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  Anti-Ganja Laws Archaic, Says Doctor
Posted by FoM on September 04, 2001 at 16:40:49 PT
Editorial 
Source: Jamaica Observer  

cannabis Senior psychiatrist at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Dr Wendel Abel, feels that current laws prohibiting the use of ganja are archaic and have not done much to stem use of the drug which, he said, is increasing.

According to Abel, there is a 27 per cent prevalence rate for ganja which has increased over a 10-year period (1987-1997) from 19 per cent.

"Despite the harsh laws against ganja, the use of ganja has not decreased, and data shows that smoking of the drug has increased, and is on the increase," Abel told the fourth annual Mona Academic Conference at the University of the West Indies at the weekend.

He argued that while ganja causes harmful effects, it was not as much as tobacco and alcohol. However, he said that studies have shown that ganja usage can have adverse health risks, such as impairment of short-term memory, and affect reaction time, a problem that could prove dangerous for motorists in particular.

"One ganja spliff produces five times as many cancer-producing agents as opposed to cigarette smoke," Abel said, "and ganja smoking has been associated with small birth weight in pregnant women and premature death."

The doctor said, too, that there was a link between smoking ganja and mental health disorders and listed cannabis dependence, cannabis intoxication, cannabis-induced psychotic mental disorder and cannabis-induced anxiety disorder as some of the problems.

Citing a recent one-year study started in 1998 involving the Psychiatric Unit at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Abel said: "45 per cent of the males admitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital for mental disorders had a ganja-related mental disorder."

Last month, the National Ganja Commission recommended the decriminalisation of ganja in Jamaica for personal and private use, as well as for religious purposes.

The recommendation prompted the United States government to warn that Jamaica could experience certification problems when Washington does its next narcotics review.

Yesterday, the Patriots, a group of young intellectuals affiliated to the ruling People's National Party (PNP), appealed to the government to be cautious when considering the recommendations of the Ganja Commission.

The group pointed to what it said was the possible local and international fallout from decriminalisation and said that the country cannot afford to ignore its obligations under international treaties.

"The country cannot afford to take the risk of attaining the dubious distinction of pariah status over such an issue," the Patriots said.

The commission was set up last November by Prime Minister P J Patterson and instructed to hear testimony, review literature and evaluate the research and then indicate what changes, if any, should be made to the country's laws in relation to ganja use.

It was also mandated to recommend diplomatic initiatives, security considerations and educational processes that should be undertaken along with any proposed changes.

Other recommendations made by the commission, headed by Professor Barry Chevannes, the dean of the social sciences faculty at the University of the West Indies, were for a public education programme targeting the youth to reduce demand for the drug; that the security forces increase their efforts of interdiction of large-scale cultivation of ganja and trafficking of all illegal drugs; and that the country, urgently, should seek diplomatic support for its position and influence the international community to re-examine the status of cannabis.

Source: Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
Published: Tuesday, September 04, 2001
Copyright: 2001 The Jamaica Observer Ltd.
Website: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com
Contact: editorial@jamaicaobserver.com

Related Articles:

Jamaican Plan to Legalise Private Use of Marijuana
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10779.shtml

US Backlash Against Ganja
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10640.shtml

Decriminalise it, Says Ganja Commission
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10627.shtml


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Comment #4 posted by Sudaca on September 06, 2001 at 16:25:15 PT
Side Effects
Jamaica should look carefully at the US, and the possible side effects of having a different opinion on the merits of pot prohibition.

side effects include getting killed by zealots of moral rectitude.

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Comment #3 posted by kerouacko on September 05, 2001 at 00:44:05 PT
Someone's making a little stretch
---The doctor said, too, that there was a link between smoking ganja and mental health disorders and listed ... cannabis intoxication as (one) of the problems---

I'm not a psychologist so I don't want to comment on the other problems listed, except to say that they seem to be more relevant to inexperienced smokers. But THIS problem is serious. I mean, gosh, you mean if I smoke cannabis I might suffer from cannabis intoxication? Holy cow, the thought never occurred to me. I'm throwing my pipe down right now. Darn it, why didn't the government warn me of this most serious effect of smoking cannabis? Oh, the humanity.

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Comment #2 posted by Duzt on September 04, 2001 at 21:31:23 PT
Truth about Cannabis, tobacco and cancer
This is from Dr. Dean Edell's website.

http://www.healthcentral.com/centers/OneCenter.cfm?center=Marijuana&x=14&y=8

Haroon: There's such a big to-do about smoking and cancer, but people smoke marijuana and call that medicinal.

I was told that the heat from the smoke causes cancer among tobacco smokers. But then wouldn't smoking marijuana cause cancer, too?

Dr. Dean: Haroon, this is the big question about smoking. You'd think we'd know by now what part of it causes cancer, but we don't.

Some of the theories are tars, polonium, and, as you mentioned, the burning process.

The tars in cigarette smoke do contain known carcinogenic chemicals, but those chemicals don't really accumulate where lung cancer accumulates.

Polonium, which is radioactive, accumulates on tobacco leaves as a result of fertilizers. In a chronic smoker, polonium accumulates in the bronchial tree, which is also a location for cancer. If the fertilizer causes cancer, maybe non-fertilized tobacco would make a safe cigarette.

Burning vegetable matter also produces known carcinogens. But marijuana, which is certainly burning vegetable matter, doesn't seem to cause lung cancer.

You can see how difficult it is.

Burning materials, even the ones produced when we barbecue, create substances that cause cancer in laboratory animals. Those substances are more abundant in marijuana and hashish smoke than in tobacco smoke.

However, a cigarette smoker smokes 20 or 30 cigarettes a day; a marijuana smoker smokes one or two at the most. The quantity might be the difference between cancer and no cancer.

One of the main reasons we can't pinpoint what part of smoking causes cancer is that cigarette companies have a big secret. An incredible loophole in the law allows them not to disclose about 500 of the ingredients in cigarettes. Maybe the burning of one of those ingredients causes lung cancer. But we can't test it, because we don't know what it is.


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Comment #1 posted by Joe Joe on September 04, 2001 at 21:16:50 PT
LIE
"One ganja spliff produces five times as many cancer-producing agents as opposed to cigarette smoke," Abel said.

STOP using the word "cancer-producing" you moron! Because marijuana doesn't CAUSE CANCER! Stop creating lies! Stop creating false FEARS!
Cigarettes kill 400,000 people each year! Marijuana has never ever killed anyone! There is no reason marijuana should be illegal! It's been proven to shrink tumors!!! By 36% in one study...wake up everyone! This hysterical, mindless fear pisses me off!


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