CANNABIS EVIDENCE GOES BEFORE MPS

WELLINGTON - A parliamentary inquiry into the mental health effects of cannabis will begin hearing evidence from agencies and the public this week.

The health select committee announced its inquiry in April amid calls for the drug to be decriminalised.

This week the committee will hear evidence from the Ministry of Health, the Mental Health Commission and Drug policy Forum Trust.

The inquiry will look at the effect of cannabis on people’s development, the role of cannabis as a trigger for mental illness, the effects of cannabis on Maori mental health and the adequacy of services for those with drug-related mental illnesses.

The Government has ruled out any move to decriminalise cannabis until the inquiry is carried out.

The Associate Minister of Health, Roger Sowry, earlier this year dismissed a report from a group of doctors and professionals calling on the Government to legalise the drug and take control of the market.

The report from the Drug Policy Forum Trust said such a move would protect public health and minimise cannabis abuse.

Meanwhile, smoking cannabis would come into the same instant fine category as minor liquor offences under radical proposals being investigated by police and supported by the Minister of Justice, Doug Graham.

Richard Arachnid, a Christchurch spokesman for the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which wants the marijuana laws reformed, welcomed the moves as a step towards decriminalisation.

July 30, 1998
New Zealand Herald
Auckland
editor@herald.co.nz
DRUG HAS ‘CALMING INFLUENCE’

WELLINGTON - Police acknowledged yesterday that they had not strong evidence to back claims that cannabis made people violent.

But they said they were concerned at the violence surrounding cannabis dealing.
(Ed. note: Blaming marijuana for the consequences of prohibition.)

Assistant Commissioner Ian Holyoake told a parliamentary select committee inquiry into cannabis that police did not support decriminalisation.

"We don’t have any definitive evidence that says that cannabis use is in itself a violent behaviour - and I think our evidence would be that it has a calming influence in some respects on those who use it."

He said it was the violent criminal activity surrounding cannabis dealing that was of concern. – NZPA

The Dominion
New Zealand
letters@dominion.co.nz

http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html

By Helen Bain

CANNABIS USE NOT A SERIOUS RISK TO HEALTH SAYS MINISTRY

Studies had failed to demonstrate any evidence that even acute cannabis use caused brain damage, and suggested that even long-term heavy cannabis use caused only subtle impairment of cognition, the submission says. High doses could produce short-term psychosis, and could exacerbate schizophrenia in those already affected by the condition, and about 10 per cent of users were dependent on cannabis, the ministry said.

"Beyond that it is difficult to draw any sort of definitive cause-and-effect relationship between cannabis and mental illness."

The ministry also acknowledged that in many parts of New Zealand mental health and drug and alcohol services had not been well coordinated, so failed to meet the needs of many with mental health and substance abuse problems.

"Honest" education programmes were needed to reduce cannabis use by young people, but the "hyperbole approach" used by New Zealand police just encouraged young people to experiment, Dr Hadorn said. Assistant police commissioner Ian Holyoake said police opposed legalisation of cannabis, but were "not blind to the issues raised by the legalisation lobby".

But till there were better programmes to reduce the harm caused by cannabis, its illegal status "remained a powerful tool", Mr Holyoake said.

Mr Holyoake admitted police had had limited success in reducing cannabis offending, and had failed to halt involvement of gangs in cannabis cultivation and distribution.

He said cannabis had a huge impact on Maori communities, especially in Northland, Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay.

"Police working in these communities speak of a dead generation or two, and of young people losing touch with their elders and their families. Their focus in life is cannabis -- growing, smoking and the culture -- rendering them blind to life's opportunities.
(Ed. note: Aboriginal societies have many problems with substance abuse, but much of what is being described here is a contraband culture, the consequence of marijuana prohibition. Once again a cost of marijuana prohibition is used to justify it.)

July 30, 1998
New Zealand Herald
Auckland
editor@herald.co.nz

CANNABIS A MINOR RISK TO MENTALLY UNSTABLE: DOCTOR

WELLINGTON - Cannabis use has little effect on mental illness, apart from a small group of people suffering from schizophrenia or predisposed to the disease, MPs were told yesterday.

The committee is holding an inquiry into the mental health effects of cannabis and will report to Parliament and make recommendations to the Government.

Dr Marks, a member of the Drug Policy Forum Trust, a doctors’ group that supports decriminalising the drug, said cannabis use could worsen the condition of some schizophrenics - about one in 10,000 of the population.

Dr Nick Judson, the Ministry of Health’s deputy director of mental health, said cannabis caused fewer problems than tobacco and alcohol.

People who used cannabis occasionally had few health problems. Long-term and heavier users could suffer subtle cognitive impairment.

Research had not shown that cannabis use damaged the brain structure, he said. But in high doses it could cause acute psychosis.

Cannabis did not cause schizophrenia, but it might trigger the illness in people at risk, said Dr Judson. No more than 3 per cent of the population was at serious risk.

The select committee announced its inquiry in April amid calls for the drug to be decriminalised.

The inquiry will look at the effect of cannabis on people’s development, the role of the drug as a trigger for mental illness, the effects of cannabis on Maori mental health, and the adequacy of services for those with drug-related mental illnesses.

Ria Earp, the ministry’s deputy director of Maori health, said more research was needed on the effects of cannabis on Maori mental health. More appropriate drug and alcohol services were needed for Maori.

The committee was told that about 10 per cent of cannabis users had a dependency problem which was a similar level to other drugs but much less than tobacco.

Dr Hadorn, who heads the doctors’ trust, said the pharmacological effects of cannabis were relatively benign. It had been used for centuries and was well accepted for stress relief.

He said it was important to consider the research, rather than be distracted by anecdotal evidence about the small number of people who had problems.

"The research evidence shows that cannabis is at most a small contributor to the development and exacerbation of mental illness throughout the world."

People who dealt only with those who had problems with cannabis - such as police and health workers - had a very narrow view, he said.

Cannabis use had decreased or remained the same in countries or states where its use had been decriminalised.

Dr Hadorn said anti-drug campaigns aimed at children increased drug use because they stimulated curiosity. Children needed to be told at a young age they should not smoke cannabis.

Dr Marks said studies of cannabis, dating back to last century, had all exonerated the drug.

It was therapeutic for diseases such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer and HIV. – NZPA

(Ed. note: I like to say that the context often adds new meaning. The coincidental appearance of this article in an academic publication half a world away is an excellent example of this.)

July 31, 1998
Chronicle of Higher Education
International Page
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International Editor
http://chronicle.com
David Cohen
Copyright © 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

NEW ZEALAND URGES STUDENT DRINKERS TO ‘JUST SAY FORGET IT’

Universities use ad campaigns to combat a long-standing tradition in the country

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

It isn’t often that a university’s motto causes public-health officials to frown. So why does "A Degree in Distinction," the University of Otago’s slogan, have that effect? Because Distinction happens to be the brand name of a beer that enjoys enormous popularity on campuses here and is a staple at binge-drinking parties.

"In the minds of many young New Zealanders," says Karen Elliot, a health educator employed by the government to promote the responsible use of alcohol by students, "that kind of unfortunate verbal association is less humorous than it is a matter of fact." She says that at the University of Otago, as at most other New Zealand institutions, "the traditional student mindset has been that university is somewhere you go to party hard—a place where young people learn to get drunk."

Ms. Elliot, along with local police departments, campus administrators, student leaders, and the national Ministry of Health, has taken a pro-active stand to try to deal with the problem. Taking a cue from the American anti-drug campaign dubbed "Just Say No," they are urging student drinkers in New Zealand to "Just Say Forget It."

Among industrialized nations, New Zealand has long held the dubious distinction of having the most-dangerous roads, but it has not been until relatively recently that policy makers here have connected that fact to the nation’s drinking habits. And according to government statistics, the college-age New Zealander is responsible for 27 per cent of all deaths from motor-vehicle accidents, with alcohol a contributing factor in a majority of cases.

Although the exact number of students represented in such statistics has yet to be officially quantified, "there’s no doubt that they feature prominently in these and other areas of alcohol abuse," says Philip Parkinson, an official of the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand, a government agency.

In addition to compiling statistics that many observers call long overdue, the government recently produced a series of provocative national advertisements aimed in large part at curbing the more lethal effects of campus drinking.

In one advertisement, seen on national television and on the screens of most movie theaters, a group of obviously intoxicated young people is shown in a car being driven recklessly down a highway in the aftermath of a fraternity-style party. As the car hurtles toward what viewers expect will be its inevitable destruction, the screen fades to black and these words appear: "If you drink then drive, you’re a bloody idiot!" The same message was used recently on billboard advertisements in the country’s seven major university towns.

Drunken driving is only one of the alcohol-related issues now facing health educators here. At the University of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest higher-education institution, one student leader speaks of "trying to halt, and then reverse, the effects of 150 years of boozing." In the case of universities, that tradition includes binge-drinking parties that often lead to brawls or even campus riots, beer tents "of circus-like proportions," and indiscriminate sexual encounters.

Mark O’Brien, president of the Auckland Students Association, says his organization and others like it are trying "to change the drinking habits of New Zealand of old—the macho type of pioneer country that many of us grew up in—to reflect the more sophisticated liberal culture that it has become. This isn’t the 1970s anymore, when idiotic drink-related behavior was not only condoned but actively encouraged."

Working with the local police department, Mr. O’Brien’s group oversees the sale and distribution of alcohol at the two pubs on the Auckland campus, insuring that patrons are not served alcohol if they appear to be drunk or do not hold proper identification.

The last requirement can be a vexing one, however, for New Zealand’s legal drinking age of 20 is riddled with exceptions. An 18-year-old, for example, may purchase an alcoholic drink if he "intends" to eat a meal with it. Legislation now pending in parliament would end such anomalies, and the country’s Health Minister, Bill English, recently warned New Zealand’s liquor industry that it ran the risk of a regulatory crackdown if it did not promise not to make young people the targets of advertisements for some alcoholic sodas and frozen concoctions.

"Other areas we’re concentrating on are a bit more nebulous, but no less important," says Mr. O’Brien. For example, alcohol will soon be removed from campus meetings about student-governance issues and elections. "And where there are events involving drink, we at least try to arrange for transport home for drinkers," he adds. Most institutions are adopting regulations to prohibit the use of alcohol at such functions. Many campuses are also tightening rules on the sale and use of alcohol at concerts, sporting events, and social activities.

On the national level, the New Zealand University Students Association, which oversees and coordinates the activities of regional student organizations, has taken on the issue of alcoholic-beverage producers’ sponsorship of student-related events, a practice it would like to see regulated. In contrast to advertisements for tobacco, which are banned in all media here, New Zealand places no legal restrictions on the advertising and promotion of alcohol.

"The alcohol industry, sometimes not so discreetly, pushes itself into many areas of student life," says David Choat, vice-president of the national student group. He works with campus affiliates of his association to develop policies that encourage "the enjoyment rather than the abuse" of alcohol, and that seek to achieve "a balance of sponsors for events and occasions, wherever that’s practically possible."

"Balance is the word," agrees Ms. Elliot, the health educator. "It isn’t going to help students if we come across like a bunch of health Nazis. It’s the minimization of harm, not total abstinence, that we’re concentrating on promoting.