ANTI-GANJA LAWS ARCHAIC, SAYS DOCTOR

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.