Bob McCoskrie
Family First NZ says that the Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction has made disturbing recommendations on the legal treatment of drugs which will actually worsen mental health rates.
Anybody who has worked with young people especially, but also those in the mental health field will have observed that marijuana is called dope for good reason.
According to virtually every scientific review, marijuana is addictive and harmful — despite rhetoric from the marijuana industry and drug supporters. But the real concern is the effect on mental health and suicide ideation. The suddenness of suicidal ideation means that intervention may not always be possible.
New Zealand has some of the richest data on the adverse consequences of cannabis use coming from two major studies: the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS).
The use of cannabis was associated with increased risks of a number of adverse outcomes including increased risks of psychotic symptoms and major depression. In the case of the Dunedin-based study, the scientists said: "Cannabis use in adolescence, when the brain is undergoing critical development, may have neurotoxic effects."
Researchers led by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (and including New Zealand researchers) analysed results of three large, long-running studies from Australia and New Zealand involving nearly 3800 people.
Teenagers who start smoking cannabis daily before the age of 17 are seven times more likely to commit suicide. Colorado toxicology reports show the percentage of adolescent suicide victims testing positive for marijuana has increased since legalisation of marijuana.
The Christchurch study also found that regular or heavy cannabis use was associated with an increased risk of using other illicit drugs, abusing or becoming dependent upon other illicit drugs, and using a wider variety of other illicit drugs.
University of Queensland Centre for Youth Substance Abuse professor Wayne Hall says that legalising the drug would likely have the most significant impact on current users. If cannabis was made more affordable and easier to access, then consumption would increase, like any commodity."
A sensible drug policy should recognise three pillars of drug policy:
* supply reduction — target the dealers and suppliers.
* demand reduction — promote a drug-free culture.
* harm reduction — ensure addiction services and support are available for those who genuinely want to quit, using the coercion of the law for those whose addiction is controlling them.
The current illegal status of drugs is an inhibitor that deters people from participating. It's not about a 'war on drugs' as erroneously labelled by drug supporters. It's about the defence of our brain. We need a "Stay Drug-Free".
We should continue fighting drugs and the devastation its use causes on both the users, their families, and society in general. It's working for tobacco. Why not drugs?
Family First NZ is applauding Coroner David Robinson for his call to raise the drinking age, which echoes previous calls by the NZ Medical Association to raise the drinking age.
Health boards, health professionals, police, family groups, addiction experts, the Prime Minister's chief science adviser in 2011, leading scientists, and the general public — including young people — have all been shouting to politicians to raise the drinking age to 20 in order to protect young people and to save lives.
As argued in our 2011 report on this issue, alcohol policies and decisions about a legal drinking age should be firmly based on the health and well-being of New Zealand's young people.
New medical evidence on accident probability, disease and brain development, research on suicide and homicide, along with the Child and Youth Mortality Review make it absolutely clear that delaying the age at which teenagers and young people have easy access to alcohol would reduce the level of damage they and society suffer at the moment as well as contributing to their future health and well-being.
We need to send an unambiguous message to young people and society about what is good for young people, and raising both the drinking and purchase age would make it easier for parents and the community to work together to prevent harm to our young people.
A nationwide poll by Curia Market Research, commissioned by Family First NZ in 2013, asked respondents "Do you think Parliament should have raised the drinking age to 20 or kept it at 18?" Sixty two per cent of respondents said Parliament should have voted to raise the drinking age to 20.
Only 32 per cent agreed with the politicians that it should remain at 18, and 7 per cent were unsure or refused to say.
A 2011 report Young People and Alcohol: What Does the Medical Evidence Tell Us About the Legal Drinking Age in New Zealand? commissioned by Family First examined the medical evidence and argued that the drinking age should be raised to 21.