DECRIMINALISING DOPE PRODUCES NO NEW HIGHS

A TWO-YEAR national marijuana study has found decriminalization has
not caused any increase in its use in Australia.

The findings of the study carried out by the Drug and Alcohol Services
Council of South Australia in conjunction with other national research
facilities for Australia's health and justice ministers was presented
to a meeting in Melbourne yesterday, but the ministers left any action
on the report up to individual jurisdictions.

The study on the social impacts of cannabis compared marijuana use
patterns and legal regimes across Australia.

It also compared the experience of those jailed under the more
stringent marijuana laws in Western Australia with those who mainly
received on the spot fines for carrying or using small amounts of
marijuana in South Australia, where the drug has been
decriminalized.

"The study showed there was no evidence that the introduction of
expiation (on the spot fines) for marijuana use has led to any
increase in the prevalence or intensity and frequency of marijuana
use," one of the researchers associated with the study, DASC clinical
policy director Dr Robert Ali said last night.

He said although there had been increases across all jurisdictions in
the past decade, there was no great difference between jurisdictions
where the drug had been decriminalized and where it hadn't.

He said the study also found cost savings to the community through
keeping minor offenders out of jail. South Australia, the ACT and the
Northern Territory have Australia's most relaxed marijuana laws. In
the ACT, police can issue a warning or impose on-the-spot fines for
minor offences involving the possession of up to 25g for personal use
or for the growing of up to four plants. In South Australia, the limit
is 10 plants.

ACT Health Minister Michael Moore said he had asked for the trial to
be extended to the ACT, where a similar decriminalization model to
that in South Australia operates.

The development came as federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge
yesterday pledged $3 million to a public awareness campaign to target
excessive alcohol use. Dr Wooldridge said the campaign was likely to
concentrate on young people aged between 15 and 24.