Subj: Blocked report says cannabis safer than tobacco and drink

Date: Feb 19, 1998

Source: The Scotsman

Blocked report says cannabis safer than tobacco and drink

JENNIFER TRUELAND Health Correspondent

THE illegal drug cannabis is safer than tobacco and alcohol,
according to a report which was suppressed by the World
Health Organisation.

The analysis, which was due to be part of a report published
last December on the harmful effects of cannabis, was
withdrawn at the last minute after a dispute between WHO
officials, the cannabis experts who drafted it and external
advisers.

According to New Scientist magazine, the suppressed report
concluded that not only did the amount of cannabis smoked
worldwide do less harm to public health than drink and
cigarettes, but that the same was likely to hold true even
if people consumed it on the same scale as the legal
substances.

In most of the comparisons made in the analysis, cannabis
came out better or at least equal to the other drugs.

In an editorial, New Scientist said that decriminalisation
of cannabis was inevitable. "Politicians will have to bite
the bullet - dope will be decriminalised," it said.

Last night a Home Office spokesman said that the Government
did not intend to review the position of cannabis, which is
a controlled drug. The House of Lords has started its own
inquiry, however, and a two-year investigation into the drug
is being carried out by the Police Foundation.

But the evidence led to renewed calls for cannabis to be
decriminalised.

Linda Hendry, Scottish spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis
Campaign, said: "The New Scientist is saying what we already
knew - that cannabis is not as harmful as other drugs like
tobacco and alcohol. We welcome their findings and hope it
adds to the debate."

The New Scientist also publishes data from the Netherlands,
where possession of small amounts of cannabis was legalised
in 1976.

According to results, although more people tried cannabis
after it was legalised, the move did not increase the
likelihood of people becoming long-term users.

Holland also had a lower percentage of cannabis and hard
drug users than many other European countries, including
Britain. The study also showed the number of hard drug
addicts in Holland had not increased for a decade while
their average age was rising.

The New Scientist said the controversial analysis was
withdrawn because there were fears that it would give
ammunition to the "legalise marijuana" campaign.

It is understood that advisers from the US National
Institute on Drug Abuse and the UN International Drug
Control Programme warned the WHO that it would play into the
hands of groups campaigning to legalise marijuana, said the
report.

Dr Maristela Monteiro, a scientist with the WHO programme on
substance abuse, confirmed that the analysis was dropped
from the report but denied the organisation had been
pressured into doing it.

She said: "There were problems with that chapter. It was not
a fair comparison from our point of view and from a public
health perspective it was not very useful. We thought it was
biased towards showing less harm from cannabis."

She said the WHO was working with the Addiction Research
Foundation in Canada and planned to publish a book on
cannabis in June.

The report also sparked repeated calls for further research
into the potential effects of decriminalising cannabis. The
British Medical Association, last year called for more
research into the use of certain derivatives of cannabis for
medicinal use., following some anecdotal evidence that the
drug can help people with conditions including glaucoma and
multiple sclerosis.

The Church of Scotland yesterday repeated its call for
cannabis to be decriminalised. Ann Allen, convener of the
board of social responsibility, said: "We do not want
cannabis to be legalised but we wish to see those who have
been caught taking it to be diverted from the criminal
justice system and into rehabilitation programmes."

A spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: "We
welcome the study and would call on people to look calmly at
it and make a reasoned judgment."

"We feel there should be a Royal Commission on drugs. We are
the only party who has considered the issue seriously at
all, and not just gone for the emotional line of instantly
dismissing any idea that it should even be discussed.

"That, of course, stops short of any idea that it should
definitely be decriminalised."