RAS CALLS FOR 'OPEN AND HONEST DIALOGUE' ON MARIJUANA USE

A MUSICIAN and social activist this week demanded a frank public discussion
about marijuana use after reports that Bermuda would not even consider
following Britain's decision to look at softening cannabis laws.

Last week the Mid-Ocean News reported that Britain is moving closer to
easing rules about cannabis, but drug treatment experts and the Bermuda
Police Service said Bermuda would not do the same.

"It's time for open and honest dialogue on the issue," said dub poet and
photographer Ras Mykkal. "We need to look at what marijuana is and why it
is illegal. England is reviewing its policies. Maybe we should to the same.
People should sit down and talk about it."

The National Drug Commission disagreed. "We at the NDC have formed the
opinion from our connection with Bermuda's youth that any move to lessen
the penalties would be misunderstood by our youth as a move to legalise
cannabis," said Christina Wineinger, NDC's chief executive officer.

But Mr. Mykkal said the reason marijuana or the hemp plant had been made
illegal had nothing to do with it being a dangerous, mind-altering drug. He
said it had to do with economics. He felt the people in power could not
figure out how to harness its economic potential, so they chose to ban it
instead. "People need to understand why it is illegal and decriminalise it
so people won't be doing long stretches in prison for the use of it," Mr.
Mykkal said. "The bottom line is the illegal marijuana trade is a
four-billion-a-year business. If the people in power are going to legalise
it they want the money. They are not going to let people grow it in their
gardens like they used to in the 1940s."

Mr. Mykkal said cannabis sativa, the Latin name for the marijuana plant,
had a long history. The first American flag, for example, was made from
hemp cloth.

"The US pressured the rest of the world into making a law that made it
illegal to control the economics of it," he said. "The only part that is
illegal is the leaf. The stem is not illegal. The seeds are illegal if they
aren't sterile. But 15 to 20 per cent of birdseed is hemp seed because of
its value as a food source full of unsaturated fat and protein. Hemp also
makes the best quality paper."

He said the number one drug killer in the United States was nicotine.

"The number two killer is alcohol," he said. "Alcohol is the second biggest
killer in the United States yet the Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse does
not take a hard line against it. They say people should be more moderate
and responsible in their alcohol sales and consumption.

"The number three is aspirin through allergic reactions. Marijuana isn't
even on the list. There have been no deaths directly attributable to
marijuana use that I know of."

He said prior to it being made illegal, 76 per cent of American medications
made some use of the hemp plant.

"It is a medical relaxant," he said. "It is good for menstrual cramps and
glaucoma. There are over 400 different medical uses."

But Mr. Mykkal stressed that the worst thing you could do for your body was
to smoke it. "A marijuana cigarette has five times more tar than nicotine
cigarettes," he said. "But most marijuana smokers might smoke two or three
cigarettes a day, compared to the two packs that nicotine smokers smoke per
day. I don't think it should be made a soft drug like alcohol or cigarettes.

"But people need to be educated about the benefits and risks. It is illegal
in Bermuda and I don't use it. But I hate to see people going to jail for
five to 20 years for something that is not dangerous."

However, a study published in the March issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association linked heavy marijuana use with brain problems.

The study concluded that heavy, chronic marijuana users suffer memory loss
and attention problems that can affect their work, learning and life.

The authors of the study, Nadia Solowij at the University of New South
Wales, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues with the Marijuana Treatment
Project Research Group, said their study confirmed and extended previous
findings of cognitive impairments among chronic heavy marijuana users.

"For habitual users, the kinds of impairments observed in this study have
the potential to impact academic achievements, occupational proficiency,
interpersonal relationships and daily functioning," the study concluded.

And a study carried out in Bermuda by the NDC found that high school
students regularly smoke more marijuana than cigarettes.

The survey of 3,698 students aged between ten and 16 in 13 public and
private schools asked about their use of each drug during the 30 days prior
to the survey.

Less than one in four students admitting to being current drinkers while
one in ten currently used marijuana compared to one in 12 regularly smoking
cigarettes.