CANNABIS CONUNDRUM

Total prohibition of cannabis does not come cheap. Apart from the
considerable financial cost, there are other costs to be considered,
including significant police corruption, diversion of scarce
law-enforcement resources from policing violent crime and the considerable
damage to the careers and relationships of cannabis offenders.

That is why Canada, Jamaica and many countries in Europe are now reducing
the severity of their approach to cannabis prohibition. WA has better
things to do with scarce police resources than chase every small-time
cannabis user.

It might be worth paying the high costs of draconian cannabis prohibition
if it could be shown that this actually reduced cannabis consumption. But
cannabis consumers in WA who have been caught, convicted and severely
punished continue as before. A higher proportion of the population smoke
cannabis in the US, where penalties are severe, than in the Netherlands,
where cannabis remains illegal but cannabis sales from certain coffee shops
are tolerated.

Clearly, we are better off if all drivers abstain from mood-altering drugs,
especially alcohol. Cannabis on its own is not a major contributor to road
crashes but the combination of cannabis and alcohol is a concern. However,
it has not been shown that total cannabis prohibition or more pragmatic
approaches affect the likelihood that drivers will have consumed cannabis.

Dr ALI MARSH, senior lecturer, School of Psychology

Curtin University of Technology.