cannabisnews.com: Going To Pot?





Going To Pot?
Posted by FoM on November 02, 2001 at 07:49:51 PT
By Claire Ainsworth
Source: New Scientist
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. Note: Reclassifying cannabis isn't enough to break the link to hard drugs.Source: New Scientist (UK)Author: Claire AinsworthPublished: November 3, 2001Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2001Contact: letters newscientist.comWebsite: http://www.newscientist.com/Related Articles:Drug Raids are a Waste of Time http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11229.shtmlEasing Drugs Law Wins Support http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11224.shtmlCampaigners Applaud Cannabis Reform http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11177.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on November 02, 2001 at 12:46:05 PT
Birth linked to death, scientists say
Scientists announced yesterday that nearly 100% of the people who have died in the last year started out by being born when they were very young."Death seems linked to birth through a gateway effect" said a spokesman for the university that conducted the research.Today politicians were calling for a ban on being born."Being born is linked to almost every human evil imaginable," said newy-appointed Birth Czar Blather Blatheron. "If we could reduce the amount of people being born,then we could have our first important victory in the War on Death."
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Comment #5 posted by Ethan Russo MD on November 02, 2001 at 10:04:56 PT:
Important Program/Webcast
Inasmuch as this article begins with the liberalization of cannabis laws in the UK, I wish to bring to your attention the broadcast and simultaneous webcast of the following:http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/panorama/newsid_1625000/1625124.stmThis is on the BBC news program, Panorama, their equivalent of "60 Minutes." They will be discussing the progess towards cannabis as medicine in the UK. It is on at 22:15 GMT on Sunday the 4th of November, which is 5:15 PM Eastern, 4:15 Central, 3:15 Mountain and 2:15 Pacific Standard Time.
   Y'all watch now, you hear?!
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Comment #4 posted by Doug on November 02, 2001 at 09:18:52 PT
What about the alcohol gateway?
I have yet to hear about a study of the relationship between alcohol use and later hard drug use. I'd guess that almost everybody who uses hard drugs had used alcohol, and probably to excess, before they got into the other drugs. (Of course, I'm neglecting the fact that alcohol is a hard drug.)Such a study could be used to prove the dangers of legalizing alcohol, and to suggest that we return to prohibition of alcohol for the children. Or the study could show that such studies of "gateway" drugs are fairly useless when it comes to making real world decisions.
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on November 02, 2001 at 08:49:57 PT
Between the lines
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. Illegal drug dealers find more profits in hard drugs.only 22 per cent of cannabis smokers in Amsterdam have tried cocaine, compared with 33 per cent of those in the US. The point being, illegal drug dealers (in an unregulated market) have the freedom to market harder drugs, implying that a legal market will separate the two markets.
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Comment #2 posted by Sudaca on November 02, 2001 at 08:43:40 PT
the point though 
is that as long as pot is a black market commodity, the possibility will always be greater for kids who are involved in its trade to get in contact with heavier stuff.the note on the bottom sums up the situation in Britain "Note: Reclassifying cannabis isn't enough to break the link to hard drugs."Now, as an aside; I tried all I could get my hands on while I was experimenting with my mind. I currently only toke. Having satisfied my curiosity about the effects of different substances in my mind I chose to lay off, mostly because I get my kicks out of lady sativa/indica and I perceive it to be an enhancer to life, which is not the case for some of the other stuff, esp stimulants. I know lots of other people who went from wild youth to sober lifestyles including a high school professor who used to be "badder" than the kids of today (imagine that) when he was a teen. The common thread; we were lucky , never caught the sharp end of the repression apparatus. We came out of it alive and a bit wiser.So, legalize , relax , let people sort themselves out without the additional mess of government harassment. the current situation is by FAR a worse alternative.
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 02, 2001 at 08:23:43 PT:
And pray tell, what defines 'heavy use'?
"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.Now, as I asked, what constitutes 'heavy use'?In college I was plagued for one semester with having a real loser as a roomie. One of those 'remittence man' situations, where the guy was an embarrassment who was enrolled in college by his well-off parents and given money to stay out of the family's sight. And he smoked every day. Cut classes. Did nothing but hang around the off-campus housing we had...and dodge his patrole officer as much as possible.But, judgeing from what he told me of his experiences - what few things I felt safe in believing - he was a loser long before he started using cannabis. Cannabis use could not be blamed for his slovenly and slothful ways; it was there before he ever took a puff.So, what defines 'heavy use'? Does a chemo patient that smokes every few hours during and after treament count as a 'heavy user'? How about someone with full-blown AIDS who needs to smoke every few hours to keep the nausea producing but life-sustaining meds down?'Heavy use' sounds a lot like 'a little bit pregnant' to me; it all depends upon the milieu in which it occurs. Lets have some real definitions, please.
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