CHILD ABUSE THROUGH POT

In moments of clarity, even advocates of decriminalising cannabis must be
appalled bu the revelation that in the past six years 33 children under
21/2 years have been treated in North Island hospitals for cannabis
poisoning. Causing comas and muscle spasms in toddlers, they will insist,
is not at all what they want.

Repugnant as it may be to them, they are part of the problem. The spread of
cannabis among mature users gives the drug a spurious respectability, makes
ot somehow socially acceptable to smoke it and, perhaps most importantly,
greatly increases its availability. their demand encourages growers to
cultivate their crops and distributors to keep up the supply. The fact that
most adults probably do not want to make it readily available to teenagers,
still less to send comatose babies to hospital, does not diminish the part
they play in creating a climate where that is bound to happen.

This is still an illegal drug, and for good reason. Stoned parents who
leave cannabis oil capsules lying around where infants can reach them, or
dopey parents who puff smoke over their children or fail to keep them out
of smoke-filled rooms, are irresponsible beyond belief. This is child abuse
by means of cannabis.

Wanganui doctor John Goldsmith fears that the number of hospital admissions
revealed in his survey of five hospitals gives only a hint of the extent of
the abuse nationally. He is also concerned that lack of medical awareness
of the problem, compounded by parents' embarrassed reluctance to disclose
the full circumstances of the illness, may lead to inappropriate treatment.
Again, the adverse effects fall on the child.

Dr Goldsmith's timely warning is only one in a series in the past
fortnight. Equally distressing is the news that idiotic adults are using
children to smuggle cannabis and other drugs past prison guards to gratify
the cravings of inmates. If this is the level of care and responsibility
they show, their children would be better growing up away from their
baleful influence.

Harm to teenage users is also so well documented that it takes a special
kind of defiance, ignorance, insecurity or stupidity - or possibly all four
- - even to have a puff. Regular use prevents the cells of the maturing brain
from making connections, clouds short-term memory, dampens the ability to
think and plan ahead, and impairs learning. Teachers despair when pupils
lose their way and waft out of the knowledge society in a weedy haze. Idle
chatter about making the drug legal, or at least removing the criminal
stigma, confuses the issues by conveying the impression that there is
nothing to worry about.

There is - including for adults. Wellington Coroner Garry Evans warned this
month about the danger of smoking pot before driving. Mixing its use with
alcohol makes it worse. Pregnant women who smoke it can damage the brain of
the developing foetus. For people with schizophrenia, it increases the
likelihood of psychotic episodes. In some settings it may expose users to
even more harmful drugs. It makes most sense to steer clear of it - and not
to relax the law.