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Canada: It's official: B.C. smokes the most pot
Richard Watts Times Columnist
Thursday 05 Oct 2006 It's official: B.C. smokes the most pot Marijuana use outstrips tobacco among province's youth, study finds More British Columbians smoke marijuana than people anywhere else in Canada, according to a UVic study released yesterday. Moreover, its daily use among young people here outstrips tobacco, a majority of us want the drug decriminalized, and we report little difficulty in getting our hands on it. "There is more occasional and low-risk cannabis use, more tolerant attitudes, and greater availability in B.C. than in the rest of Canada," says the study from the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., based at the University of Victoria. "In B.C., cannabis, like alcohol, is now regarded as a 'normal' recreational drug." It's also big business. The study cites estimates that the cannabis industry in B.C. accounts for one to 2.8 per cent of the provincial gross domestic product, which makes cannabis sales worth possibly as much as $3.64 billion per year. Meanwhile, the study, which calls cannabis "Canada's favourite illicit recreational drug," also exploded the myth of the super-potent "B.C. Bud." According to RCMP data from 2004, the THC content of marijuana seized in B.C. is not significantly different from that of cannabis seized in other provinces. THC is the active ingredient in cannabis. Many of the findings in the UVic study are based on a 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, which found that 53 per cent of British Columbians reported having used cannabis, compared with 44 per cent of Canadians. Sixty-five per cent of British Columbians also report that it is easy to find, versus only 44 per cent in Canada as a whole. That last finding could stem from the fact that we also seem to grow it more. There were 25,014 charges for cannabis cultivation in B.C. between 1997 and 2004. That works out to 79 per 100,000 people, almost three times the national average of 27 per 100,000. One of the few categories where Canada scored higher than B.C. was in the proportion of people who want marijuana to remain illegal: 49 per cent in Canada versus only 42 per cent in B.C. Dr. Benedikt Fischer, one of the authors of the study, said it offers more proof the existing, law-enforcement approach to cannabis isn't working. "It's very categorical, black and white," Fischer said. "It says 'no use is good, any use at all is bad.' " Meanwhile, he said cannabis use has nearly doubled in the past 10 years. It would make far more sense to start reflecting public attitudes and approach cannabis use as a public-health issue rather than a strict law-enforcement issue, he said. Authorities should concentrate on the harmful behaviours associated with marijuana use, like driving while under its influence, rather than trying to stamp it out, he said. Such an approach would also be in line with public attitudes since most people want to see it remain under some legal control, even as they call for its decriminalization. "But there really needs to be a bit of a paradigm shift," Fischer said. http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=df6c0f46-2968-40e1-973d-9f509f9ba333&k=94492
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