Source: Evening Post (New Zealand)
Contact:  http://www.evpost.co.nz/
Pubdate: Wed, 20 May 1998

DRUG EPIDEMIC ON WAY - BOOK

SYDNEY - Australia is one of the worst nations in the world for cannabis
abuse and is on the brink of a drug-use epidemic, a new book warns.

Drug Precipice, by former organised crime royal commissioner Athol Moffit,
QC, pharmacist John Malouf and New South Wales magistrate John Thompson,
argues that law enforcement alone is not enough to solve the nation's
illegal drug problem.

But legalising drugs was not the answer either.  The focus should be on
reducing demand, they say.

"Every one of the proposals to repeal or lighten the severity of drug
legislation would make things worse overall," the book says.
"Well-organised publicity and some debate by the anti-prohibition movements
[seek] to dismantle prohibition gradually - starting with the
decriminalisation of the use of marijuana."

"However, the publicity is mostly confined to appalling generalities
designed to change public opinion . . . many arguments are selective and
not backed by a close scrutiny of the critical context or ultimate
consequences."

The book paints a graphic picture of the health risks, particularly of
cannabis abuse: from mental illness to memory loss, sexual dysfunction and
motivational problems.

Despite this, the rate of cannabis use - particularly among young people -
is soaring, Mr Thompson says.

"There is an appalling ignorance about drugs and what they can do to people
and their lives, an ignorance shared by users and non-users alike," he says.

"People are unaware that most new users are children who are experimenting
with a drug supplied by another child . . . after that no one can foretell
who will end up an addict."

The authors cite a United Nations report last year which found the
prevalence of cannabis use in Australia was among the highest in the world.
- - AAP

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Checked-by: Mike Gogulski