Writing for the Criminal Law Committee of the NSW Bar Association, Stephen Odgers ("Drug control needs radical rethink", canberratimes.com.au, December 23) correctly concludes the best way to achieve a reduction in levels of illicit drug-related harm would be to replace the black market for drugs with a form of legal availability under a highly regulated system and to view drug use not as a law enforcement but as a health and social issue. What is being proposed by the lawyers is not radical but has considerable evidence to support it. [continues 154 words]
CHILDREN with severe epilepsy and terminally ill adults may be treated with medical marijuana under a NSW clinical trial. The NSW Government will fund the $9 million trial of at least three marijuana-derived medicines. The trial will examine the benefits to patients with a number of serious diseases. The epilepsy trial will be run at the Westmead and Sydney Children's Hospitals and is expected to start enrolling patients in 2016. NSW Premier Mike Baird said patients and parents of ill children were "increasingly desperate" for cannabis-based medication to be used to manage some illnesses. [continues 93 words]
A 40-year-old middle school teacher was arrested Tuesday for allegedly allowing minors to smoke marijuana at her home in Cherokee County and two of them may have been her children. Christine Cantrell, a Teasley Middle School in Canton, was charged with possession of marijuana less than an ounce, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and keeping a disorderly house, meaning she allowed illegal activity to occur there, according to Cherokee County officials. Cantrell's husband, Jeff, was also arrested on similar charges, Commander of the Cherokee County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad Phil Price said. Both were released on $3,000 bonds Tuesday night, Price said. [continues 286 words]
SYDNEY student Georgina Bartter has become the latest casualty in the unwinnable war against drugs. As her family and friends come to terms with the loss of a beautiful and promising young woman, campaigners have renewed calls for a wideranging crackdown; to end the scourge and save lives. It's commendable but it's too late. Any push to round up dodgy dealers or curb the spread of illicit drugs must start with a clamp on the most common legal drug of all. [continues 593 words]
NO matter who wins the Victorian election, the state is heading into what was until recently a political no-go zone legal access to medical marijuana. No longer left to fringe parties or the Greens, the issue now has support from the major parties. It was the stories of Victorian families turning to cannabis oil and seeing improved quality of life for their seriously ill children that brought the issue into the political mainstream. Liberal, Labor and even the Australian Sex Party are in rough alignment on the issue. [continues 240 words]
POLITICIANS love to whip up a crisis. It's all part of the 24/7 news cycle that is eroding the capacity for rational dialogue in our democracy. And the latest "crisis" is ice. According to Tasmanian Green MP Cassy O'Connor, ice - a methamphetamine also known as crystal meth - "threatens to destroy multiple generations in single families". "Where's the acknowledgment that a crisis exists? Where's the commitment to responding effectively, with the necessary reprioritised resources to save a generation of Tasmanians from being laid to waste by ice?" Ms O'Connor fumed in an October 21 media release. [continues 691 words]
Illicit drugs and alcohol are being smuggled into mental health wards run by the state's busiest public hospitals, undermining patient care and putting psychiatric staff at risk of violence. Parents have reported that their children have bought and used illegal drugs while in hospital being treated for drug-induced psychosis, and health authorities say patients are returning to wards affected by drugs after going on temporary approved leave. The families of mentally ill patients say the system is failing them and have raised concerns about a lack of drug rehabilitation services, forcing people with mental health and substance abuse problems into psychiatric wards. [continues 747 words]
CLINICAL trials of medicinal cannabis should be expanded to include a range of illnesses, not just terminal ones, and should be fast-tracked to allow widespread use of the therapy, advocates say. Medical professionals, state politicians and the families of those with chronic conditions have called for an expansion of clinical trials and immediate action on the issue, after the announcement that health ministers supported the trials. Tony Abbott yesterday said he was "happy to support" trials to be established by NSW Premier Mark Baird. Victoria is also about to explore trials. [continues 263 words]
The ACT will join a Commonwealth-backed national clinical trial of medical cannabis, set to be led by the New South Wales Government. ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher confirmed the territory's involvement in the trial during an official visit to China, welcoming a national approach to the issue after discussions with NSW Premier Mike Baird at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra on Friday. The Canberra Times reported on Tuesday plans for a trial were well under way. [continues 262 words]
Shane Rattenbury has split with ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher on the territory's approach to medical marijuana, criticising her calls for a national or state-based clinical trial. A day after the New South Wales Government said an ACT representative would not be welcome on a working group preparing a planned cannabis trial, the Greens minister said overseas evidence was adequate for the ACT to allow cannabis for pain relief. He said new trials would likely mean years of further delay for sick Canberrans and accused politicians including Ms Gallagher of seeking to slow the reform process through pursuit of new trials. [continues 530 words]
Couple's Plea to Hospital for Their Sick Son THE Melbourne couple who have controversially given their sick toddler cannabis oil now fear for his life after hospital doctors last night threatened to call the police if the drug was administered. Cassie Batten and Rhett Wallace discharged their son Cooper from The Northern Hospital in Epping before the cannabis could be confiscated. They now feel they have nowhere to turn because doctors refuse to use the drug on hospital grounds. It is the first time the family has been prepared to reveal the name of the hospital that has been supporting the use of the cannabis oil and tincture for the treatment of their three-year-old's life-threatening seizures. [continues 235 words]
OUT in the fields and talking with farmers it is glaringly obvious Tasmania is missing out on a huge opportunity from one of the oldest sustainable industries on the planet: industrial hemp. Tasmania stands on the brink of a bold new industry with hemp. However, despite having many regulatory regimes to develop models for production of industrial hemp, we are going nowhere. Industrial hemp is not a drug: it has virtually has no THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana. It seems to get confused with medicinal cannabis. [continues 318 words]
Teenagers who use marijuana daily run a higher risk of becoming drug dependent, committing suicide or trying other drugs and are less likely to succeed at their studies than those who avoid it, researchers have found. In an analysis of studies on cannabis, the scientists said these long-term health and life effects were important since several countries are planning to relax legislation on it. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, despite a trend towards decriminalizing it in some countries. [continues 252 words]
CANNABIS would be sold in supermarkets under a federal MP's radical plan for drug reform in Australia. Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm wants to kill the power of organised criminals by decriminalising drugs, opening up the market and bringing down prices for a hit. Senator Leyonhjelm said that marijuana is a non-addictive drug and should be openly available. Farmers should grow cannabis for sale in supermarkets, much like fruit and vegetables, and anyone should be allowed to cultivate a crop in their garden, he said. [continues 55 words]
RESEARCHERS behind a new Australasian study into the effects of cannabis use in young adults have warned policymakers they "need to be very careful" if they are considering decriminalisation. The study, which examined the effects of Australia's most widely used drug on 14 to 19year-olds up until the age of 30, found there was a "very strong" association between cannabis use over time and harmful outcomes. According to the latest figures from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, in Australia 1 per cent of all 14 to 19-year-olds use cannabis daily, while 4 per cent use it weekly. [continues 180 words]
Government Finally Comes Around to Clinical Cannabis Trial MEDICINAL cannabis could rival the state's $100 million poppy industry if given the green light, the Opposition says, as the State Government finally throws its support behind a trial. Tasmanian Health Minister Michael Ferguson said yesterday he supported a trial, reversing a stance in July which rejected the move on health, social and security grounds. "We support appropriately conducted clinical trials, feeding into the existing national medicines regulatory framework," Mr Ferguson said. [continues 455 words]
In recent weeks we have seen the political landscape shifting rapidly as moves to legalise medicinal cannabis in Australia gain momentum. But do we have enough evidence on both its potential long-term adverse effects and the short-term health benefits to fully inform our decisions? I believe the answer to that question is no. That is why I am urging Australian governments at all levels to urgently invest in and support further research and clinical trials. The risks and benefits of medicinal cannabis should be weighed carefully, and its ingredients must be subjected to the same scrutiny as other medicines. [continues 515 words]
A DOCTOR says he will continue to defy authorities and supply medical cannabis to Australian children despite the threat of legal action. Cannabis oil producer Dr Andrew Katelaris, who was deregistered in 2005 after refusing to stop supplying cannabis to patients, said desperate families turned to him because they had run out of options. It is understood Dr Katelaris has a secret laboratory from which parcels of the drug, sometimes worth thousands of dollars, are sent across Australia. Cannabis oil and tincture is produced at the location, near Sydney, and delivered to 12 children across the country. He also produces cannabis resin for adult patients, including elderly people who are terminally ill. Dr Katelaris, who has been arrested a dozen times, was determined to continue, saying he is prepared to take the risk to help children. [end]
Coalition Reform Will Do Little, Say Experts A Victorian government plan to make clinical trials of medicinal marijuana easier to conduct will do little to expand access to the drug, an expert on drug law reform says. In response to growing calls for cannabis to be legalised for people with certain illnesses, including children with intractable epilepsy, Victorian Health Minister David Davis said on Thursday that he would amend the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act to make it easier for doctors to conduct clinical trials of medicinal cannabis. [continues 393 words]
I CAN'T believe opium poppy crops are being grown in northern Victoria, for pain relief drugs such as morphine and codeine. Why does the law allow opium to be grown, prescribed and given to people but medical cannabis cannot? As a parent of a disabled child who suffers from severe epilepsy (up to 100 seizures a day and taking medication), I think this is a disgrace. We are allowed to give a drug to stop people from a bit of pain, but we are not allowed to give a drug that will reduce severe pain and seizures. Carolyn Lewis, Lockington [end]
HOW is it that the public can buy morphine derivatives over the counter at pharmacies, as well as pseudoephedrine, which can be converted to methamphetamine, yet an innocent child's cannabis oil, which has significantly helped to manage his epilepsy, is taken away? My dear friend recently diagnosed with terminal lung cancer could also benefit from cannabis oil, yet he cannot purchase this legally. A 2007 Harvard Medical School study - one of many such trials - showed marijuana cut lung cancer tumour growth in half. It is legal in some US states. I am absolutely against recreational drugs, but why can't cannabis oil be strictly prescribed by GPs and oncologists, if it saves or helps prolong lives? Sally Mort, Black Rock [end]
Compound May Be Tested on Young A compound found in marijuana could soon be tested on young Australians to prevent and treat psychosis after European research suggested it could treat schizophrenia with fewer side effects than other drugs. As state and federal governments face increasing calls for the legalisation of medicinal cannabis, leading psychiatrist and mental health advocate Patrick McGorry said one part of the drug was showing promise as an anti-psychotic medicine. The director of Orygen Youth Health Research Centre said while tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC) in cannabis was widely thought to be dangerous and increase the risk of psychosis in about 10 per cent to 20 per cent of people, another component cannabidiol ( CBD) appeared to relieve psychosis, depression and anxiety. [continues 360 words]
A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into medical cannabis has been flooded with support from Tasmanians. About 100 submissions have been sent to an Upper House inquiry set to begin hearings within weeks. Independent MLC Ruth Forrest said people seemed to be in favour of the economic benefits of a new industry, as well as the potential health benefits of cannabis for medical purposes. Ms Forrest said many people were moved to write into the inquiry on compassionate grounds, arguing medical cannabis should be explored as an option for people for whom other medications had failed. [continues 261 words]
Medical cannabis will be legalised in Victoria if Labor seizes power at November's state election. Under the proposal, Victorians with terminal illnesses or life threatening conditions such as cancer, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis would be able to access medicinal marijuana without breaking the law. Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said on Sunday that Labor would overhaul "outdated" legislation that forced parents to flout laws in order to save their children's lives. " We're talking about a medication to make people better, to improve quality of life, to provide dignity and pain relief, nothing more, nothing less," Mr Andrews said. [continues 373 words]
The drug that dragged down Harriet Wran from a life of private schools and luxury apartments has no respect for social class or status. Grinspoon lead singer Phil Jamieson became withdrawn and paranoid, stealing money from his band to feed his daily addiction. Two-time world surfing champion Tom Carroll recently described how ice made him "completely manic", saying: "It was killing me from the inside out." "No one is immune," says drugs expert Rebecca McKetin. "We like to think problems happen to other people but it could happen to us or people like us." [continues 588 words]
THE vexed question of legalising medical marijuana is gaining momentum in Australia. Only recently NSW Premier Mike Baird said he wouldn't completely rule it out. Now, Brisbane mum Sally White tells 60 Minutes tonight that her 16-month-old daughter is dying and she wants to put her child on weed. A young cancer sufferer in Tamworth in NSW, his father a policeman, is waging a campaign to have medical marijuana made legal. It is legal in Colorado in the US and other states are investigating. Properly regulated and with rigorous eligibility criteria, surely if it gives the dying relief, legalising medical marijuana must be investigated in this country. [end]
TWO Queensland mums have made desperate pleas to legalise marijuana to save their children's lives, including one who is just 16 months old. Sunshine Coast mum Sally White fears for the life of her 16-month-old daughter Zali, who suffers from a rare genetic disease and cannabis could be the only option to ease her suffering. Zali was diagnosed with Aicardi syndrome, where a part of the brain is missing, resulting in frequent seizures. Ms White says a cannabis strain in the US, known as Charlotte's Web, is being used to treat children suffering from epilepsy and seizures. [continues 187 words]
THE Derwent Valley Council will seek a meeting with farmers to discuss the push to grow medicinal marijuana. Last week the council gave unanimous support in principle to growing the plant for agricultural, industrial and medicinal purposes. The disused Hayes Jail Farm will be investigated as a possible location. A council working party established to look into the issue met for the first time last night and decided to seek a meeting with the Farmers and Graziers Association. The Huon Valley and Dorset councils have also joined the fight to persuade the State Government to reconsider its opposition to a Tasmanian cannabis industry. [end]
THE Queensland Premier says he has an open mind about legalising marijuana for medical purposes but will rely on the advice of national health experts. Medical cannabis could soon be legalised in NSW with senior politicians indicating support, as long as concerns about how it would be regulated are dealt with. Campbell Newman says any change in Queensland should be made on the basis of advice from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), not NSW. "I have an open mind on these things," he told reporters yesterday. "There are so many of our life-saving and pain-alleviating drugs that come from nature, and I see it in that context. "But I'd be interested in what the NHMRC are saying." [end]
Libs Soften Stance on Medicinal Cannabis THE State Government has signalled it could step back from its ban on a medicinal cannabis trial under pressure to grow the hemp industry in Tasmania. Treasurer and Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein has told councils pushing for the trial that the Government will seriously consider the recommendations of an Upper House committee. "We're supporting that process and obviously we'll be guided by the response that comes out of that process," Mr Gutwein told the Local Government Association state conference in Hobart. [continues 295 words]
Tasmania, Big Supplier to Drug Companies, Faces Changes Now is the sowing season for opium poppies in the Australian state of Tasmania. Tractors chug up and down paddocks, pulling elaborate machinery that drills pairs of adjacent, miniature holes in the dirt, and then drops a dozen tiny kernels of fertilizer in one of the holes and a tiny poppy seed in the other. By November, the fields will be carpeted in pink flowers with an occasional splash of white or mauve. Then the flowers will drop away, leaving behind distinctive, cup-shaped pods packed with tiny poppy seeds along with the opium latex that surrounds them. When the latex dries two months later, the pods are harvested and hauled to factories, where machinery separates the seeds and grinds up the rest to extract the valuable narcotic alkaloids. [continues 2847 words]
THREE Tasmanian councils have joined the fight to establish a medicinal marijuana industry in the state. The Huon Valley Council yesterday said it had been approached by two Tasmanian companies within 24 hours that were fully funded to build a medicinal cannabis growing and production facility. General manager Simone Watson will meet Premier Will Hodgman to ask the Government to reconsider its opposition. The State Government launched a parliamentary inquiry into cannabis for medical purposes earlier this month. "Let's wait to see what comes out of that," Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said yesterday. [continues 146 words]
Now in her late 20s, Jessica has smoked cannabis since she was 19, describing it as a "creative drug" and a mind-opening experience. She strongly favours legalisation of the drug but rarely consumes it these days. "I only smoke a little now because I discovered I have a heart condition and I tend to get heart pains when I smoke too much," she says. Jessica, who asks that her last name not be disclosed, is one of 16 long-term cannabis users whose portraits feature in an exhibition at a Sydney gallery next month. [continues 552 words]
DRUG problems have reached "epidemic" proportions on Palm Island say residents, who have called for permanent sniffer dogs. The community's drug use has reportedly increased since the Alcohol Management Plan was introduced in 2006 because the illegal substances are easier to smuggle in. Mayor Alf Lacey said he supported the call for drug dogs if that was what the community wanted. Member for Townsville John Hathaway said he was also happy to work with the Palm Island community, but that it was an "operational" matter. [continues 274 words]
Australia Comes Top of Global List for Recreational Drug Use AUSTRALIA has hit a new low by getting high, with revelations our nation can claim an unenviable gold medal for recreational drug users. The United Nations 2014 World Drug Report has found Australia ranks first in ecstasy use, second for opioids, third for methamphetamines, fourth for cocaine and seventh for cannabis - with experts warning our drug use is rising. AUSTRALIA, a country of sports champions, innovators ... and drug takers. The nation has the inglorious distinction of having the highest proportion of recreational drug users in the world - an embarrassing new low, albeit from getting high. [continues 815 words]
NEW figures show Sunshine Coast state schools have busted students with drugs up to 69 times in a year. Education Queensland released the data exclusively to the Daily, with numbers showing between 40 and 69 students were suspended from school in 2013 for misconduct involving an illicit substance. The department spokesman would not narrow down the figures. He said it was a matter of student privacy. Queensland state schools have a zero tolerance policy on drugs. The students busted on the Coast were suspended for up to 20 days. Some were expelled. [continues 479 words]
Tasmania Has a Unique Opportunity to Grow Medicinal Cannabis for Other States, Writes Dr Alex Wodak IN the 1960s, Daniel Grinspoon, the teenage son of a Harvard university psychiatry professor, developed acute leukaemia. Unfortunately, Daniel developed severe nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy. All of the latest treatments were tried but nothing helped stop or even reduce poor Daniel's persistent nausea and vomiting. Someone suggested to Professor Grinspoon that cannabis might work. And it did. Professor Grinspoon then started doing research on medicinal cannabis. [continues 705 words]
A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes is expected to receive a huge response when it opens for submissions this week. A major Tasmanian poppy processor yesterday voiced support for a trial despite the State Government citing poppy industry opposition as one of the reasons for opposing any trials. TPI Enterprises managing director Jarrod Ritchie said yesterday he could not understand the Government's logic. The Cressy-based company makes poppy straw concentrate. Mr Ritchie said he could not understand why poppy growers' representatives would oppose a Tasmanian trial. [continues 168 words]
Minister's Talks on Trials THE State Government will today be lobbied to trial medical marijuana in Tasmania, while the state's peak medical body say they are doubtful they would support such tests. Australian Medical Association state president Dr Tim Greenaway said that ultimately its position would be decided at a federal level but it was his "own belief that it's doubtful they would support trials". "The AMA has major concerns about the use of medicinal marijuana as it is the third most addictive drug and is also associated with mental health issues," he said. "While there is anecdotal evidence it can be helpful for people with significant nausea associated with chemotherapy more evidence is needed." [end]
A GENETIC link between marijuana and schizophrenia may have been discovered in a groundbreaking study of more than 2000 Australians. The study - led by King's College London and involving the Queensland Brain Institute and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute - examined the genetic risk profile of 2082 otherwise healthy Australians. Researchers found the genes known to be associated with schizophrenia were more often found in those 1011 people who had used cannabis - or used it in greater quantities. Writing in Molecular Psychiatry, the researchers suggest the same genes might be responsible for cannabis use and schizophrenia, countering the popularly held belief that smoking the drug increases the risk of the mental illness. [continues 411 words]
Sam Aulton has been forced to break the law to try and save her life. With cancer waging a terrifying war on her fragile frame, the young Maitland woman turned to cannabis oil in a bid to extend her life and ease her pain. But instead of the drug yielding the outcome she had hoped for, Ms Aulton's health deteriorated. She believes if the drug was legalised for medical purposes her outcome could have been different. "I'm not angry but if this drug was decriminalised then I would have been monitored by the professionals and not forced to go down this - -unprotected path," she said. [continues 535 words]
PROPONENTS of medicinal cannabis will today ask federal MPs to allow sick people legal access to the drug. Drug expert Alex Wodak and Lucy Halam - who is forced to illegally source marijuana for her terminally ill son, Dan - will meet MPs of all political persuasions in a push for the right for doctors to be able to prescribe marijuana. Hosted by a Greens, Liberal and Labor MP, the Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy and Law Reform hopes to take evidence to Health Minister Peter Dutton to argue for easier access for the sick. Greens senator Richard DiNatale said: "This is one of those areas where public opinion is well ahead of where politicians are." Fellow co-convener, Liberal MP Sharman Stone, said people continually raised the issue with her. [end]
The Deputy State Coroner has recommended that NSW prison cells should be subject to random searches at afternoon lockdown, after the overdose death of a female inmate highlighted the endemic nature of prison drug use. TracyLee Brannigan, 41, died from a heroin overdose at Dillwynia Correctional Centre while locked in her cell on the night of February 24 last year. In handing down his findings in relation to Ms Brannigan's death on Monday, Deputy Coroner Paul MacMahon said there was evidence that 75 per cent of women inmates in NSW had "drug addiction issues". He acknowledged that steps were being taken to address this problem, but found that most drug taking occurred after inmates were locked in for the night. [end]
Nowra woman Sarah* hates feeling like a criminal because she is giving cannabis to her dying husband. John*, who is in his 40s, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of oral cancer in February when he was given six to 12 months to live. Drastic surgery saw most of his tongue and the floor of his mouth removed, while a skin graft was taken from his arm to form a new tongue. He is now fed through a tube in his stomach and has had trouble speaking, swallowing and sleeping. [continues 323 words]
THE campaign to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients by legalising medicinal cannabis is gaining momentum, with high-profile Nationals minister Barnaby Joyce adding his voice to the groundswell of support for cancer sufferer Dan Haslam. Mr Joyce revealed he has had a change of heart from his usual tough stance on drugs after meeting 24-year-old Mr Haslam and his family, who are forced to break the law so that he can use cannabis to treat his severe pain and nausea from chemotherapy. [continues 405 words]
State Parliament National MP's Proposal Premier Mike Baird has left open the possibility he may support a private member's bill to decriminalise the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, promising that the government would give it "careful consideration". The Nationals MP for Tamworth, Kevin Anderson, will draft a bill that would allow the terminally ill to use cannabis. The move follows publicity around the case of one of Mr Anderson's constituents, 24-year-old Dan Haslam, who has been using cannabis to relieve nausea associated with chemotherapy to treat his terminal cancer. [continues 377 words]
A NSW government MP has broken ranks with his colleagues and will introduce legislation to legalise cannabis for terminally ill patients. Nationals lower house MP Kevin Anderson met Premier Mike Baird on Wednesday and told him he was going to introduce his bill despite the government's opposition to legalising medicinal cannabis. He shared with Mr Baird the story of 24-year-old Dan Haslam, who has terminal bowel cancer and has been forced to use cannabis illegally to treat his pain and nausea. "The Premier was sympathetic and listened intently while I explained the issue to him and the circumstances surrounding my decision to try and change the laws," Mr Anderson said in a statement. [continues 117 words]
NIMBIN'S 22nd annual Mardi Grass - a festival supporting the legalisation of cannabis that includes a bong-throwing competition, joint rolling events and a hemp rope tug of war - has been blitzed by police. A total of 86 people were nabbed for driving under the influence of a prohibited drug and five people were caught drink driving The annual festival, which attracted up to 10,000 people over the weekend and offers visitors tips about what to do if you get pulled over by police, was closely watched by Richmond local area command police. [continues 100 words]
CHERI O'Connell says she would rather move her family overseas than accept medical marijuana from an underground supplier. On Sunday she said that several underground marijuana growers had offered to provide her with the medical cannabis needed to treat her daughter Tara's epilepsy. Ms O'Connell said she did not want to get involved with people who grew marijuana illegally and sold it to people for recreational purposes. She said that buying marijuana from underground dealers could have legal ramifications for herself and her family, which was a risk she was not willing to take. [continues 273 words]
Experimenting with cannabis on a casual basis damages the brain permanently, research has found. It is far from being a "safe" drug and no one under the age of 30 should ever use it, experts said. People who had only used it once or twice a week for a matter of months were found to have changes in the brain that govern emotion, motivation and addiction. Researchers from Harvard Medical School carried out detailed 3D scans on the brains of students who used cannabis casually and were not addicted and compared them with those who had never used it. [continues 285 words]
Inside Australia
