RELAXATION IN THE AIR

When Parliament's select committee on health calls for a rethink of
official attitudes to cannabis, there is a sense the ground is shifting.

The campaign for legalisation, or at least decriminalisation, of the
drug has been dripping on the rock of respectability for almost as
long as reefers have been passed around at rock concerts and student
parties. Is the country ready to regard it as just another relaxant?

The law has long had little effect on the cannabis trade and its
cultivation has become a major industry in some places.

At this time of the year, the police spend plenty of time and money
hunting out crops and growers, but not with quite the same will. In
August, the police told the select committee they were open to the
idea of decriminalising the drug, meaning a fine for those found in
possession, but no taint of a conviction. The Minister of Police holds
similar views.

Now the committee has reported and it largely adopts the police
stance.

The committee suggests the Government should review existing policy on
cannabis and reconsider its legal status.

Further, it concludes from material placed before it that the mental
damage of the drug has been overstated and that moderate use does not
harm most people.

When the Police administration, the minister and a conservative-led
select committee venture down the path to more liberal cannabis laws,
reform is definitely in the air. But let us tread very warily.

Decriminalisation is one thing and it may be inevitable, but making
the drug legal and allowing it to be grown for personal use is quite
another. Our present social drugs cause enough damage; if we are going
to move in the direction that one or two European states have roamed,
we should do so only after careful evaluation of the dangers of the
drug, not simply in surrender to its widespread use.

Even if cannabis is as pervasive as it now seems, that would not be a
reason to condone a health hazard.

But its prevalence may be exaggerated in any case. In a survey in the
Herald-DigiPoll series, 60 per cent of those questioned said they had
never tried cannabis and never would.

Another 24 per cent said they had tried it only a few
times.

Less than 3 per cent described themselves as regular
users.

Any survey that invites people to incriminate themselves obviously has
difficulties but this one also found that only 3.3 per cent would be
interested in the drug if it were legal. That figure could be expected
to be much higher if fear was a significant factor in the response,
although it supports the contention of the pro-cannabis people that
decriminalisation or legalisation would not result in an upsurge of
use. The law appears to be having little influence on behaviour either
way.

The select committee's suggested review is probably not going to be
taken up by either of the main political parties before the next
election but it could be a plank a minor party puts into a coalition
agreement.

The electorate should regard any such proposal with great care. The
committee obviously feels more information is still needed, and that
is wise. We are surely some way from confirming cannabis'
semi-legitimacy when the jury has plenty to consider.