PASSING JOINT AN UNNECESSARY RISK: HEALTH AUTHORITY

Health Officials Say There Could Be A Link To Deadly Disease

Sharing Joints Could Be Deadly.

That's the warning message put out yesterday by the Vancouver Coastal
Health Authority after five cases of meningococcal disease -- resulting in
two deaths -- in the city since November.

Four of the five infected victims smoked and shared marijuana.

"It's been worrying us," admitted Vancouver Coastal director of
communicable-disease control Dr. Patty Daly. "That's an 80-per-cent rate. I
don't recall ever seeing that with joints before."

Health authority officials were careful not to directly link sharing of
marijuana with transmission of the potentially deadly bacterium. And only
one of the deaths was in a person known to have shared joints.

Still, Daly added, "those who smoke and share marijuana on a regular basis
are urged to either change their behaviour or get vaccinated."

People up to age 30, especially the very young and teenagers, are
susceptible to meningococcus, which lives in the throat. It can be spread
by saliva in a number of ways, such as kissing, sharing a drinking glass,
sports water bottle, cigarette or joint. As well, some people can be
carriers of the bacterium without being infected, then pass it on with
serious consequences to others.

Daly said that two studies of similarly small numbers in 2003 in the U.S.
have shown clusters of invasive meningococcal bacterium in
marijuana-sharing people.

While admitting that suggesting an end to all marijuana sharing in B.C. "is
not realistic," Daly did suggest a practical approach for individuals and
families.

"We think parents should go out and buy the vaccine for their children,"
she said. The cost at pharmacies is about $100 per dose.

Public-health programs in B.C. vaccinate all children at one year old and
then again in Grades 6 and 9. Daly said the vaccine used in this province
is considered so effective "it may last a lifetime" and is expected to last
at least until a person passes out of the most susceptible age group.