AUSTRALIANS REVERSE CANNABIS VIEW

Potential carcinogenic side effects and an increased fear of dependence
were probably behind fewer Australians wanting marijuana legalised, a
national drugs body said today.

Australian National Council on Drugs executive officer Gino Vumbacca is
unsurprised a recent survey found the number of Australians wanting
marijuana legalised had fallen for the first time in eight years.

Mr Vumbacca said research was now revealing the potential carcinogenic
effects of marijuana smoke, and links to lung and cardiovascular disorders.

This was particularly so when marijuana was smoked through bongs, sometimes
mixed with cigarettes, and inhaled deeper into the lungs than cigarettes.

Researchers had also found marijuana may create more dependence than was
previously thought.

Mr Vumbacca said Australians also were smoking and drinking alcohol less,
so were unlikely to want to see another drug on the market.

"Also, drug use research is coming more to the fore on cannabis and some
research is coming out (showing) that there are some long term effects of
cannabis use, and there is a public debate about just how harmless cannabis
is," he said.

His comments follow this morning's release of a Morgan Research survey
showing the number of people wanting the drug legalised is down two per
cent on the previous year, from 33 per cent to 31 per cent, reversing
previous trends.

Sixty per cent of those questioned believed marijuana should not be legalised.

"Since 1993, the proportion of Australians who believe smoking of marijuana
should be legal had remained steady at 33 per cent, until this survey,"
pollster Gary Morgan said.

"These findings represent a reversal of the general increase in the number
of Australians who say marijuana should be made legal over the past 25
years," he said.

The poll of 5357 people was taken in December 2001. Mr Vumbacca said
explaining the change also depended on knowing what was in respondents'
minds when they were asked about legalising marijuana - a variable
impossible to quantify.

"Do they see dope shops on every corner?" he asked.

"Legalisation is probably something that is confusing for people."

Mr Vumbacca said suggestions the marijuana available in Australia was
increasingly potent was another possible factor, although there was no
evidence to support that claim because its strength was not tested.

However more people were smoking the flowering heads of the plant, more
potent than the leaves.

Those growing marijuana hydroponically were able to charge more for the
heads - "it's a matter of more kick for your buck", he said.

But Mr Vumbacca said although he did not find the results surprising, it
was difficult to know how valid it was to say a long-standing trend had
been reversed on the basis of a single survey.