THE CANNABIS DEBATE

Many people have very strong views about cannabis. Some groups think that cannabis is relatively harmless, is not as dangerous as most legal drugs and our laws should be relaxed. Other groups of people think that the drug is illegal for good reasons, that it is dangerous and our laws should be much tougher.

There is no easy answer to this debate -And you must make up your own mind. There is information to support both sides of the argument:

• Cannabis smoking does cause similar health problems to tobacco smoking.

• Because cannabis is an illegal drug, it can cause many long-term legal and social problems.

• If any illegal drug is made more freely available, more people will use it and some problems will increase in the short-term.

• Cannabis is a valuable drug for treating medical problems like glaucoma, anorexia nervosa and epilepsy.

• There is no evidence that the use of cannabis leads to the use of other drugs, legal or illegal.

• There is no evidence that an illegal drug like cannabis is more physically damaging than a legal drug like alcohol or tobacco.

• There are no recorded deaths from overdoses of cannabis but people do die from overdoses of other drugs like alcohol and heroin.

• Heavy use of any drug can cause problems.

No drug can help us solve a personal problem - it can only make the problem disappear for a short while.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SMOKE CANNABIS

1. NEVER

2. A FEW TIMES A YEAR

3. ONCE OR TWICE A MONTH

4. ONCE WEEK

5. SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK

6. ONCE OR MORE TIMES A DAY

If you agree with either statement 5 or 6, you may already have some problems related to your drug use. Or you may well develop a problem if you continue using at this level.

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