POT EASIER TO BUY THAN TOBACCO: CITY TEENS

'Nobody on the street is going to ask you for ID'

As Health Canada gears up for an information campaign aimed at warning
young people about the negative health effects of pot, The Sudbury Star
spoke to a group of five young people about the drug.

All were 20 or younger, all active pot smokers. One girl smoked her first
joint at the age of nine, while a young male offered that he smoked his
first "oily doobie" (a joint tipped with hash oil) at age 11.

A report just released by Health Canada found that marijuana is perceived
by young Canadians to be less harmful than smoking cigarettes, and is
easier to buy than tobacco products. Canadians are smoking more pot than
ever before, according to the report, with 30 per cent of kids aged 15 to
17, and 47 per cent aged 18 to 19, having smoked it in the last year.

The panel of pot smokers was unanimous in thinking that cigarettes are much
worse for your health than marijuana, and that pot was easier to buy than
cigarettes for those under the age of majority.

"It's a lot easier for kids to just go out on the street and ask someone,
'Hey, you got any grass?' than it is to go into a store and buy a pack of
cigarettes," said the 20-year-old.

"Nobody on the street is going to ask you for ID," said the teenaged girl.

"When you get lung cancer from cigarettes, you can smoke marijuana to
relieve the lung cancer," she said, echoing the study's finding that young
people consider marijuana to be more beneficial than harmful to your health.

The negative health effects of marijuana have not been as thoroughly
studied -- or publicized -- as those of tobacco products. They are just
starting to be known, said Sgt. Peter Orsino of the Greater Sudbury Police
drug branch.

"The experts haven't finished all their findings on all the health issues
in relation to prolonged usage," he said. "Prolonged use of marijuana has
been proven to have a negative effect on a person's physical and mental
health. And the stuff is addictive."

A recent court decision in Quebec, he added, found that marijuana caused a
drug-induced psychosis, which led an individual to act violently.

Satch Pearson runs a needle exchange program for drug addicts in the city.
The pot of today is not like the pot of his youth, he said. It has become
much more potent, with much higher levels of THC -- the active drug agent.

"I've had a lot of young people tell me they were addicted to pot," he
said. "The THC levels are really strong. Two tokes and you're good for half
a day."

Canada is getting an international reputation because of the vast amounts
of marijuana being consumed in this country, Orsino added.

"It's quite possibly because of all the publicity it is getting, and the
fact that the government is leaning towards decriminalizing it."

Orsino agrees that, for young people, it seems easier to buy pot than
cigarettes.

"There are people calling in saying, 'I was just standing there, minding my
own business, when I was approached to buy drugs,'" he said, adding that
complaints related to pervasive drug dealing was part of the impetus behind
a major undercover drug bust about a year-and-a-half ago.

Pot costs anywhere from $10 to $20 a gram, Orsino said. That amount will
net about five average-sized joints. Our panel of young smokers said it is
more like two joints per gram.

"I'm aware of the hazards of smoking pot," said the 20-year-old, "but the
benefits far outweigh the hazards."

Part of the Health Canada campaign will be an information booklet that will
help parents identify signs that a child is smoking pot.