BEFORE and after the proposal to change the law governing ganja there have been some major concerns expressed from a few quarters of the Jamaican society. It was reported in the article ‘Psychiatrist worried about ganja decriminalisation’ (Observer, March 9, 2015) that Dr Winston De La Hay was concerned about increased use of ganja after decriminalisation. This, he argues, would lead to increased addiction and also an increase in people presenting with mental illnesses.

There are also some other major concerns about memory and cognition, motivation, academic and work performance, and the issue of gateway drugs. These concerns must be addressed.

Dr De La Haye, according to the article, compared the ganja situation in Jamaica to a situation involving the decreasing of the price of alcohol in Russia resulting in increased alcohol addiction. However, contrary to Dr De La Haye findings about alcohol in Russia, scientific research on ganja and its effects in Jamaica and the world at large have dispelled this myth about decriminalisation, increased use and insanity.

Decriminalisation and increased use of ganja

There is little evidence, internationally, especially in areas where prohibition is removed, to suggest a surge in use of cannabis upon decriminalisation. In the Canadian experience, as reported in the Senate Report (2002): “We have not legalised cannabis and we have one of the highest rates [of use] in the world. Countries adopting a more liberal policy have, for the most part, rates of usage lower than ours.”

Another case in point is The Netherlands. For years marijuana is available in hundreds of adult-only coffee shops. The United Nations World Drug Report (2012) pegs the level of use in The Netherlands at 7.7 per cent of those aged 15 to 64. The same report shows that the US has the seventh highest rate of pot smokers globally, 14.1 per cent; while Canada ranks eighth at 12.7 per cent. Spain decriminalised possession and in that new drug regime smoking is at 10.6 per cent, which is lower that the US or Canada.

There is, therefore, no relationship between removing prohibitive laws and the increase in use of cannabis. The following is an overview of data on the prevalence of schoolchildren on smoking cannabis in the Caribbean from Cannabis: A Short Review (UNODOC, 2012)

1. St Lucia Age: 13-20 27.4% 2002

2. Jamaica Age: 12-16 26.9% 1997

3. Barbados Age: 12-18 23.3% 2002

These figures are very close to those in the developed countries with prohibition and have a common tradition with Jamaica and some other Caribbean countries. The fears of increase are justified only in the context of prohibition.

Ganja and insanity

One of the most frequent questions asked by people with concerns about ganja smoking is its relationship to insanity. According to scientific examinations, there is no convincing evidence that “marijuana causes psychological damage or mental illness in teenagers or adults”.

Reports from Egypt and India have provided statistical association found between marijuana and mental illness. In western societies, scientific studies have shown no relationship between marijuana-use and mental illness. It is noted, however, that marijuana smoking “can exacerbate symptoms in people with existing mental disorders”. (Zimmer and Morgan 1997) It was the Indian Hemp Commission in 1894 that concluded that: “There was no evidence of addiction associated with hemp drug use.” According to The British Wooten Report (1960), the “dangers of marijuana are overstated” and that there is no “evidence in western society that there are serious physical dangers posed by the smoking of cannabis”. The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse Report (1982), states: “There is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm” from the use of natural cannabis. The LaGuardia Commission, 1944, examined many smokers having a long history of cannabis use, and reported that “marijuana users were not of inferior intelligence to the general population, and that they suffered no mental or physical deterioration as a result of the use of the drug”.

In looking at ganja and cognitive functions, The Canadian Le Dain Report (1972) cites reports from the 1971 research on the ‘Effects of ganja smoking in Jamaica’ by Comitas and Rubin, that men, users with 10 or more years history of smoking cannabis were matched with non-users. The researchers found out that members of the group (smokers) showed no difference in a variety of measures of cognitive functions and memory.

Gateway drug?

It is important that we look at researched data from prohibition and non-prohibition areas. The Canadian Senate Report (2002) concluded after its exhaustive study, that the “30 years’ experience in The Netherlands disproves this [that cannabis is a gateway drug] clearly; as do the liberal policies in Spain, Italy and Portugal”. The report shows that where the law is relaxed or changed the consumption of harder drugs is decreased. It notes also that “here in Canada, despite the growing increase in its cannabis users [at the time of the report], we have not had a proportionate increase in the users of hard drug”. It contends that “the use of cocaine, hallucinogens and ecstasy are all at lower rates that in 2004 (report from Health Canada Survey 2011). This is very important data and information that the pot smoking increases in Canada is associated with reduction in the using of hard and party drugs.

According to Zimmer and Morgan (1998), the so-called gateway hypothesis was never rooted in any serious evidence. They write that during the 1950s it was liked to heroin; in the 1960s to LSD; and in today’s world to cocaine. They show that the increase in use of marijuana was associated with decrease of heroin use in the USA. The Dutch Baan Commission (1972) also dispelled the notion of cannabis as a gateway drug.

Motivation and academic and work performance

The Commission of the Australian Government Report (1977) informs that “over the past 40 years, marijuana has been accused of causing an array of social effects”. The Harrison 1914 (USA) opinion said that it was “destroying of the American work ethic in young people”. One source writes that, “for 20 years, researchers have searched for marijuana-induced motivational syndrome and have failed to find it”. Studies have shown that users exhibit “no decrease in motivation or productivity”. It shows also that, among working adults, marijuana users tend to earn higher wages that non-users; that users in college have same grade as non-users; and that those users in high schools doing poorly that non-users are affected by other factors: cultural and institutional.

It is important to note that in 1972 major studies were sponsored by the USA across the globe in places such as Greece and Jamaica. In Jamaica, for example, they found out those farm workers who smoke marijuana work harder than non-users, and that marijuana use increased labour productivity. The Canadian Le Dain Report (1972) looks at the relationship between the use of cannabis and academic performance: Researcher found that light or infrequent users in college tend to have better grades than heavy users and non-users. It is important for speakers for and against ganja informed themselves through research on the matter. The ill effects of globalisation and mass culture may be more responsible for social disorders as opposed to ganja smoking.

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