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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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300,000 Australians use cannabis daily
#5593104 - 05/05/06 07:37 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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300,000 use cannabis daily: report May 5, 2006 - smh.com.au
One third of Australians have used cannabis and 300,000 people are using it on a daily basis, the national drug council says.
Concerned by misinformation about cannabis and its reputation as a soft drug, the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) today launched a new booklet to educate users and their families.
The council said the booklet, Cannabis - Answers to Your Questions, provides the hard facts about the drug from more than 700 recent studies.
ANCD chief executive Gino Vumbaca said while general use of the drug was in decline, 5.5 million people aged over 14 had tried it at some time, and 1.8 million people had used it in the past 12 months.
But the most serious problem was the 295,200 people who smoked cannabis every day, Mr Vumbaca said.
Of that figure, 10 per cent, or 30,000 people, were dependent on the drug, he said.
"It's not reefer madness revisited or anything. We're not trying to paint this as anyone who goes near cannabis is going to become mentally ill," Mr Vumbaca said.
"We're going solely on what the evidence says and when people talk about links to mental health problems and other problems, they are talking about people who smoke daily, and they are the ones we want to understand that they are putting themselves at risk."
Mr Vumbaca said cannabis users came from a range of socio-economic groups, with people aged between 20-29 years the heaviest users.
The booklet would answer questions for a lot of people who may have grown up with an ill-conceived idea of the drug's effects, he said.
"What we're seeing in long-term studies is that those who use it long-term seem more likely to suffer high levels of anxiety, depression and mental illness," Mr Vumbaca said.
Garth Popple, executive director of the Sydney drug rehabilitation centre We Help Ourselves, said 20 per cent of people at the centre were there as a result of cannabis dependence.
Ten years ago, there wouldn't have been a single person in rehabilitation because of the drug, he said.
"People are now smoking hydroponics, the heads of the plant, which are stronger than the leaf which they smoked in the 1960s," Mr Popple said.
"People are developing dependencies quicker because there is more in their system."
The booklet is available through the ANCD and can be downloaded from their website at http://www.ancd.org.au/publications/pdf/rp11-cannabis-questions.pdf
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blaze2
The Witness


Registered: 12/20/02
Posts: 1,883
Loc: San Antonio, TX
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: veggie]
#5595731 - 05/05/06 09:06 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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boo.
-------------------- "Religion without science is blind, Science without religion is lame." Albert Einstein "peace is not maintained through force it is acheived through intelligence." Albert Einstein "Those who desire to give up Freedom in order to gain Security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." Thomas Jefferson "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." --Thomas Jefferson
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demiu5
humans, lol


Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 43,948
Loc: the popcorn stadium
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: veggie]
#5599253 - 05/06/06 10:36 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Garth Popple, executive director of the Sydney drug rehabilitation centre We Help Ourselves, said 20 per cent of people at the centre were there as a result of cannabis dependence.
I had a friend get busted with a minute amount and to get the charge off his record, he went through a drug rehab center. He said most people in there for pot were just there to get it removed. I wonder if the situation is similar.
"People are now smoking hydroponics, the heads of the plant, which are stronger than the leaf which they smoked in the 1960s," Mr Popple said.
Does this mean something different in Australia?
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
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DepthToTheCore
JeeBuzz

Registered: 05/05/04
Posts: 3,649
Loc: Australia brah
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: demiu5]
#5599809 - 05/07/06 01:16 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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These drug people describe things in the most stupid ways.
"People are now smoking hydroponics, the heads of the plant, which are stronger than the leaf which they smoked in the 1960s,"
Why does hydroponic mean a differwent part of the plant. To my understanding its just a different method of growing? And people i know certainly didnt smoke the leaves back in 60's. Alot of my parents friends laughed when i showed them this.
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"Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." - George Carlin
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CrazyPsilocybe
King Of AllJackasses

Registered: 04/30/06
Posts: 83
Loc: United States of Ass Rapi...
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: DepthToTheCore]
#5611447 - 05/10/06 02:37 AM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
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Thats bullshit. They talk about hydro being stronger like we're going to use the same amount. Thats like saying you're going to drink the same amounts of liquor or beer. Bullshit. The body has an "off" button (something often ignored!) when we get high enough.
-------------------- "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." -Hunter S. Thompson
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Muufokfok
aka BoxyBrown


Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 2,119
Loc: america's wang
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: CrazyPsilocybe]
#6853992 - 04/30/07 01:35 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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is cannabis legal in aussie?
-------------------- "I'm guessing the 'ancient lost drug' of india is psychedelic mushrooms. The correlation between sacred cows (in hinduism) and magic mushrooms growing on cow dung is too strong to ignore, if you ask me."
  As the ocean waves, the universe "peoples" ~Alan Watts~
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RoosterCogburn
Fearless,one-eyed U.S.Marshall



Registered: 08/25/06
Posts: 8,508
Loc: Dirty South, NJ
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: Muufokfok]
#6854000 - 04/30/07 01:39 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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haha... I always smoke the hydroponics first. You know, the heads of the plant. 
WHAT THE FUCK?
This is like the scene in Futurama, when Fry is about to get a physical from the "squid/crab-like" Dr. Zoidberg, and the good doctor knows NOTHING about human anatomy... Why would anyone believe this?!
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takk
Stranger


Registered: 02/22/06
Posts: 736
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: RoosterCogburn]
#6898697 - 05/10/07 05:46 PM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
RoosterCogburn said: This is like the scene in Futurama, when Fry is about to get a physical from the "squid/crab-like" Dr. Zoidberg, and the good doctor knows NOTHING about human anatomy... Why would anyone believe this?!
Don't worry, at least the STUPID author's one of the 2/3rds who hasn't rolled up
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rintintin
Stranger
Registered: 04/20/07
Posts: 53
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Re: 300,000 Australians use cannabis daily [Re: RoosterCogburn]
#6900259 - 05/11/07 12:01 AM (16 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
RoosterCogburn said: haha... I always smoke the hydroponics first. You know, the heads of the plant. 
WHAT THE FUCK?
im gonna score me some hydroton and smoke it
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