FRENCH REPORT SAYS DRINKING WORSE THAN CANNABIS

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - Flying in the face of official policy, a
government-commissioned report published on Tuesday concludes that drinking
is a far worse health hazard than smoking cannabis.

The report, by the state medical research institute INSERM as well as
foreign experts and published by Le Monde newspaper, questions French laws
that place few restrictions on drinking but ban cannabis.

It identifies alcohol, heroin and cocaine in the group of substances most
dangerous to health. Tobacco, psychotropic drugs, tranquillisers and
hallucinogens are in a second group, with cannabis well down the list of
substances categorised as posing relatively little danger.

The report, commissioned by Junior Health Minister Bernard Kouchner, is
embarrassing for the government just a few days after President Jacques
Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin rejected calls to de-criminalise
soft drugs.

An activist who mailed a marijuana cigarette to every French MP in a
campaign to ease tough drug laws was fined 50,000 francs ($8,400) last month.

But there are few limits in France on the consumption of spirits, a
well-established tradition in this wine- and cognac-producing country. Young
people are not allowed to drink alcohol in bars but may buy it from stores.

The report said both alcohol and heroin are highly addictive both physically
and psychologically, damaging to health and encouraged dangerous social
behaviour.

Heroin is the most lethal drug as it carries the added hazards of overdose
and infection through used syringes.

Alcohol and tobacco come next, associated with cancer, hepatitis and
cardiovascular ailments. Drunkenness is also seen as a major cause of
suicides, murders, traffic and workplace accidents.

But cannabis is seen as having low toxicity, little addictive power and
posing only a minor threat to social behaviour.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett