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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Australia: Split on cannabis legal bid Blair Richards The Mercury Sunday 12 May 2013 The state's peak drug council says decriminalising cannabis would reduce harm caused to the community by drug use. However, the Health Department's head of drug and alcohol services warned that while decriminalisation of cannabis might bring some benefits, it could also create new problems The stand-off coincides with the Australian Drug Trends 2012 report by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre showing 61 per cent of Tasmanian cannabis users reported daily use, the highest in Australia. In the centre's Tasmanian Drug Trends 2012 report, 97 per cent of the drug users interviewed reported long-term cannabis use, with 81 per cent using it in the past six months. Tasmanians also sought treatment for cannabis addiction above any other type of drug. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare alcohol and other drug treatment services report also showed Tasmania was the only state where cannabis was equal to alcohol as the main drug of concern for people seeking drug counselling. Alcohol and cannabis both accounted for 39 per cent of treatment episodes in Tasmania in 2010-11. This was lower than the national proportion for alcohol (47 per cent) and much higher than the national proportion for cannabis (22 per cent). Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Council Tasmania chief executive Jan Smith supports decriminalising cannabis because she says the current punitive system does not seem to be working. "Certainly, we haven't had a good enough impact on the number of people who take any illicit drug just by deterring people through punishment and making it illegal. It's meant to be a deterrent but it's not working that well," Ms Smith said. "Substance use isn't going to disappear. We are not going to have a drug-free world. That is something we need to come to terms with. We need to be as smart as we can to make sure that there is as little harm done to people, families and the community as possible." Tasmanian alcohol and drug service clinical director Adrian Reynolds said the issue of decriminalisation of any drug was complex. "It may mitigate some harms but it might create others," he said. Dr Reynolds said risks associated with cannabis included lung damage, memory problems, dependence and anxiety. However, he said health authorities were much less concerned about the damage caused by cannabis than that caused by alcohol and tobacco. Health benefits of cannabis could include relieving nausea in chemotherapy patients and pain relief for chronic pain sufferers, he said. Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns, a columnist for the Mercury, said the alliance was in favour of decriminalising cannabis and other recreational drugs. Mr Barns said there was evidence that moving drug possession and use from criminal law into the health system reduced the harm caused by drugs by helping rather than punishing users. He said it was "ridiculous" that decriminalising cannabis was not on the political agenda in Tasmania. Attorney-General Brian Wightman does not support drug decriminalisation. "The Government does not support the legalisation or further decriminalisation of drugs. Tobacco and alcohol remain the drugs of most concern to the Tasmanian community," he said. blair.richards@news.com.au http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/05/12/379012_tasmania-news.html
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