Cannabis Use Leads to Hard Drugs – Study; Drug Warning Misfired

By HAYMAN, Kamala

Regular or heavy cannabis users are significantly more likely to use other illegal drugs than non-users, according to a Christchurch study.

By the age of 25, eight out of 10 people have tried cannabis and more than 40% have tried at least one other illicit drug, mostly ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines, according to the Christchurch School of Medicine.

Lead researcher Professor David Fergusson said that after eliminating other factors, the link between cannabis use and other illegal drugs was significant. However, the underlying cause remained unknown.

This link — which emerged from Fergusson’s 25-year study of 1200 babies born in Canterbury — varied dramatically with age.

“If you started (smoking cannabis) at 23, you are at a far lower risk than if you started when you were 15.”

Fergusson said it was possible cannabis changed a young person’s brain chemistry, and made that person more susceptible to illicit drug use, or that experiences with cannabis encouraged experimentation with other drugs.

It could also be that buying cannabis from drug dealers exposed young people to other illegal substances.

He believed his research would be seized on by both sides of the cannabis decriminalisation debate.

“One will say this shows how terrible cannabis is; the other saying this shows how terrible the cannabis laws are.”

Evidence of cannabis opening a gateway to other drugs was used in the United States to argue against decriminalisation, he said.

“But in Holland they said by making cannabis illegal it encouraged otherwise law-abiding citizens to mingle with drug users, and therefore we should break the links between cannabis and illegal drug markets.”

Fergusson said the gateway effects were probably due to both personal and social factors. He added that previous evidence from his longitudinal study showed that while high numbers of people tried illegal drugs only a minority suffered adverse effects.

Of the 80% who had tried cannabis, 10% reported heavy use at some time in their lives, and 5% were using it daily.

He said the current cannabis laws were not working well and urged gradual changes, such as removing the penalties from cannabis use, with each change scientifically evaluated.

Paula Lambert a member of marijuana law reform group Norml, welcomed the latest research as a factual contribution to an otherwise irrational debate.

“People who gorge on sugar and alcohol don’t get the same moralistic, judgmental negative attacks. It’s almost hate speech.”

Drug and Alcohol Practitioners Association chairman Tim Harding, who is also chief executive of rehabilitation organisation Care New Zealand, said cannabis use should be seen as a health issue not a moral one.

He did not advocate decriminalisation, fearing this could send the message that cannabis was harmless.

“There is no way it is harmless. People using cannabis don’t kill themselves quickly, but, over time, if they are regular cannabis smokers, they can seriously damage not only their health but also their future and raise their likelihood of mental illness quite markedly.”

He suggested a diversion scheme for everyone arrested on cannabis charges to give them advice and to assess their risk of dependency.

National Addiction Centre director and Canterbury psychiatrist Doug Sellman said “the worst thing that could happen is legalisation and commercialisation” of cannabis because that would increase use.

The drug could cause memory problems, increased susceptibility to infection, and made it dangerous to drive or operate heavy machinery.

Drug squad Detective Sergeant Greg Murton said some dealers sold only cannabis but many dealt in a range of drugs.

“Tinny houses do not generally offer anything else, but there are street-level dealers who will deal in anything they can get their hands on.”

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Drug warning misfired

A Christchurch mother-of-two says a school assembly overstating the risks of cannabis was a key factor in an eventual heroin habit which saw her jailed for importing the class A drug.

The woman, now 45, said her only formal drug education was during one memorable school assembly.

“They wheeled this old junkie in and he went on and on about cannabis. He talked about heroin in the same sentence.”

She said several in her class had already tried cannabis and thought his dire warnings were laughable. “We had smoked it and nothing happened.”

So a few years later, when offered heroin, she took little heed of the junkie’s warnings. “After all he had talked s… about cannabis.

“It was great, the greatest drug, but what a hassle trying to get it. So four of us took turns going over and bringing some back from Asia. I went through Singapore. When I think about it now, my hair stands on end.”

Finally she was arrested in New Zealand and served the bulk of a seven-year jail sentence. She no longer used heroin and said she had never been addicted to it.

“I’ve tried all sorts of drugs and never had a problem, except with tobacco. And there are lots of people like me out here.”

The single mother said drug education needed to be more truthful.

“By giving the worst-case scenario all the time, a lot of kids know it’s not like that and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.

“I’m just asking for less b………”

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