OPINION: California will vote next month on whether to legalise marijuana. WAYNE HALL tries to predict what will happen if it does. What will happen if Californians vote this November to legalise marijuana use by any adult over the age of 21 years? Let's ignore for now the vexed constitutional issues that will be raised if a United States state enacts legislation that conflicts with federal law. Let's focus instead on what may happen if the law changes as the referendum proposes. [continues 822 words]
Local Methadone Clinic Sees Growing Numbers Newburgh - He was middle class. A single parent with three kids. Handsome, he was a fast lane kind of guy. Lawyer girlfriend. Country club social life. Sure, he'd had trouble with painkillers. But he never saw himself as weak enough to go on hard dope. Today, Frank's one of a growing number of white, middle-class heroin addicts checking in at the drab, pink, one-story building on Commercial Place, right off busy Walsh's Road in Newburgh. [continues 861 words]
Injectable heroin maintenance has been advocated as a form of treatment for opioid dependence that would attract, and retain in treatment, addicts who have either not sought treatment or who have failed at other forms of treatment, including methadone maintenance. Advocates of heroin maintenance argue that it would increase the proportion of addicts in treatment and reduce heroin use, drug-related crime, and deaths due to overdose. [1] A 1991 proposal by a Select Committee on HIV, Illegal Drugs and Prostitution of the ACT Legislative Assembly led to a feasibility study for a heroin trial in the ACT. [1] In 1997, the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy voted in favour of a heroin trial, but the trial did not proceed, as the Federal Government would not amend legislation to allow heroin to be imported for the trial or allocate funds to monitor the use of heroin in accordance with international treaties. [2] [continues 833 words]
I write to correct an impression created by today's article in the Herald that I resigned from the Australian National Council on Drugs because of recent changes in membership. I wrote to Major Watters in June last year, indicating that I did not to seek a further three-year term on the council when my term expired in March this year. I did so because of a substantial increase in the demands on my time as executive director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Wayne Hall, Randwick, March 19. [end]
Here is a plan, writes WAYNE HALL, that would spare AIDS and cancer patients pain without them having to resort to the black market. The Working Party on the Medical Uses of Cannabis was asked to advise the Premier on the possible medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoid drugs. At the Premier's request, we examined ways in which cannabis or cannabinoids could be legally used for medical purposes without decriminalising recreational cannabis use. We reviewed the scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of the medical uses of the crude cannabis plant (which is usually smoked) and of cannabinoid drugs. These are pharmaceutically pure forms of substances that are found in the cannabis plant, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient of cannabis, or they are drugs that act on the same sites in the brain as THC. [continues 604 words]
A number of commentators in the alcohol and other drugs field have recently claimed that the THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of cannabis products used in Australia has increased up to 30 times over the past two decades. [1-3] The increased THC content has been attributed to the cultivation of particular cannabis strains, including hybrids of the Cannabis sativa plant such as 'skunk', and the use of hydroponic growing methods. Since THC is the psychoactive substance in cannabis that is responsible for most of its effects, [4] these claims have been used to explain an apparent increase in the adverse health and psychological effects of cannabis use among young people who are regular users of the drug. [continues 3958 words]
Research Suggests Designer Drug May Cause Brain Damage, Write Wayne Hall, Iain Mcgregor And Brendon Boot. THE past week has been an important time for both those who study the effects of the drug ecstasy and for those who take it. A British study reported that long-term ecstasy users have poor memories. A German research group has suggested that even infrequent use of ecstasy may be enough to decrease your memory and reasoning ability. On Saturday, the respected medical journal The Lancetpublished a review of the scientific evidence about this drug. In it, we - a group of Sydney researchers - argue that ecstasy use is a much more hazardous activity than many users realise. [continues 550 words]
Forget Your Presumptions. Medical Marijuana Needs the Same Scrutiny as Any Other Drug More closely associated with the likes of Cheech and Chong than with chemotherapy, with pot parties than with pain relief, marijuana is mostly thought of as an illegal substance. The claim that it might be useful in treating a variety of medical conditions typically provokes two divergent and equally unrealistic responses: Opponents argue that the plant offers little or no therapeutic benefit; advocates see it as a powerfully effective drug that no one should be denied. [continues 1688 words]
(part 1) Cannabis The Drug Patterns Of Cannabis Use Acute Effects Of Cannabis Effects Of Chronic Cannabis Use (Part 2) References Further Reading REFERENCES 1 Hall W, Johnston L, Donnelly N. The epidemiology of cannabis use and its consequences. In: Kalant H, Corrigal W, Hall W, Smart R, eds. The health effects of cannabis. Toronto: Addiction Research Foundation, 1998. 2 Hall W, Solowij N, Lemon J. The health and psychological consequences of cannabis use. National Drug Strategy Monograph Series no 25. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994. [continues 2187 words]
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia (part 1) Cannabis The Drug Patterns Of Cannabis Use Acute Effects Of Cannabis Effects Of Chronic Cannabis Use (Part 2) References Further Reading Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in many developed societies. Its health and psychological effects are not well understood and remain the subject of much debate, with opinions on its risks polarised along the lines of proponents' views on what its legal status should be. An unfortunate consequence of this polarisation of opinion has been the absence of any consensus on what health information the medical profession should give to patients who are users or potential users of cannabis. There is conflicting evidence about many of the effects of cannabis use, so we summarise the evidence on the most probable adverse health and psychological consequences of acute and chronic use. This uncertainty, however, should not prevent medical practitioners from advising patients about the most likely ill-effects of their cannabis use. Here we make some suggestions about the advice doctors can give to patients who use, or are contemplating the use, of this drug. [continues 3412 words]
