|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
US: Anti-Pot Efforts Boost Ice Use
Chris Loos Hawaii Tribune Herald (US HI)
Thursday 25 Jul 2002 Marijuana eradication in Hawaii contributed to the increase in the use of the drug "ice," according to a government study. An aide to Mayor Harry Kim is scheduled to meet today with the principal investigator of the three - year study for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study gathered information from 450 methamphetamine users in Honolulu, San Francisco and San Diego. "It's the first study ever done that interviewed users in the community," said study leader Patricia Morgan. Morgan, associate professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, was vacationing in Kona when she learned that Kim's executive assistant, Billy Kenoi, wanted to meet with her to discuss the report. Kenoi is helping to organize a "meth summit" on the Big Island next month. Morgan's 1994 report, some 200 pages long, found that the California methamphetamine users were more likely to snort or inject the drug, while 86 percent of the Hawaii users smoked the crystal form. "The use of ice in Honolulu had led to particularly serious physical and psychological problems and significant social disruption in poor working communities where it replaced marijuana, which had become scarce and expensive due to eradication policies," states the report's four - page executive summary. The summary noted that the "overwhelming majority" of meth users in Honolulu began using the drug after 1984. Marijuana eradication missions on the Big Island began in the late 1970's, said Capt. James Day from the Hawaii County Police Department. The methamphetamine report noted several influences on the "tremendous growth" of ice in Hawaii after 1987. "Residents were both pushed away from pakalolo, their staple drug of choice, and pulled toward ice by a well organized marketing campaign by Asian distributors," the report said. "Also, the overwhelming smokeable drug of choice, marijuana or pakalolo, which has been grown and used throughout the islands for many years, became the target of a government eradication campaign. "This drove up prices, drastically reduced availability and left locals without their customary, and many would say, relatively benign, smoke." The study said the majority of ice users binge on the drug for more than a day, with most using it for two to five days without sleep. The report found that Honolulu users consumed more of the drug than California users, averaging 9.6 grams per month. The report noted that violence was more prevalent in the Honolulu meth users. "Honolulu females were over twice as likely to engage in violent acts than women in other sites," it said. The report also found that 94 percent of the men in the study reported committing crimes, as did 91 percent of the women. The report said meth use in all three cities led to other consequences, including memory loss, depression, isolation, paranoia, anxiety and hallucinations.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!