I would like to provide a statement from Daniel Amen as I continue my response to the document "War on Drugs-Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy." Let us examine closely Dr Amen's analysis which can be found in his book, Change Your Brain-Change Your Life:"Marijuana has also been described as a "gateway" drug by several researchers, with one study reporting that 98 per cent of cocaine users started with marijuana. Despite these studies, there is controversy both in the mind of the general population and in the medical community about whether marijuana is harmful. Legalising marijuana has been a social/political topic for decade."Let us compare Dr Amen's declaration with the executive summary of the 2011 UN report. Let us focus on the second paragraph under the subtitle, Our principles and recommendations can be summarised as follows:
"Encouraging experimentation by governments with models of legal regulation of drugs to undermine the power of organised crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. This recommendation applies especially to cannabis, but we also encourage other experiments in decriminalisation and legal regulation that can accomplish these objectives and provide models for others."
Let us remember and ponder these words, "This recommendation applies especially to canna-bis." Many professionals have suggested that marijuana use is relatively harmless and therefore it would be wise to legalise it. But according to Dr Amen, the nuclear research strategy SPECT (single photon emission computerised tomography) has exposed grave dangers linked to marijuana use. Let us identify some of these:
Decrease in cerebral blood flow.
Decreased temporal lobe activity. This abnormal activity has been associated with problems in memory, learning and motivation.
Since modern research has indicated the massive impact when the left temporal lobe is damaged, let us view the results of these studies:n Aggression, internally or externally directed. Dark or violent thoughts. Sensitivity to slights; mild paranoia. Word-finding problems. Auditory processing problems. Emotional instability.
How harmless is marijuana in the short term as well as the long term? This question is very significant since parents scream and get depressed when their weed-smoking sons and daughters display extreme violence, inappro- priate sexual behaviour and a mysterious insubordination. Hear the responses of parents:"My son is a good boy. The vampire (pusher) put some cocaine powder in the weed. The weed is harmless." "Somebody messing up my son's brain with coke. The boy gone stark mad."These responses are a mixture of denial and misinformation. But understand that all of our youth are not fooled. There are youth who ask a basic but potent question. "If tobacco and alcohol are so dangerous, why were they legalised?"
Perhaps the decriminalising and legalising activists would prefer a longer question: "If tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine are so dangerous, why were they legalised?" Well the answers may be any of the following:n The global war on drugs has failed. We wish to destroy the black market trade. Some drugs like marijuana are relatively harmless and even good for some diseases. Research in some countries has indicated that this liberal policy works.Since the political and business luminaries like Kofi Anan, Sir Richard Branson, Asma Jahangir, Paul Volcker are pushing their legalising agenda, it is important to know the facts. Let us look at a report from Holland, since Holland is being used as the shining example of their radical philosophy:
n The number of heroin addicts being treated in the methadone-maintenance programmes run by the Ministry of Health went from 6,511 in 1988 to 9,838 in 1997-hardly an indication that heroin use declined since the introduction of the coffee-shop law.n There is the skyrocketing rise in pill-popping and Holland's pivotal role in the manufacture and sale of ecstasy and amphetamines.n According to the British medical journal Lancet, regular use of ecstasy could result in apparently irreversible damage to the brain's serotonin receptors.
n It is true that in Holland, as in most other European countries, the heroin addiction population is growing older. On the other hand, heroin addiction is usually a slow, insidious process. The youth who starts to consume it at 19 will probably take four to five years to reach the level of dependency that will force him or her to seek help. But Koopman, at the Hope Rehab Centre, says 40 per cent of the 250 addicts awaiting treatment at his facility are younger than 25.
n Dutch cannabis growers have produced a lethal form of the drug known as Nederwiet. This is the smooth-tasting beast as vicious as a blood-sucking vampire. The ganja of the 1970s had three to five per cent THC, the element that damages the brain while it gives you a mountaintop high. But in the 1990s, the THC content rose to 35 per cent. Bear in mind that THC is soluble in fat, but not in water.n Some of the toxic effects of THC include short-term memory loss, diminished learning capacity, and reduced motor skills. This information came from Heather Ashton, a professor of neurological studies at the University of Newcastle, England.
Soft, gateway drug? Soft? A drug that damages the limbic system, compromises your immune system, produces DNA damage, increases aggressive tendencies, facilitates emotional instability, harms the memory, destroys interpersonal relationships, leads to the amotivational syndrome, reduces cerebral blood follow? Soft? If that is soft, I wonder what is hard.I would like to reinforce my argument by quoting one of Bri-tain's leading rehabilitation ex- perts:"We now see a tendency toward a form of dependency among those who use it (cannabis) regularly. For the first time I am beginning to see something that re- sembles the withdrawal symptoms produced by hard drugs in heavy cannabis users."
What about the opinion of Dutch expert Dr JA Wallenberg, director of the Jellinek Clinic, Holland's best known drug abuse rehabilitation centre? I reflected on Dr Amen's conclusion as I read Wallenberg's shocking comments:"We have indulged ourselves in a kind of blind optimism in Holland concerning cannabis. Use of this stronger THC cannabis has stabilised at too high a level. We see young users with psychological problems who use it as a form of self-medication."
And of course we have the Biche high-potency brand in Trinidad. We also import the Arizona high-grade stuff and the hydro-Jamai-can brand. So we in the Caribbean have increased the toxic levels of the catastrophic substances in the ganja.Think of the smokers who give their parents hell, think of the cocaine fathers who beat their spouses and children mercilessly. Think of the huge healthcare costs and the burden on the State. Think of the conscienceless bandits who are just waiting for legislation so they can now have legal blood money. Legalise? No-a loud No.