Drug Free Australia Chair, Craig Thompson said today: “Cannabis should be placed in the ‘hard drug’ category by Australia’s policy makers. With the WA State Elections imminent, there is ample opportunity for politicians in the West to take a leading stand, to ensure that mixed messages are eliminated and that the Australian public is given clear health warnings to demonstrate just how harmful this drug really is”.

The most recent, compelling evidence cannot be disregarded, said Mr Thompson. For instance, the Australian Medical Association has issued warnings on the health risks associated with smoking marijuana. Risks of cannabis use include memory loss, psychosis, impaired driving, hallucinations, asthma, and even lung cancer. Moreover, warns the AMA, one third to one half of detained patients admitted to psychiatric units in Australia are there because marijuana use has precipitated their condition’.

A new scientific study conducted in New Zealand indicates that long term cannabis use increases the risk of lung cancer in young adults. The risk of lung cancer increased by 8 per cent for each joint or year of use - that is a 10 year cannabis use increased the risk by 80 per cent. The study recognized that cannabis smoke has been shown to have greater concentrations of carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco.

“The road fatalities caused by cannabis-intoxicated drivers, links to cannabis and psychosis, increased potency and birth defects are just a few issues of enormous concern”.

“Many national and international studies have found that drivers intoxicated with cannabis, pose a high risk of road accidents. For example a 10 year Victorian study found a 7 times greater risk of a fatal accident. Other studies clearly show that cannabis impairs car control, including the ability to stay in one lane, as well as slowing reaction time”. (ANCD Report, Dec 2004).

“Highly respected medical practitioners in Australia and overseas have confirmed that cannabis use is linked to psychosis. For example, Dr Brian Boettcher, Consulting Psychiatrist in the UK reports that ‘Cannabis is capable of precipitating psychosis, going on to the chronic cases in people who have had no family and personal history of psychiatric illness. There have been suggestions that such people may be the ones who have started cannabis in their teens’.

So far as cannabis use and birth defects is concerned, a  Commonwealth Department of Health publication to medical practitioners warns about health risks such as impairment of foetal brain development, relative prematurity, smaller length and head circumference, malformations, higher rate of miscarriage and perinatal death.   A US study found a 10 times greater risk of non-lymphoblastic cancer to infants of marijuana-using mothers. Other effects in the new born are lethargy, slow to gain weight, increased startle reflexes, tremors and possible long--term developmental and behavioural effects. 

All of this clearly points to the fact that cannabis should be considered at least as serious as other ‘hard’ drugs such as heroin or methamphetamines.