BLACK YOUTH SPLURGING ON CANNABIS

Young Aborigines in Arnhem Land are spending up to two-thirds of their
income on cannabis after the drug exploded in popularity across Top
End indigenous communities in the late 1990s.

A new study into the high rate of cannabis use in Arnhem Land found
that drug-related financial pressures had led to widespread violence
and intimidation among families, with Aboriginal communities spending
about $1 in every $6 on cannabis.

The study by the Menzies School of Health Research found cannabis had
also added to existing patterns of other substance abuse in Arnhem
Land, including petrol-sniffing and amphetamines.

It follows a previous report by the same group of researchers that
found up to 70 per cent of Aboriginal men and 30 per cent of women
aged between 13 and 36 had started smoking cannabis in the late 90s.

"That rate is considerably higher than in the rest of Australia," said
the main author of the study, Alan Clough.

"The prevalence of cannabis use is much wider in Aboriginal
communities, and has been established much more rapidly than elsewhere
in Australia."

The research, to be published in the Drug and Alcohol Review in
December, was based on interviews with 336 people aged between 13 and
36 in two Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land.

The study details how drug dealers are making a killing in the
communities by charging about 12 times more than they would in other
parts of the Northern Territory.

A small packet of cannabis cost about $50 and there were no guarantees
about how much would be inside.

"The dealers have enormous flexibility to charge what the market is
prepared to pay," Mr Clough said.

The study says most of the young drug users in Arnhem Land bought at
least one $50 packet of cannabis each week, spending between 31 per
cent and 62 per cent of their average weekly income of $160.

Cannabis users also were less likely to participate in education or
training programs and were more likely to suffer weight loss and other
health problems. The study also notes concerns about the increased
possibility of alcohol-related suicide when combined with cannabis
use.

It reveals that more than half the cannabis users aged under 20 had a
history of petrol sniffing. Mr Clough said further work was needed to
determine whether cannabis use had exacerbated the health problems
suffered by petrol-sniffers.

"There's really no other situation like it where people have been
using inhalants for the last few years, and then along came cannabis,"
he said.

But Mr Clough said he was encouraged by recent anecdotal evidence that
suggested the explosion of cannabis use in remote Aboriginal
communities had reached its limit.

"We are possibly over the peak of the epidemic," he said. "People are
telling me that they are either starting to slow down or
abstaining."

The research comes as the territory Government prepares to table this
week a major report into substance abuse across the territory.

The Government has announced $10 million would be spent over five
years to implement the recommendations of the long-awaited report.

"We can no longer pussy-foot around these issues," Community Services
Minister Marion Scrymgour said.