'Call to arms' as Cannabis Wars erupt
Alarm bells should be ringing over the suggestion by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health, Christopher Pyne, that mental health funding under a Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement should be tied to tougher marijuana laws.
There is simply not enough evidence linking marijuana consumption to mental illness. Mr Pyne is mistaken when he states that the link is "clearly proven".
Australian researchers tested the hypothesis of a causal relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia by carefully examining the incidence of schizophrenia in Australia over a thirty-year period. The results, published in 2003, found that although the prevalence of marijuana use had increased markedly during that period, there was no evidence of a significant increase in the incidence of schizophrenia.
Despite claims by some mental health professionals that some pre-existing mental illnesses can be exacerbated or "brought on" by marijuana use, the evidence that supports this is extremely dubious.
Spokesperson for the Darwin-based chapter of the Network Against Prohibition (NAP) Gary Meyerhoff said: "The end result of the Commonwealth's proposed re-criminalisation of marijuana would be a dramatic increase in the number of people in our prisons. This would have a devastating impact on the mental, emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing of those Australians who are unlucky enough to be incarcerated.
"Mr Pyne would have you believe that they are being incarcerated for their own good and for the good of the nation. He is horribly wrong.
"The almost negligible negative health effects of marijuana call for legalisation and regulation, not further criminalisation."
The Darwin-based chapter of the Network Against Prohibition is calling on drug law-reform activists around the country to work together to fight what they have anointed "the Cannabis Wars".
For more information or to arrange an interview, please ring NAPNT on 0415 16 2525 (+61 415 16 2525 from overseas).
3 Comments:
Another wave of violence unleashed by the powerful minority. Time is relentless and all systems have a beginning, middle and end. A new dawn approaches, you can feel it vibrating and pulsing. So then we begin...
Pharmacratic Inquisition nov. verb.-
The Christian persecution of archaic religions based on sacramental ingestion of entheogenic plants and the consequent personal access to ecstatic states; whose first great victory was the destruction of the Eleusinian Mysteries at the end of the fourth century; which then reached a gruesome climax in the persecution of witches in the Middle Ages; and which continues in today's Pharmacratic State in the guise of a public health 'War on Drugs’
Great work. There are indeed many examples of utterly unacceptable distortion of data/mis-information, fed to our public.
Our Federal Law Enforcement is amateurish and dangerously ineffective. Fledgelings in a world of corruption, assuming "she'll be right mate" ethnocentrism will see us through. 9 Aussies now in a Balinese filth hole because it was assumed Indonesian authorities would risk their lives and that of families, to "capture Mr. Big". The question of who really supplied the heroin to Chan and where it came from has been studiously avoided.
Now we are expected to believe erronous conclusions suggesting the "war on drugs" is valid. AFP now claim resonsibility for a "heroin drought", when in reality the rise of crystal meth' (anticipated and warned of for years) has taken a share of the market. The Australia Institute [ http://www.tai.org.au/ ]has even called upon the government to drop this farce.
Whilst some recent reports do reflect the role of dopamine mimmicking psychotitic episodes, the main factors in any links to cannabis related neuroses/psychoses are frequency, age of smoking onset [decreasing] and increased popularity. The hypothesis of "hydroponic" cannnabis being "stronger" is indeed data poor. No conclusive studies have been done in Australia since possibly 1997- when a potency study was reported to WA Parliament by the then WA Police Commisioner.
The concept also neatly side-steps the potency of hashish and its oil over the 1980's, and the simple reality smokers ingest enough "gear" to achieve an effect - not consume x quantity.
Furthermore, comments such as "...material ten or more times potent than the product smoked ten years ago is being used and the intoxicated state is more intense and lasts longer". ["Marijuana Research- Selected Findings". Cohen pp. 9-10, "Drug Abuse and Alcoholism Newsletter"] are not new. Cohen's paper was published in 1986!
The fact Mr. Pyne is involved is also a victory for Victim of Crime Advocates [with their own vengeful agenda] and this alone will only ensure further distortion of the true impact of drug related crime. It suggests public opinion is again swayed by sensational media coverage, if not misinformation.
Regards,
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