TEENS HOOKED ON POT

2000 Surveyed On Cannabis Use

TWO in three Victorians have tried marijuana by their 20th birthday,
Australia's largest cannabis study has found.

A six-year survey of 2000 teenagers found almost 40 per cent had
experimented with the drug before leaving school. By 20, one in 12 were
using cannabis every day.

The director of the Centre for Adolescent Health, Professor George Patton,
said the rate of long-term use uncovered by the study was higher than expected.

He said the study also scotched the belief marijuana was not as addictive
as alcohol or heroin.

``The rates of addiction for cannabis are not dissimilar from the rates
we're seeing among young people for alcohol, and very much more common than
heroin,'' Prof. Patton said.

``It is adding further to the evidence that cannabis use is far from
harmless.''

The research forms part of the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study,
funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and backed by
the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

The project began in 1992 when the participants were 14 to 15.

Students at 44 schools across the state and from all school sectors were
included in the study, with the latest results based on the first six years.

Prof. Patton said the rates of cannabis use among young people was higher
than that shown in similar studies conducted about 20 years ago.

``We were surprised . . . we didn't expect to find rates of marijuana use
to be as high.''

He said that of those students who had tried the drug by Year 10, 12 per
cent progressed to daily use and 20 per cent to weekly use by late
secondary school.

Boys were more than twice as likely as girls to become daily users.

``Most people would have thought cannabis was something students at
university might use socially, with only a small minority using it on a
regular basis,'' Prof. Patton said.

``By and large the expectation is that as they move out of uni into
families and jobs, use will diminish and stop.

``What we found was more use at an earlier age and that there was a
substantial number of students and adults using it on a regular basis.''

He said 72 per cent of 20-year-olds using marijuana daily reported clinical
signs of addiction to the drug.

These included irritability, conflict with others, feeling out of sorts,
and experiencing a craving for marijuana.

``One of the questions that is particularly relevant for us is whether or
not these daily users who are reporting signs of addiction really are going
to stop or whether cannabis is turning into something like tobacco use
where you are likely to continue well into adulthood,'' he said.

The results were published in the UK journal Addiction late last year.

Prof. Patton and project leader Carolyn Coffey have also presented the
findings to the state government's Drug Policy Expert Committee and plan to
present them to the Commonwealth Expert Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs.

The next phase of the study will follow the participants into adulthood to
determine their level of continued substance use, as well as their social
development and education.

SIGNS OF ADDICTION # Irritability # Feeling out of sorts # Conflict with
others # Cravings for the drug # Devoting large amounts of time finding it
# Longer recovery time

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should visit their GP for advice.