DRUG DATA 'MISLED SUMMIT'

DELEGATES at the community drug summit were misled on the issue of
cannabis-related deaths, the Opposition claims.

A statistical sheet handed out to delegates showed no deaths from cannabis
in Australia between 1985 and 1999.

The Opposition says this is wrong and has given The Sunday Times Australian
Bureau of Statistics figures that show there were 183 cannabis-related
deaths between 1997-2001, including 60 in WA.

The Opposition is enlisting the help of parents and grandparents in an
attempt to stop the Government's plan to decriminalise the cultivation of
two marijuana plants and the use of up to 30g of cannabis.

"I urge parents and grandparents to exercise their right to protest over
this foolhardy legislation and make their views known to the Premier,"
Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said.

The Opposition will increasingly use health reasons in its attack on the
legislation to portray the Government as soft on drugs in the lead-up to
the next election.

Mr Barnett said cannabis was 15 times more potent today than it was in the
'60s and '70s and was causing havoc in the mental health system. He said it
was also a significant factor in suicides.

The ABS figures said cannabis was found in the bodies of one in five male
suicides and 20 per cent of males aged betweeen 15 and 24 who took their
own lives.

Mr Barnett said half of all West Australians killed in road accidents had
cannabis in their systems.

Schools were teaching children to avoid cannabis while the Government was
sending a message that a little bit was permissible.

"There is mounting evidence of suicide, of road tragedy and of work
accidents associated with cannabis," Mr Barnett said.

Health Minister bob Kucera said the papers for the drug summit were based
on the best available evidence at the time.

Since then, the methods used to calculate the risks associated with drug
use had changed to include factors like impaired driving skills.

Mr Kucera told Pariament the cultivation and possession of cannabis would
remain unlawful.

But the community drug summit supported the idea that civil fines, like
speeding and parking, were a more appropriate penalty than giving a user a
criminal record for life.

A vote on the issue could be taken as early as this week. The Bill is
likely to pass with the support of the Greens in the Upper House.