November is being celebrated as Drug Awareness month, with an offensive targeted at children between the ages of five and seven years old who are considered vulnerable to drug use. That such a vulnerability exists for children in the five- and seven-year-old categories is astounding, but not unbelievable, when a video doing the rounds on cellphones is viewed with children in the same age group indulging in sexual intercourse and being encouraged by adults! This typifies the level of moral degradation now prevailing in Jamaica. The National Council on Drug Abuse is therefore commended for taking proactive offensive action, by launching the project named “Resistance Education Against Drugs” (READ), with support from the National Health Fund, and spanning 25 schools islandwide.

The READ programme includes development and implementation of a media campaign targeting parents and young children, as it has been reported in the 2006 National School Survey that the age of initiation of drug use among Jamaicans is below 10 years old. Astonishing indeed! Imagine the far-reaching nature of this destructive problem if ganja were to be decriminalised or legalised, and hence freely available to all and sundry? A nation of “zombies” over time would likely be the result with increases in industrial accidents, violent crimes and traffic accidents, to name a few of the toxic effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive drug in cannabis, aka ganja.

The NCDA has been prompted to develop a prevention programme that caters for children in the first year of primary school. Two hundred children from 20 inner-city schools in Kingston and St Andrew have been identified and the findings prompted the need for an extended programme, intended to boost ongoing prevention programmes in schools. Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson commented: “The READ programme is an excellent tool to empower school-age children with the knowledge to recognise negative behaviours linked to drug use and therefore reduce their intention to use substances of abuse. Intention to use is a critical factor which incorporates accessibility, knowledge of the users and opportunity for use,” he said.

Consider further the case of marijuana where decriminalisation/legalisation is recommended without criminal charge against users of small quantities of ganja for pleasure. With the establishment of the drug courts in Jamaica which already exist in America, first offenders are warned and set free without criminal charge or record, and second offenders are offered a rehabilitation programme. Medicinal marijuana is legal in Jamaica and used in certain locally produced products. Britain went as far as to reclassify cannabis from a class B drug to class C, and then recently reclassified ganja to class B. The reason for this change was the discovery that contemporary cannabis contains a much higher percentage of THC than earlier varieties. This new version called “skunk” poses a serious threat to both the physical and mental health of its users.

Healthwise, there is a fallacious argument that states: “Marijuana is far less damaging to a person’s health than alcohol and cigarettes”. The US Office of National Drug Control Policy is of a different persuasion: “Marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 per cent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. Using marijuana may promote cancer of the respiratory tract and disrupt the immune system. Marijuana smokers have a heightened risk of lung infection. Long-term use of marijuana may increase the risk of chronic cough, bronchitis, and emphysema as well as cancer of the head, neck and lungs.”

The US Drug Enforcement Agency reported: “Congress has designated marijuana as having no medicinal value. The Federal Supreme Court affirmed this designation.” In June 2005, the US Federal Supreme Court, by a six to three decision, ruled that state-grown marijuana is illegal, and producers, users and abusers will be prosecuted. “What science has told us thus far is that there is no medical benefit from smoking marijuana. It is not recommended for the treatment of any disease.” Ganja is also illegal in Canada, the UK and all Caricom countries.

The West Indian Medical Journal of December 1999 contains an article by Dr Archie McDonald among others in the trauma centre at the University Hospital in Kingston. Their findings were that in the tests of blood and urine of 111 victims admitted during a

three-month period, ganja was the most prevalent substance found in their bodies. The discovery was made in 50 per cent of victims of road crashes and 55 per cent of victims of violence-related injuries. By comparison, alcohol was found in 43 per cent of crash victims and 27 per cent of violence-related injury cases. The conclusion is that ganja plays a greater role in motor vehicle accidents in Jamaica than alcohol.

In Jamaica the drug courts were established by “The Drug Court (Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1999” and have worked well. People detained for possession of a small quantity of ganja are put before the Drug Court and given a warning. There is no criminal record and if detained a second time, then the person is put again before the Drug Court and may be referred to a Magistrate’s Court if they do not agree to enter a rehabilitation programme. If the programme is successful, no criminal charge is recorded.

The above information emphasises the dangerous nature of ganja which threatens to wreak havoc, if legalised in whatever form. The NCDA children’s programme is even more urgent when reviewing the potential dangers of ganja use here recorded. We hope the minister of justice would also take note.