DRUG SURVEY SHOWS NZ SLIPPING INTO 'WORLD'S GUTTERS' - EXPERT

Latest international cannabis use figures prove that New Zealand is
descending into "the world's gutters", says outspoken drug education
expert Mike Sabin.

A recent World Health Organisation survey using data from 17 countries
found cannabis use was highest in the United States, at 42.4 per cent,
closely followed by New Zealand at 41.9 per cent.

The study also found New Zealand ranked second behind the US in terms
of cocaine use, with 4.3 per cent of participants reporting having
used the drug, compared with 16.2 per cent in the States.

Mr Sabin said the figures when combined with a high rate of
methamphetamine use and alcohol consumption showed New Zealand was
fast becoming one of the world's "black sheep".

"This is something we should be gravely concerned about."

Mr Sabin spent 12 years as a detective investigating clandestine drug
labs in New Zealand, before establishing Methcon, the country's only
specialist methamphetamine education provider.

Last month he told Parliament's law and order select committee that
New Zealand's national drug policy was failing and the ramifications
in communities were widespread.

"New Zealand ranking second only to the United States for cannabis use
provides further evidence that our country is descending into the
world's gutters," Mr Sabin said.

"The reality is, that when young people try illegal drugs for the
first time, the odds are that they are trying cannabis, but of more
significance the association of early cannabis use with addiction to
other 'harder' drugs, is something we ignore at our peril."

It was now well accepted that cannabis was addictive and that it could
induce compulsive drug-seeking behaviour and psychological withdrawal
symptoms, Mr Sabin said.

The latest survey found that by the age of 15, 27 per cent of New
Zealand youth were using cannabis.

"This is a particular hazard to young people, who have been shown to
be the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of cannabis on their
health because their brains are still developing."

Mr Sabin said he believed the high rate of cannabis use in New Zealand
had directly contributed to our "world's worst" status with
methamphetamine.

"We can't continue to ignore the evidence. Violent crime and
anti-social behaviour, child abuse, domestic violence, mental illness
and drug seizure rates are all saying one thing: we need to act, and
act now."