CALL TO TEACH CANNABIS DANGERS

A new breed of powerful cannabis and ballooning costs in treating its
health effects have led to calls for urgent action, including drug
education for primary school children.

The information, in a National Drug Intelligence Bureau report
obtained by The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act,
shows that cannabis, the most widely used illicit drug, creates more
than $30 million a year in hospital bills.

The report the first of its kind to use information from Customs,
health and police officials warns that the drug is likely to become
more harmful. The threat posed by high-potency "re-engineered"
cannabis has been steadily increasing, it says.

Hospital costs jumped 50 per cent from $19.5 million in 2004 to $31
million in 2005. Of the 2062 hospital cases in 2005, 48 admissions
cost between $100,000 and $370,000 each.

The report calls for further action to reduce supply and demand as
communities have become "comfortable with high prevalence levels".

Included is a call to curb the "alarming" trend of teenagers to use
cannabis by making drug education programmes an immediate priority in
primary schools.

Cannabis could account for up to 10 per cent of cases of psychosis,
the report says, pointing to increasing admission rates for psychotic
disorders, including schizophrenia and behavioural disorders.

Bureau co-ordinator Detective Inspector Stuart Mills said the report
provided the first big picture of cannabis' harmful effects.

"We talk about methamphetamine, but here we can see the harm it
causes with the number of hospital admissions caused solely by cannabis."

Health Minister Tony Ryall said he had not yet read the report, but
suspected the cost to the health system would be "significantly
higher than that, when you consider its contribution to accidents and
family breakdown".

The call for primary school drug education is welcomed by the
Wellington youth drug and alcohol counselling service WellTrust. The
average age at which the trust's clients begin using cannabis is
about 12, executive officer Murray Trenberth says.

The report says users prefer marijuana grown indoors, where "a
consistently higher-quality product is achieved". Scientific tests
ESR completed this year are believed to confirm increasing amounts of
THC, the ingredient responsible for the giving the "high", in cannabis.

Police have refused a request for the THC test results, but the
report says levels are believed to have increased between six and 12
per cent since the late 1990s.

HIGH TIMES

Key findings in the Customs, Police and Health Ministry report:

* Cannabis-related hospital admissions exceeded the numbers admitted
for opiates, amphetamines and cocaine combined.

* In 2005, more than 2062 hospital admissions were related to
cannabis. There was also a big jump in emergency department
admissions from 61 in 2001 to 142 in 2005.

* Maori account for nearly half of all cannabis-related hospital admissions.

* The majority of patients were suffering from a psychotic disorder,
followed by cannabis poisoning, harmful use, dependence and acute intoxication.

* The cost of cannabis hospital admissions increased from $22 million
in 2001 to $35 million in 2005.

* In 2006, some 25,580 cannabis plants were seized in more than 1075
raids. Bay of Plenty was the worst, with 266.409kg of cannabis seized.

* A quarter of all cannabis seized is linked to organised crime.

Source: New Cannabis: The Cornerstone of Illicit Drug Harm in New Zealand.