Pubdate: Sat, 03 Nov 2001
Source: New Scientist (UK)
Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2001
Contact:  http://www.newscientist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/294
Author: Claire Ainsworth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

Marijuana Special Report

GOING TO POT?

Reclassifying Cannabis Isn't Enough To Break The Link To Hard Drugs

The great cannabis debate has been reignited in Britain by a government 
proposal to reclassify weed as a "softer" drug. If it's passed, Britain 
will be become one of many countries that are reducing the penalties for 
cannabis use.

So is this move part of a dangerous liberal trend that will lead to an 
explosion in the use of cannabis and other, more dangerous drugs? Or is it 
a long overdue step that does not go far enough towards breaking the link 
between marijuana, hard drugs and crime?

In Britain's three-tier classification system, cannabis is currently in 
Class B, along with amphetamines - a position that many argue is out of 
keeping with the danger it poses. The proposal is to reduce it to Class C, 
along with drugs such as anabolic steroids. This would mean milder 
penalties for possession, although it falls short of legalisation or 
decriminalisation.

Supporters of the scheme argue that it will free up police to tackle more 
dangerous drugs such as crack. In 1999, nearly 70 per cent of people 
arrested for drugs offences in Britain were charged with possession of 
cannabis. Processing each offender can take a police officer up to three hours.

What's more, figures from last year's British Crime Survey show that 44 per 
cent of 16 to 29-year-olds have tried cannabis at some point in their 
lives, with 22 per cent having used it in the last year. Clearly the law 
isn't holding everybody back. But will relaxing the law increase its use?

The evidence from countries that have gone even further than Britain 
proposes to is clear. In the Netherlands, where authorities have tolerated 
cannabis use since the 1970s, there has been no significant increase in use 
(New Scientist, 21 February 1998, p 30).

In South Australia, where users face civil sanctions such as fines rather 
than criminal penalties, there has been a small rise. But surveys by the 
National Campaign Against Drug Abuse between 1985 and 1993 showed that the 
rise was in line with that in states where use was still criminalised.

Results were similar during the temporary decriminalisation of pot in 11 US 
states in the 1970s. It seems that cannabis consumption has more to do with 
individual tastes and popular culture than the law. Or maybe lax policing 
means that changing the law makes little difference.

So reclassification is unlikely to result in an explosion of teenage 
potheads. What it could do is make youngsters more likely to trust the 
drugs information given by authorities. If those who take cannabis believe 
its legal status exaggerates the risks, they may be more likely to try more 
dangerous drugs.

For this reason, several drugs charities have welcomed the reclassification 
proposal. "Young people in particular may be less inclined to try other 
substances if they have more accurate information on the potential risks of 
each one," says Roger Howard, chief executive of the charity DrugScope.

But does cannabis lead to hard drugs regardless of what information is 
given? "Ecstasy killed my teenage daughter but her death began with that 
first cannabis joint," screamed a typical headline in one British tabloid 
last week.

A study published last year revealed that 99 per cent of young New 
Zealanders who took hard drugs had started on cannabis. The link is 
undeniable, but it's not clear if cannabis really is a "gateway to hard 
drugs" or whether the kind of people who take dope are more likely to try 
hard drugs too.

"I'm standing in the middle of the road on this debate," says David 
Fergusson of the Christchurch School of Medicine, who led the New Zealand 
study. His group actually set out to prove that progression to hard drugs 
is the result of people's personalities and peer group rather than the fact 
that they use cannabis. But they weren't able to.

They followed 1265 New Zealanders from birth to the age of 21, gathering 
detailed information on their background and behaviour. They found that 70 
per cent of the group had tried cannabis, and a quarter had tried other 
drugs. Although two-thirds of cannabis users did not progress to other 
illicit drugs, nearly all hard-drug users started off on cannabis. And 
heavy cannabis users were most at risk.

Even when Fergusson took account of confounding factors, he found that 
there was still a link between heavy cannabis use and progression to harder 
drugs. "We have probably made the strongest effort anyone has made, but we 
cannot explain [the correlation] away," says Fergusson.

So what is the connection, if any? The most obvious link is that many 
cannabis users are in regular contact with drug dealers who can make more 
money from drugs such as cocaine than from dope. "We need to consider the 
options available to us regarding supply," says Howard.

The experience in the Netherlands, where allowing "coffee shops" to sell 
small amounts of dope means users don't usually come into contact with 
illegal dealers, suggests this does make some difference. According to an 
analysis published in Science in 1997, only 22 per cent of cannabis smokers 
in Amsterdam have tried cocaine, compared with 33 per cent of those in the US.

So trying to separate the markets for cannabis and hard drugs such as 
cocaine does appear to weaken the gateway effect. "But whether you can 
separate them or not is a big question," says Michael Farrell, a consultant 
psychiatrist at the National Addiction Centre in London.
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