Comments on: The decline of marijuana

By: mrv

mrv — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:48:25 +0000

graeme rule my man i gotta ask u haha whr du u get ur stats from?
the true fact remains that in america, around 80000 people die from alcohol poisoning, and yet after all u sed, there has yet been no recorded death EVER due to thc (marijuana)
the stats you show are for about 5 joins a day (chronic usage) which is seriously a very very high dosage. the government tries to send the wrong message about marijuana to little kids so they believe that drinking boose is safer. yet it is NOT and the stats proove it. there has been NO RECORDED DEATH due to marijuana in the world. medical marijuana is soon to be legalised in the u.s. if barrac obama wins, and i belive it wont be long since it is decriminalised here.

By: Jack Strocchi

Jack Strocchi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:19:14 +0000

Andrew Norton says:

This leaves fashion and social norms as major possible explanations.

Pot is for lard-arsed, couch-potato losers. No person who who wants to be cool (approximately 95% of the population) wants to be looked at that way.

By: Graeme Rule

Graeme Rule — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:47:53 +0000

Bill B. Within minutes of using cannabis ones heart rate increases by 20-50%, blood pressure also alters. Cannabis use is associated with a 4.8 times increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in the hour following use. A smoked joint yields around three times more tar and carbon monoxide than a tobacco cigarette. A study of students aged 14-15 over seven years found 68 % suffered a mix of depression and anxiety, i.e. a four fold increased risk of depression compared to non-users after controlling for other drug use.
Look up the effects of prolonged cannabis use on teeth and early ageing. Mix cannabis with alcohol and the cocktail can be even more serious, some 95% of users do just that. One in four deaths on Victorian roads are showing the presence of THC.

By: BillB

BillB — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:19:57 +0000

Its all relative. how many % more a kid does one drug over another, i think is futile thinking. I do believe that some drugs are more dangerous to your health and addictive, grass is not one of them. So, i see the decline in marijuana use as not a good thing if they are moving on and using more detrimental substances and chemicals that do allot more damage

By: Andrew Norton

Andrew Norton — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:38:46 +0000

Conrad - I don’t disagree that improved propsects for young people are a positive force here, but particulary marijuana use has always been far more widespread than them, including many otherwise respectable people with jobs and responsibilities.

By: Andrew Norton

Andrew Norton — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:34:34 +0000

Robert - At least since 2004, ‘risky’ drinking (defined as 7 or more standard drinks for men, 5 for women) weekly or monthly is slightly down for teens and twenties, though still very high - 26.3% for teens, 39.6% for twenties.

But this is not inconsistent with some people switching from marijuana to alcohol.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:07:15 +0000

I think you’re spot on about people being increasingly concerned about its link with mental illness. This would reduce the number of young people who are willing to try/make a habit of smoking weed.

While alcohol consumption is going down amongst australians as a whole, I’m told it has been going up amongst the young. Could young people be substituting alcohol in place of other drugs like marijuana because they perceive it to be lower risk?

By: conrad

conrad — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:49:44 +0000

Sorry, I have a 4th factor that is important in terms of unemployment and drug use.
4) The male rate is more important than the female rate.

By: conrad

conrad — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:41:49 +0000

“but this does not explain why illicit drug use rose 1993 to 1998 as unemployment was easing”

I think 1) the long term unemployed are the big instigators of it, and this didn’t decrease much in those years. The graph is in this publication.

and 2) unemployed youth are especially likely culprits, and that was pretty high until the very late 90s if I remember correcetly (sorry, I can’t find the stats right now).

and 3) There’s a lag, so it takes a few years for everything to propagate through.

By: Andrew Norton

Andrew Norton — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:21:07 +0000

Conrad - Meth/amphetamine use is also down, ice perhaps have received even worse publicity than marijuana, with big drops in both teen and 20s users.

I can see the logic of the employment argument, esp. when we look at supply as well as demand, but this does not explain why illicit drug use rose 1993 to 1998 as unemployment was easing. Given that the chance of being arrested for drug use is low, and marijuana use has always significantly exceeded unemployment, I think that personal preferences/social norms are likely to be the most important factors.