REEFER IS WORTH GETTING MAD ABOUT

Today's Marijuana Isn't The Stuff Baby Boomers Toked, Says the UN's
Antonio Maria Costa. Pot's Characteristics Now Aren't That Different
From Other Plant-Based Drugs -- Like Cocaine and Heroin

VIENNA -- Supporters of the legalization of cannabis would have us
believe that it is a gentle, harmless substance that gives you little
more than a sense of mellow euphoria.

Sellers of the world's most popular illicit drug know better. Trawl
through websites offering cannabis seeds for sale and you will find
brand names such as Armageddon, AK-47 and White Widow. "This will put
you in pieces, then reduce you to rubble -- maybe quicksand if you go
too far," one seller boasts. This is much closer to the truth.

In Canada, as in most parts of the world, cannabis is by far the drug
of choice. An estimated 4 per cent of the world's adult population --
that's about 162 million people -- consume cannabis at least once a
year, more than all other illicit drugs combined.

Does that matter? I firmly believe it does, because the cannabis now
in circulation (like Canada's BC Bud) is many times more powerful
than the weed that today's aging baby boomers smoked in college. The
characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those
of other plant-based drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.

Evidence of the damage to mental health caused by cannabis use --
from loss of concentration to paranoia, aggressiveness and outright
psychosis -- is mounting and cannot be ignored. Emergency room
admissions involving cannabis are rising, as is demand for
rehabilitation treatment. These health problems are increasingly
being seen in young people.

North America is the world's largest cannabis market and most of its
cannabis is homegrown. The U.S. market alone has been valued at more
than $10-billion. As Canadians are starting to discover, a market
that size inevitably attracts organized crime. So cannabis is a
security threat as well as a health risk.

Amid all the libertarian talk about the right of the individual to
engage in dangerous practices, provided no one else gets hurt,
certain key facts are easily forgotten.

Firstly, cannabis is a dangerous drug, not just to the individuals
who use it. People who drive under the influence of cannabis put
others at risk. Would even the most ardent supporter of legalization
want to fly in an aircraft whose pilot used cannabis?

Secondly, drug control works. More than a century of universally
accepted restrictions on heroin and cocaine have prevented what would
otherwise have been a pandemic. Global levels of drug addiction --
think of the opium dens of the 19th century -- have dropped
dramatically in the past 100 years. In the past 10 years or so, they
have remained stable.

Cannabis is the weakest link in the international effort to contain
the global drugs problem. In theory, it's a controlled substance. In
practice, it's running rampant. It grows under the most varied
conditions in many countries, a high-yielding plant that can be grown
indoors. This makes supply control difficult.

But we can tackle demand, particularly among the young. That need not
mean sending them to jail. Young people caught in possession of
cannabis could be treated in much the same way as those arrested for
drunk driving: fined, required to attend classes on the dangers of
drug use and threatened with loss of their driving licence for repeat
offences. Prison would be a last resort. Schools and universities
should apply zero tolerance.

National policies on cannabis vary and sometimes change from one year
to the next. The experience of countries that were more tolerant of
cannabis use is ambiguous and not persuasive. The distinction between
"soft" and "hard" drugs is, at best, artificial, especially with such
a damaging psycho-active substance as modern-day cannabis. Even some
advocates of cannabis as a "soft" drug are now reconsidering as they
observe the devastating health consequences of abuse.

Canada was a pioneer in introducing systematic anti-smoking policies,
which are now being copied around the world. Their success
demonstrates that preventive measures can help to change attitudes.
Similar policies are needed to prevent cannabis use getting
completely out of control.

Let's draw the right conclusions. Cannabis is dangerous. We ignore it
at our peril.