ON THE GRASS: OUR TEENAGE MARIJUANA EPIDEMIC

It is cannabis use, not heroin use, that has greatly increased among
teenagers, prompting calls for urgent action.

Cannabis use, particularly among teenage girls, is rocketing in
Australia, leading to calls for new early intervention programs and
specialist treatment to combat dependence.

It is understood several speakers at the Drug Summit, including the
director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Professor
Wayne Hall, will argue that cannabis use, its health effects and its
link with juvenile crime be given balanced hearing along with the
other, so-called heavier drugs.

The director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics, Dr Don Weatherburn,
also has spoken on the issue arguing that while adolescents who use
cannabis will not necessarily progress to harder drugs and property
crime, specially targeted cannabis programs for adolescents may be an
effective way to decrease the risk of teenagers becoming involved in
criminal activity.

According to the 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, an
annual study of drug use in Australia, there has not only been an
increase in cannabis use, but community perceptions about marijuana
have also changed.

For example, in 1995, about 32 per cent of people surveyed identified
marijuana use as a drug "problem", but this dropped to 21 per cent
just three years later. Conversely, in 1995, 30 per cent of people
identified heroin as a drug problem, rising to 37 per cent in 1998.

Equally, the survey revealed some disturbing trends in the general
population, with cannabis use in all age groups rising from 31 per
cent in 1995 to 39 per cent in 1998.

Among young people, however, it was much higher, with the 14- to
19-year-olds' category rising from 35.5 per cent in 1995 to 44.6 per
cent last year.

Young females using in the same age group almost doubled - 24.4 per
cent in 1995, compared with 44.8 per cent in 1998. This effectively
suggests that more than half a million 14- to 19-year-olds had used or
recently used cannabis last year.

According to Mr Paul Dillon, of the National Drug and Alcohol Research
Centre, all those working in drug treatment agree cannabis is a major
issue.

"More and more young Australians are turning up wanting treatment and
help with cannabis problems ... it may not have the mortality rates,
it may not kill people like heroin does, but more and more people are
showing up with cannabis-related problems and there is nothing
specific for them."

Dr Jan Copeland, a specialist researcher, has been working with North
American colleagues, Professor Roger Rossman of the University of
Washington, Seattle, and Professor Robert Stephens of Virginia Tech,
to establish the first specialist treatment program for adolescent
cannabis users.

Her project, which is awaiting final funding approval, aims to provide
innovative early intervention strategies for young people who may not
consider they have cannabis problems but whose parents, carers or
siblings think they do.

The 1996 school drug use survey, she said, showed that 13.5 per cent
of 12-year-olds had smoked cannabis. This compared with 8.4 per cent
in 1992 and 4.9 per cent in 1989.

"That must be of concern to any parent ... the message is not getting
through and younger and younger people are getting involved," she said.

"Cannabis is not a gateway drug per se. You will not, by definition,
be on heroin in five years' time if you smoke cannabis. But there is a
disturbing issue now and that is that with the increasingly low price
of heroin and higher purity, more kids are being introduced to smoking
heroin."

She said preliminary survey data had found adolescents reported they
had been introduced to heroin by smoking.

"There is often the idea that cannabis is not particularly addictive.
But studies in the US have shown that the more marginalised people and
those with particular [psychological] problems for example, were found
to have progressed to cannabis dependence more quickly than that
report for alcohol or cocaine."

The new program, which aims to treat 200 young people in its first 18
months of operation, would be a first point of contact for families
and parents, providing objective information about cannabis use and
helping the family challenge the child to come in and prove they don't
have a problem.

"We would run through a cannabis check-up, asking questions about
levels of use, reasons of use and identifying associated problems and
signs and symptoms of dependence ... it's about talking to young
people and giving them the other side, giving them a balancing
exercise. In later sessions, we would report back, provide skills for
the future, if they meet the diagnostic criteria for dependence,
provide strategies to reduce use." she said.

"[The] message must clearly be credible to get through. It is not
reefer madness, it is not three puffs and you'll be on heroin. It's
not just say no, that won't work. But like anything, they must know
the risks, and like anything else too, they must learn about being
sensible and moderation."