DRUG USERS 'RISK IMPOTENCE'

HAMILTON -- An expert in substance abuse fears marijuana users and their
children run the risk of impotence.

However, childless Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos said the claims were
"grossly exaggerated".

Auckland-based Substance Abuse Education Trust executive director Elizabeth
Jamieson-Hastings was in Hamilton yesterday helping to make an educational
video about the dangers of abusing substances and mind-changing chemicals.

Mrs Jamieson-Hastings said she had evidence that long-term cannabis use
damaged men's sperm and interrupted women's ovulation cycles, which could
affect the reproductive organs of their offspring.

"My concern is that people don't understand this," she said.

"But what happens to their children is a mystery. How is it going to affect
their children, and grandchildren? Some of this we don't know yet."

Mrs Jamieson-Hastings also said people wanting to experiment with marijuana
should wait until they were at least 20 years of age when their brains
reached full maturity.

But Mr Tanczos said he had never seen any research which validated Mrs
Jamieson-Hastings' claims.

"Issues that cannabis can make you impotent or make your children impotent
is totally spurious as far as I'm aware."

The Green Party wants 18-year-olds to be able to use cannabis, bringing it
into line with the legal age for drinking alcohol, Mr Tanczos said.