MARIJUANA IS DANGEROUS, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli retracted his statement that
the Mayerthorpe tragedy was about marijuana, but the sad reality is
that he may have been right the first time.

Caution is necessary before interpreting behaviour described in the
media, but reports about James Roszko, 46, suggest pathologies
consistent with psychosis -- a condition that scientific studies
increasingly connect to early use of marijuana.

Speaking with the CBC in Calgary, family members said Mr. Roszko
started using drugs early in life. His parents divorced when he was
12, and soon after he became involved in petty crime, assault and
possibly pedophilia, too. This resulted in some prison time, numerous
subsequent brushes with the law and, ultimately, the death of four
RCMP officers.

Last week's headlines complete the picture of a man grown increasingly
manipulative, paranoid, violent and finally disconnected from reality
- -- the major symptom of psychosis. "He was a dangerous person," said
the National Post; "Family split over killer's true nature," said the
Citizen; and, from The Globe and Mail, "Roszko would stalk, harass
people ...."

Studies from Sweden and New Zealand indicate that young users of
cannabis are at risk of becoming psychotic or schizophrenic later in
life. The first of two New Zealand studies, one published in 2003 and
the second published this month, involved 1,037 individuals with a
96-per-cent follow-up rate. Starting with information gathered on
psychotic symptoms from the age of 11, it tracked drug use by ages 15
and 18, then the psychiatric outcomes by age 26.

Building on the findings of the Swedish study -- that "heavy cannabis
use at age 18 increased the risk of later schizophrenia six-fold" --
this study further concluded that cannabis does its damage without a
pre-existing psychosis. It also determined that use by age 15 confers
greater risk than use by age 18 and that "risk (is) specific to
cannabis use, as opposed to use of other drugs." In this study, "a
tenth of users by age 15 developed schizophreniform disorder by age 26
compared with three per cent of the remaining cohort."

We may never know why James Roszko became the person he did, but for
parents of vulnerable adolescents and for those who must legislate and
enforce laws on the production and consumption of marijuana, this New
Zealand study has clear implications.

First, it disproves assertions that marijuana is harmless, or at least
no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco -- and that's before
considering potency, which has skyrocketed from the giddy low potency
highs experienced by happy Sixties hippies.

It also reveals how legalizing marijuana -- the much ballyhooed
solution to putting the organized crime rings running Canada's
multi-billion dollar marijuana industry out of business -- would
require a massive regulatory and enforcement framework, the first to
control production and consumption, and the second to apprehend the
estimated 90 per cent of production that is now (and would continue to
be) smuggled into the United States.

Aside from the overwhelming logistics that legalizing marijuana would
entail, other impacts would be considerable as well.

"Anything that makes it more available for adults will increase its
physical availability to adolescents," said Dr. Herbert Kleber, a
member of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Addiction
Psychiatry, when the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Illegal
Drugs advised legalizing marijuana. "Anything that makes it more
available for adults legally is going to decrease its cost and make it
more available economically. And anything that changes its legal
status is going to make it more psychologically available."

Worst of all possible worlds is the government's proposed legislation
to decriminalize possession of small amounts.

In 2004, 70 per cent of Canadian men aged 18 to 24 reported using
marijuana. Lacking regulatory oversight or negative consequences to
deter or stigmatize its use, decriminalization risks turning young
users into a psychological underclass whose principle enabler is a law
already in disrepute because of the inherent contradiction of allowing
consumption while disallowing production.

Standing in front of her home in Red Deer, Alta., the mother of slain
RCMP officer Brock Myrol, Colleen Myrol, said: "The man who murdered
our son and brother was a person who was deeply disturbed and ill. It
is our duty as Canadians to stop and rethink how we are raising our
children ...

"It is time to take our liberal-minded attitude to task."