Marijuana, alcohol combination causes concern in NT

MARK COLVIN: Northern Territory authorities have expressed alarm at a rise in the level of Marijuana use in Aboriginal communities.

One government minister, John Ah Kit, says he's disturbed by the apparent link between heavy Marijuana use and suicide in many of these communities.

A report published last month detailed a massive increase in Marijuana use among remote Aborigines, and outlined the serious health effects where other forms of substance abuse are also prevalent.

But is Marijuana use a trigger for suicide, or just a symptom of the depression and other factors that lead young people to take their own lives?

Anne Barker reports from Darwin.

ANNE BARKER: There’s no disputing the suicide rate in many Aboriginal communities is increasing, and it’s a known fact that Marijuana use in most of these communities is also on the rise.

A report in last month’s medical journal showed cannabis use in some Arnhem Land communities has doubled since 1999.

But does if follow that Marijuana is directly linked to suicide?

The Northern Territory’s Minister for Community Development, John Ah Kit, says there’s strong anecdotal evidence from these same communities to back the claim.

JOHN AH KIT: When there is Ganga in the community and there is alcohol and they’re both, the people have a, and especially our young males, have a mixture of both, there’s some sort of psychotic stress and people feel worth, that they’re not worthwhile, and they get very depressed, and they go and commit suicide.

ANNE BARKER: John Ah Kit says in one community of 650 people, there were more than 30 suicide attempts last year alone, and based on this knowledge the Northern Territory Government is preparing a crackdown on Marijuana use and importation into Aboriginal communities.

But some drug users believe it’s simplistic to use Marijuana for a rise in suicide.

Nicky Barry, from the Network Against Prohibition in Darwin, believes the Government is missing the point.

NICKY BARRY: A recent report came out saying that adolescent girls who smoke Marijuana are more inclined to depression, but this misses the point that they may have been suffering depression already for a number of reasons, and that Marijuana is a way of self-medicating; so when they finally seek treatment for the depression, the fact they’ve smoked Marijuana may be seen as the cause, when in fact it may just be something that they’ve done to deal with their own problems.

ANNE BARKER: It is true though, isn’t it, that there is a corresponding increase in Marijuana use alongside the rise in suicide rates?

NICKY BARRY: There may be a rise in Marijuana use, but I’m not sure about that. It may just be that people who answer surveys and stuff are more inclined to say now they smoke Marijuana.

ANNE BARKER: So what do the scientists say?

Alan Clough from Darwin’s Menzies School of Health Research lead the team behind last month’s report in the Medical Journal.

ALAN CLOUGH: Well it’s very difficult to establish the direct cause or link, but it’s becoming more broadly recognised that Cannabis use is associated with the onset of depression.

There’s been some recent studies published in the British Medical Journal that provides good evidence that frequent Cannabis use in teenagers in non-Aboriginal populations predicts later onset of depression and anxiety.

ANNE BARKER: So that could be a direct link to suicide?

ALAN CLOUGH: The best information we have about that is here in Australia, and this information suggests that Cannabis intoxication is a disinhibiting factor in those who may threaten suicide at an acute level.

But the more chronic relationship between Cannabis use and possible suicide is much more difficult to establish.

ANNE BARKER: So what do you say to those who argue that it’s really a symptom of the depression or the factors that lead someone to suicide, rather than the actual trigger?

ALAN CLOUGH: I think to suggest that it’s merely a symptom is a copout and we really need to address the concerns that people have as much as trying to establish a direct cause or link, and one of the key concerns that people in communities have, clearly have, is that they associate intoxication from Cannabis along with alcohol, with the suicide attempts and the successes that are happening in those places.

MARK COLVIN: Dr Alan Clough from Darwin’s Menzies School of Health Research, ending Anne Barker’s report.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 27 November 2002
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia)
Copyright: 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Contact: comments@your.abc.net.au
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/
Reporter: Anne Barker