TIME FOR A RETHINK ON DRUG PLAN

WA PARENTS should hope that The West Australian's editorial (Confused
message in drug plan, 8/9) will cause the Government to rethink its
cannabis reform plans.

There was not a ripple of concern from the public or the anti-smoking
health sector when it was reported that WA children were the nation's
biggest drug users (14/6).

Do parents assume that the 40 per cent of children who have used cannabis
are not theirs? Is this apparent disinterest a matter of a lack of
appropriate public health education or do mums and dads really believe, as
the pro-reformists insist, that this hallucinogenic drug is comparatively
harmless and only harmful because it is illegal?

Do parents really believe that the Government is right when it insists that
turning a blind eye or prescribing a slap on the hand for growing your own
marijuana will not increase drug use?

The recently published position paper of the Thoracic Society of Australia
and New Zealand validates WA Liberal Party's responsible policy against the
proposed legislation. Part of the society's statement notes:

The constituents of cannabis and tobacco smoke include a similar range of
pro-inflammatory and carcinogenic substances.

Public health education should dispel the myth that cannabis smoking is
relatively safe by highlighting that the adverse respiratory effects of
smoking cannabis are similar to those of smoking tobacco and that the
respiratory hazards of smoking cannabis are significant.

There is also a link between psychiatric illness and cannabis use and a
risk of respiratory disease with prolonged exposure to both tobacco and
cannabis smoke.

When South Australia introduced similar legislation "trafficking" in the
State doubled, the courts were clogged because civil penalties were not
paid. South Australian records show that of 17,389 cannabis expiation
notices issued in 1993-94, only 44 per cent were paid. Such records have
not been made available since then.

In the light of this recent reinforcing of the harm of cannabis and the
hard facts on the failure of civil penalties, the Government should rethink
its position.

GERALDINE MULLINS,
Geraldton.