ground in NT to cover that space and as you say, the net access up there is a bit of a problem for an online survey.

 

"Never to late thanks for doing it, if you have any mates that may want to fill it out pass on the link to them please.

The more ppl that fill this out the better..."

 

Cheers for the assistance/support. And we will do a final push before closing - with a media release - to see if we can get a few more growers on board.

Edited January 19, 2013 by mjbarratt

[Bonquisha Fullcone]

Completed. Look forwards to seeing the results also

[mjbarratt]

Thanks again. Just doing a full look at the results (of the current sample, we just re-run the code on the full sample later!). I'll put up a few results for interests sake once i've had a good look. And we will report a selection of results in the NSW inquiry submission, but we will keep that brief and offer to testify to the committee verbally (I'm going to be in Sydney in March for that among other commitments).

 

One finding that struck me was when we asked about setbacks growers had experienced, 23% reported that their cannabis plants had been eaten by animals! We didn't ask any further on that one, so not such whether that was the local kangaroos or your pet dog... I guess it's not surprising but I imagine most of our European colleagues won't report as a high a figure as this one.

[Naycha]

Thanks for keeping us updated Monica, there is a lot of interest in this research.

 

Recently I've seen plants damaged by cattle and possums if you're interested

 

Naycha

[mjbarratt]

We did have a sample of growers who mainly lived outside capital cities - so it's not too surprising! Just wondering how many stoned kangaroos we have in this country 

[louise]

Why do you think they lay around all arvo under the trees... It's not just the heat.

[Matanuska Thunder]

Heyya Dr B,

Will you be speaking at MardiGrass this year?

 

Cheers and thanks for your hard work!

Matti

[Ford Fairlane]

Firstly, thanks MJ for becoming part of the community and keeping us updated with what's going on. I eagerly await the preliminary findings

 

We did have a sample of growers who mainly lived outside capital cities - so it's not too surprising! Just wondering how many stoned kangaroos we have in this country

Why do you think they lay around all arvo under the trees... It's not just the heat.

Is there any evidence to suggest that animals do get stoned from eating raw cannabis? It is my understanding that psychoactive compounds within cannabis must be washed with alcohol or another solvent, extracted into fat or taken to a particular high temp in order to "activate" any THC or other psychoactive compounds within the plant. Furthermmore, my anecdotal experience indicates that plants are most likely eaten while in a vegetative state (however, I would like to hear if others have different experiences), meaning the THC content is at its lowest and unklikely to have a mind altering effect, even if it is possible..

 

I know you guys were just having a laugh, but I feel this is a point that requires clarification. If I am mistaken in my belief, then please point me in the right direction..

 

Love

Puka

Edited January 25, 2013 by puka