Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jul 2000
Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2000
Contact:  P.O. Box 181, 52-66 Lower Stuart Street, Dunedin, New Zealand
Website: http://www2.odt.co.nz
Author: Sue Kedgley

CANNABIS EDUCATION SHOULD BE FOCUS

Green Party Health Spokeswoman Sue Kedgley Reckons The Cannabis Debate Is 
Focused Too Much On Petty Politics And Not On Teenagers' Health.

AS POLITICIANS and the media continue to wrangle about cannabis law reform, 
the important debate - about how to minimise the health risks of cannabis - 
is being overlooked.

The recent revelation that 30% of children aged 11 to 17 have tried 
cannabis and 70% of those use it regularly before they are 15, suggests 
it's time to redirect the cannabis debate into how we can educate people, 
especially teenagers, about the health risks of cannabis, and try to 
discourage them from smoking the drug.

I'm quite sure most young people who smoke cannabis realise it is illegal. 
But I wonder how many are aware cannabis smoke contains potentially 
carcinogenic substances similar to those contained in tobacco smoke; and 
that there could be as many carcinogens in one unfiltered and loosely 
packed joint as in an entire packet of cigarettes.

I wonder how many realise when they inhale cannabis, the smoke will 
inevitably affect their lungs, and increase their risk of long term chronic 
health effects such as respiratory disease and cancer, especially when it 
is combined with tobacco.

Or that as teenagers they absorb the more than 60 active compounds in 
cannabis much faster than adults and excrete them more slowly - 
particularly THC (the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) which 
accumulates in fatty tissue and can remain there for weeks after a person 
has stopped using the drug.

I wonder how many have heard about the study that found, puff for puff, up 
to 40% more tar can be deposited in the lungs of cannabis smokers who hold 
the smoke in their lungs before exhaling, compared to cigarette smokers. Or 
wondered about the additives that might lurk in an illegally produced 
marijuana joint, or the herbicides or pesticides that may have been sprayed 
on it during its cultivation?

We need to make teenagers aware of the potential side-effects of smoking 
cannabis on a regular basis, such as loss of concentration and short-term 
memory and motor skills, which may make driving unsafe. These side effects 
may make it nearly impossible for users to study - a huge concern for 
teachers and principals who have to deal with students under the influence 
of the drug at school.

Cannabis is generally rated as a lower health risk than alcohol or 
nicotine, both of which produce far more lethal long-term effects. Some 
studies suggest there are few short-term impacts for infrequent adult users 
of cannabis. But evidence is mounting that frequent cannabis use, 
especially by young people, is risky. Teenagers are at a critical stage in 
their lives, where they are maturing socially, emotionally and 
psychologically. Cannabis can affect this process, as well as their ability 
to plan for the future and to study.

Clearly many, perhaps most, of our young people are oblivious to these 
risks. So how do we get the message through to them?

High profile anti-smoking and drink driving campaigns have successfully 
changed public attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol in our society. We 
need the same kind of public campaign about the health risks of cannabis, 
targeted at young people.

Unfortunately, the fact cannabis is illegal is hampering urgently-needed 
campaigns highlighting the risks of marijuana, in much the same way 
society's denial that adolescents were sexually active, a few decades ago, 
meant we failed to warn them of the dangers of unprotected sex.

The drug's illegality pushes the debate about the health risks of cannabis 
underground. It brands all users as criminals and implies recreational 
users are drug addicts, making them hard to reach for either prevention or 
intervention.

It's time to bring the debate out into the open, and discuss it in our 
classrooms, on television, in advertising and educational campaigns.

Educating young people about the health risks of cannabis and ensuring they 
can get help could provide a turning point in their lives. Treating them 
like criminals for smoking cannabis might well send them down the wrong 
road for the rest of their lives.

That's why the Green Party believes education, not prosecution, is the key 
to the endemic problem of young people smoking cannabis. Clearly, 
prohibition hasn't worked. Nearly 2000 young people were suspended from our 
schools for drug offences last year.

In our view, a law change is needed to allow possession of small amounts of 
cannabis, because smoking is a health issue, not a crime. But alongside a 
law change we need a well funded and resourced national drug strategy which 
focuses on minimising the harm of cannabis.

And let's not just focus on cannabis. Dr David Fergussion of the 
Christchurch Medical School's Health and Development centre says schools 
which are hysterical about cannabis are often far too laid back about 
alcohol and tobacco. Parliament's health select committee recently called 
for a national strategy which seeks to minimise the harm of all drugs and 
addictive activities. The Greens strongly support that approach.

Obviously there is no magic wand which will solve the health and social 
problems of drug abuse, which have their root causes in poverty, 
hopelessness and despair. But much more money is needed to help people, 
especially young people, who are trapped in a cycle of drug abuse.

The Mental Health Commission says we need an extra $31.25 million for drug 
abuse treatment, and that mental health services dealing with children and 
youth are funded at 25% of the level they need. Imagine what could be 
achieved if we redirected some of the $21.1 million a year spent on 
policing cannabis into policies and programmes which would reduce the 
adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart