Pubdate: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2005 The Dominion Post Contact: http://www.dompost.co.nz Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550 Author: David Mcloughlin Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) CANNABIS LINK TO MAORI CANCER Cannabis Link To Maori Cancer Heavy cannabis use could be a cause of Maori having the world's highest lung cancer rate, groundbreaking research suggests. Many Maori from children to kaumatua use cannabis in "epidemic proportions", says a study by Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute in Wellington. But cannabis might not be as safe as the proponents of its legalisation say. A paper by Professor Beasley on the health effects of cannabis was among the research that prompted Wellington coroner Garry Evans to urge last week that government policy on illicit drugs be changed from "harm minimisation" to campaigning against drug use. The paper reviews the literature on cannabis and suggests it is more cancer-causing than tobacco, and, like tobacco, causes bronchitis. Smoking three cannabis cigarettes a day is equal to smoking more than 20 tobacco cigarettes, it says. Professor Beasley said last night that his institute was close to finishing what he believed was the world's first study on links between cannabis and lung cancer. The study reviews all lung cancer cases from Hamilton to Canterbury with a focus on whether the sufferer used cannabis. A tandem study is looking at 300 New Zealanders in four groups of 75 to find the effects of cannabis smoking on human lungs. One group is cannabis smokers only, another smokes cannabis and tobacco, the third tobacco only and the fourth group is non-smokers. In his paper for the coroner, Professor Beasley said information was urgently needed on the potential role of marijuana in New Zealand's high lung cancer rate, particularly among Maori, who had the world's highest rate and were heavy cannabis users. Research showed cannabis use had reached epidemic proportions and was generally accepted and tolerated among Maori. "Users range from children through to kaumatua." Cannabis use was rising. The proportion of the population to have tried it rose from 43 per cent in 1990 to 52 per cent by 1998 and the proportion of regular users from 18 per cent to 21 per cent. Studies showed regular smokers of three to four cannabis joints a day had chronic bronchitis and other symptoms similar to those of smokers of 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day. Professor Beasley said the institute's two studies should be finished within a month or two but it could take till well into next year before their publication in a medical or scientific journal. Meanwhile, the evidence supported the coroner's plea for a close look at how health authorities responded to illicit drug use. The institute also hoped to conduct research into so-called party pills, which were restricted in the United States but legally sold in New Zealand to over-18s despite little knowledge of their effects. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek