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Netherlands: Dutch children of 12 addicted to cannabis.

Isobel Conway

The Independent

Tuesday 21 Mar 2006

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Dutch schoolchildren as young as 12 are being treated for addiction to a
powerful home-grown marijuana which is up to 20 times stronger than
imported varieties, an addiction clinic in the Netherlands has revealed.

But while the age of regular and dependent cannabis users has dropped
sharply in recent years, the dangers and health hazards of soft drugs
have been "completely underestimated" by parents caught "in a flower-
power time warp", Dr Romeo Ashruf, an addiction specialist, said.

The cannabis that Dutch children take, nederwiet, is produced in Holland
and is up to 20 times stronger than imported varieties, he told Network
2's Bij ons Thuis television programme last night. It was not unusual
for children as young as 12 to be addicted to cannabis and referred to
drugs clinics by their GPs, said Dr Ashruf.

"In years gone by, the age group for referrals was between 16 and 21 but
now it has gone down to between 14 and 19," he said. "Children of 12 and
13 who are addicted to soft drugs are also brought in. It is an alarming
development."

Dr Ashruf, director of the Parnassia Clinic in The Hague, said that
Dutch parents are largely unaware of the dangers because of the changes
the drug has undergone since the 1960s.

"A lot of parents think back to the Sixties when flower power was at its
height and they were passing around a joint from one to the other. It
was the done thing then, and they just think their kids are doing the
same and it's all a bit of harmless fun and part of growing up.

"What they fail to realise is that there is a world of difference
between then and now. Kids don't share; they light up their own joint,
and the drug they use is far stronger than in days gone by. Parents
unfortunately massively underestimate the effects of using Dutch-grown
nederwiet on their children and its potential to create dependency and
health risks."

 

 

 

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