Cannabis Laws `risk To Youth'

[boulder]

By GRAHAME ARMSTRONG

March 21, 2004

 

 

NEW cannabis laws which come into effect tomorrow will increase the risk of physical and mental health problems for young people, Opposition Leader Colin Barnett claims.

 

Mr Barnett said the changes ? making the possession of up to 30g of the drug and the cultivation of up to two plants punishable by fine or an education session ? sent the worst possible message to the community that some cannabis was OK.

 

"There is clear scientific evidence that cannabis use is linked with depression and anxiety in youths and an increased risk of psychotic disorders such as paranoia, manic depression and schizophrenia," he said.

 

"Physical health impacts include a higher risk of throat, lung, mouth and tongue cancer, reproductive problems and possible impaired educational development in adolescents.

 

"It is irresponsible in the extreme that, in spite of the mounting evidence of the dangers of this drug, that our State Government could soften penalties for its use and cultivation."

 

Mr Barnett said that according to a 1992 report carried out by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, one outdoor, non-hydroponic, plant grown with only standard irrigation, fertilisation and weeding activity could produce 448g after 120 days ? more than 2.5kg if two plants were harvested three times a year.

 

"Under Labor's legislation the possession of those two plants will attract no greater penalty than a fine of up to $200," he said.

 

"To make matters worse the legislation allows for an unlimited number of cautions to be issued for possession and cultivation and only an education session for repeat offenders. "Such a soft approach to law enforcement for the abuse of an illicit drug is a recipe for disaster ? and it is our children and their families who will pay."

 

Dr Steve Allsop of the Government's drug and alcohol office agreed that cannabis use was harmful.

 

But the new laws still recognised that cannabis use was illegal and harmful.

 

Dr Allsop said the laws would ensure cannabis was dealt with more as a health issue than a criminal issue.

 

It would result in more people being treated and counselled instead of putting them through the courts.

 

"No one wants to see an increase in the number of people who start cannabis use but all of us want to see an increase in the number of people who come off cannabis," Dr Allsop said.

 

The Sunday Times

[Guest]

No one wants to see an increase in the number of people who start cannabis

 

WRONG. I want to see everybody smoking pot. The more the merrier. Only an idiot who has never smoked would say something so stupid. You can bet he went out saturday night and put away a few beers. Fucking hypocrite.

 

There is clear scientific evidence that cannabis use is linked with depression and anxiety in youths

 

Its called fear of prosecution numb nuts.

 

and an increased risk of psychotic disorders such as paranoia

 

Again Dufus, the cops REALLY ARE out to get them.

 

manic depression

 

Society is mindnumbingly dull. Manic depression is the norm nowadays.

 

and schizophrenia

 

In people already prone to such behaviour. Thats just straw clutching.

 

all of us want to see an increase in the number of people who come off cannabis

 

Its non-addictive Dr All Soppy.

[expansion]

It's a tough one. I think there is sufficient scientific evidence to point towards the deletarious health effects of dope on younger people (under 16 especially ). I know I won't be encouraging my kids to try it until they are older, but then again I probably will have as much success as my parents did!

[Guest]

Its all bullshit expansion. It took them 70 years and hundreds of millions of dollars in tests to come up with those weak claims. Smoking any kind of leaf causes lung problems. They all contain incarcenogens. Thats the nature of burning a plant and inhaling it. That ofcourse is eliminated with a vapouriser or eating it.

 

As for psychotic episodes, you have to remember there is no standard for growing plants. Since prohibition the marijuana sold on the market has undergone fierce selective breeding enhanced by a relatively small gene pool. Now its over 10 times as strong as it was before prohibition. Thats like selling alcohol which is overproof.

 

Without prohibition we would have a milder smoke. Ofcourse many people like to stoned out of their heads but for a few its too much and the delicate balance of chemicals in their brain gets thrown out of kilter making them think they are Jesus or something. None of this would have come about if prohibition hadn't taken place.

 

You also have to remember that government tests involve ridiculous amounts of smoking that even Cheech and Chong would have had trouble achieving. I've never met anyone who smoked a pack a day of ganja. Some people do but the Government makes test subjects choke on the equivalents of thousands. Its crappy research and you never hear the positive results.

[Guest Wilderbud]

I think anxiety and depression are widely obvious mostly because of the current prohibition of marijuana [repression not depression - Cheech] but I agree with the effect on a persons development.

 

Laws are made to be changed - legalize marijuana then require 18+ identification or a medical note and its all good. Marijuana should be treated less cautiously than alcohol - its not a bad drug!

 

Marijuana makes me normal but the overhead of prohibition is causing anxiety.

[expansion]

I certainly keep an open mind when confronted with this kind of research;

 

http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/mari...a/schizophrenia

 

new scientist online

 

especiallt this bit;

 

".....They found that people who used cannabis by age 15 were four times as likely to have a diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder (a milder version of schizophrenia) at age 26 than non-users."

 

The point is, that we may find out that young minds are more susceptible to damage if they engage in HEAVY smoking early on.

 

We don't let kids get drunk because they can fuck things up, if research shows it, why wouldn't we protect our kids as well?

[Guest]

Developing minds shouldn't overabuse any drug but where were the police during schoolies week when thousands of teenagers descended upon the Gold Coast with their elder brother or sisters driving license and got tanked to the eyeballs with piss? Apparently they were busy picking up schoolgirls and taking them back to hotel rooms. Its not limited to schoolies week either. Kids as young as 13 are regular drinkers. They know how to open the liquor cabinet or walk down to the bottle shop. Same with pot. Its freely accessible despite prohibition. In fact its even easier to obtain. Theres very little street selling of hooch. Ganja on the other hand is available everywhere. So even if it did pose some element of risk to young minds(which I dont think it does) we are doing more harm with prohibition than legalisation.

 

Don't forget there are hundreds of legal drugs such as mescaline found in mushrooms that grow wild. Where is the rampant misuse? Pot is the second most popular recreational drug in Australia despite being prohibited. Illegality boosts the market value and keeps a strong market trade going. To argue that strict penalties should be enforced to "save the children" is fucking ridiculous. Children use drugs to escape from the boring regimental mass education system they are forced to endure.

[Luke Skywalker]

But when the number of psychotic symptoms at age 11 was controlled for, this increased risk dropped to become non-significant. This suggests that people already at greater risk of later developing mental health problems are also more likely to smoke cannabis.

 

from new scientist - marijuana and schizophrenia

 

There has been little conclusive evidence, that I have personally seen, that the risks are substantially larger for anyone who uses cannabis.

 

Anyone considered that the paranioa and social alienation caused by the prohibition of cannabis, as well as other drugs, may be significantly affecting the instances of "mental disorders" in society at large? It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, as chong said earlier.

 

It looks more to me like trying to justify an act (prohibition) after the fact.

[Guest]

Imagine if the Government had spent as much money researching the health effects of drinking alcohol or other drugs instead. The mindboggling sums of cash wasted on pot over the last 70 years would prove ANY drug to be dangerous. If you look hard enough and long enough at anything you will find something negative. No matter how miniscule or rare that side effect might be you will definately find something.

 

More often than not those research programs uncovered beneficial aspects. It was listed in the Pharmacopeia Brittanica as one of the most useful plants known to medical science prior to the Marijuana Tax Act of the 1930's. Most of the governments research only backed up known healing properties. But the Government just kept digging until they could find something, anything at all, that they could point to and say "THERE! WE TOLD YOU IT WAS EVIL!"

 

Classic propagandising. Ever asked yourselves why it took so long to get any serious research completed on alcohol, tobacco, caffeine or other addictive toxins? Any one of those would blow research on pot right out of the water. They don't matter you see, because they're legal. Even caffeine is more toxic measure for measure than Plutonium. I'll bet most of you didn't realise that.

 

The government force feeds animal test subjects the equivalent of hundreds of reefers a day to discover these sorts of findings. Thats like force feeding a chimp 50 bottles of whisky a day, 100,000 cups of coffee or a hundred packets of cigarettes. Trust me. The pot fucked monkey will die last.