The Victorian Govt is preparing to decriminalise 25 gm of marijuana and allow 5 plants to be grown. The voters of Victoria need to know the following:
As many as 86 joints can be made from 25gm and it is possible to get three people high from one joint. A 3 month old plant will conservatively produce 450gm of harvestable leaf. 5 plants properly harvested will produce at least 20 pounds af marijuana which will then produce over 31,000 joints, or 85 joints per day!
(info prepared for the ACT Legislative Assembly, Jan 93, by John Malouf)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
- Liberal Senator (NSW) Bob Woods says, "...a 15-year study of 55,000 Swedish conscripts showed a 6-times higher incidence of schizophrenia amongst those who were regular or heavy marijuana smokers compared with others who weren't. Numerous studies associate marijuana use with early onset of senility, throat and lung cancer, lower sperm count, and damage to germ cells from which foetuses, and subsequently, babies, are produced." (Australian 30 Aug 1994)
- Over 1,000 studies conducted by the foremost agricultural college in the US, The University of Mississippi, all point to the harmful effects of marijuana.
- The Journal of the Australian Medical Association found that 20 year-old pot smokers had the same mouth, tongue and esophagus cancer rate as 65 year-olds who had been heavy smokers and drinkers for decades.
- The American Medical Association warns about the tar content in marijuana smoke which is much worse than cigarette smoke because it is inhaled deeper (except by US President Bill Clinton) and held much longer in the lungs.
- NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research Director Don Weatherburn found that "In the case for break, enter and steal and car theft the single most important factor was the level of cannabis consumption. Decriminalising marijuana could exacerbate the problem...". (Tasmanian Examiner 30 May 95)
- Chairman of the Mental Health Foundation of Australia, Prof Graham Burrows, says marijuana smoking impairs brain cells and can cause permanent brain damage.
- Dandenong Hospital Psychiatric Dept reports that marijuana smoking negates the effects of anti psychotic drugs.
- U S National Health Department has found marijuana smoking to be a major cause of relapse in schizophrenic patients and to be a major set-back in the fight against mental illness.
- In a study of 1,000 users of hard drugs conducted by the University of Mississippi only 1 had not used pot.
- The United Nations condemns marijuana and none of the 150+ nations that are a party to the UN Convention against illicit drugs may decriminalise cannabis. "Decriminalisation does not work for a simple reason, it encourages heavy cannabis users to avoid the problem." (Readers Digest [RD] April 95)
- Since 1976 Dutch marijuana "coffee houses" have increased from 200 to around 10,000. Marijuana consumption has trebled amongst the youth. The Netherlands is now one of the most crime-prone nations in Europe. (RD April 95)
- Joy Murdoch, Canberra drug rehab centre says, "Since the ACT decriminalised in 1992, our centre has recorded a 40% increase in problematic cannabis abuse."
- John Western, Professor of Sociology at Queensland Uni and Chairman of the Criminal Justice Commission's Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs says, "We don't condone passive smoking or drink driving. Why should our perspective be any different for cannabis?" (RD April 95)
- The US Govt will not allow women who ever want to have children test marijuana because of damage caused to the reproductive system. "Studies of marijuana-smoking mothers show their babies may have shorter gestation periods, higher risk of birth defects, low birth weight and leukaemia." (RD April 95)
- Victorian Institute of Forensic Pathology says, "cannabis was detected in 11% of road fatalities in NSW, Victoria and WA between 1990 and 1993." (RD April 95)
- Dr Olave Braenden, former director of the UN Laboratory in Geneva Switzerland says, "among the scientists working in the field it would seem there is a general consensus that marijuana is dangerous. ...as more scientific facts are discovered about cannabis, our society, as we know it, is in serious and imminent danger."
(from Marijuana - An Australian Crisis, Elaine Walters, PO Box 230, Malvern, Victoria 3144, her new book The Cruel Hoax, $30 pp from Malvern)
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