This is the first of a two-part commentary on reforming Bermuda’s cannabis laws by Cheryl Pooley

On the topic of marijuana in Bermuda, there appears to be strong public support to remove the criminality of recreational use for small amounts one ounce and under.

Prohibition has not stemmed the use, it has proven not to work and it has evidentially fuelled gang warfare and mafia type tactics in the poorest of neighbourhoods.

Discussion often centres on changing Bermuda’s laws so that young people do not have their lives tragically altered for decades due to being placed on the US Stop List often for very minor amounts of marijuana.

But in addition to the topic of the US Stop List, it might be reasonable to assume that a significant portion of the “younger” Baby Boomers (born 1950-1964) as well as debatably a large portion of the Generations X (1965-1979) and Y (1980-2000) support decriminalisation for various other reasons and from different perspectives to main stream.

Discussions in Bermuda’s community both publicly and at private social gatherings as well as reported in the media appear to narrow down four rationales for using marijuana:

(1) Some people don’t like the taste of alcohol;

(2) Others have a low tolerance for alcohol and prefer marijuana because it does not cause hangovers, headaches and vomiting and the altered state of awareness lasts for 1 ½ hours to 2 ½ hours compared to alcohol inebriation which can last from six to eight hours;

(3) Advocates of marijuana decriminalisation know that there is overwhelming research that proves alcohol and tobacco have far greater health consequences than marijuana.

This cohort choose to use cannabis over alcohol and tobacco for health reasons;

(4) The benefits of using marijuana as a treatment, remedy and painkiller for a number of medical conditions is globally supported by scientific case studies which have been recognised as credible sources of information by various international government health departments and medical associations.

Advocates for the legalisation of medical marijuana aren’t just people looking for relief from various medical conditions diminishing their quality of life; this particular cohort includes non-smokers, the medical establishment and medical human rights groups.

It should be incumbent upon us as a Society to discuss these issues factually and unemotionally and with great awareness that our teenagers are listening to the debate.

If we want to get the message out to young people that it is not okay to smoke marijuana before the age of 18 because the brain is still developing, then it is of paramount importance that Bermuda’s alcohol and drug awareness agencies, Government press releases and publications and church leaders speak with credibility.

A good starting point is an acknowledgment that alcohol and cigarettes, which are legal, cause more harm than marijuana.

As long as we pretend that marijuana is worse than alcohol and cigarettes; as long as distorted information is published in youth literature and distorted in drug prevention adverts; the accurate portions of these messages may be taken less seriously and could well fall on deaf ears.

Teenagers might ignore the accurate message that, like alcohol, there are potential health risks to using marijuana at a young age and most importantly there is heightened probability of addiction.

The Frankfurt Resolution

Reference: Frankfurt Resolution. Konferenz: Europaisch Stadte Im Zentrum Des Illegalen Drogenhandels. November 20-22, 1990.

One document that greatly influenced modern European drug policy was the Frankfurt Resolution of November 1990.

The key element of the Resolution was an open declaration that the war on drug users is a failure and the following is an excerpt:

“A drug policy fighting against addiction exclusively with the criminal law and the compulsion to abstinence and offering abstinence only has failed ...

Criminalisation is a counterpart to drug aid and drug therapy and is a burden for police and justice they cannot carry ...

The aid for drug users must no longer be threatened by criminal law ... it is necessary to lay stress on harm reduction and therefore repressive forms of intervention must be reduced to the absolute necessary minimum.”

This resolution led European countries to examine alternatives to penal sanctions, specifically imprisonment, and treat violations of the cannabis laws as a civil offence.

Today, most European countries firmly believe that there can be no legal basis for prohibiting freedom of action in respect to one’s own body.

In fact most of Europe has recognised that the responsible use of cannabis by an adult, in their home, is not part of a country’s crime problem.

Countries that have Decriminalised Marijuana

In addition to Europe, the United States has decriminalised marijuana in 15 states, and legalised it in two. Marijuana has been decriminalised for personal possession in six Central and South American countries as well Cambodia, Jamaica, Nepal and Russia.

In Australia, Belgium, Iran, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal and the US, marijuana cultivation has been decriminalised and persons are allowed a limited amount of plants for personal use; while Spain, Uruguay and Switzerland have fully legalised cultivation.

Statistics on Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs

The most reliable statistics on alcohol, tobacco and drugs are published in the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) website and are referenced in this article along with information from other sources such as the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists, the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information and most interestingly the “Cancer Research UK” website for its objective information on links between cannabis and cancer.

The World Health Organisation data reveals that alcohol kills 2.5 million people a year worldwide and it identifies that there are 60 different types of diseases that alcohol plays a casual role in.

Most deaths from alcohol are from intentional injury and the two most prevalent diseases are Cardio Vascular and Liver Cancer.

In the last census conducted by WHO, it was estimated that approximately 42 percent of the world’s population drinks alcohol.

WHO reports that tobacco kills 6 million people a year, and highlights there are 1 billion tobacco users worldwide and identifies tobacco use as one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.

WHO provides information on the chronic health effects of cannabis use but there is no indication that heavy cannabis consumption or moderate consumption leads to death.

So here we have alcohol and tobacco being legal in Bermuda but someone smoking marijuana recreationally is made into a criminal even though there is abundant scientific evidence that proves alcohol and tobacco to be more dangerous.

WHO reports that the majority of short-term controlled studies conducted on marijuana use reveal no detrimental adverse outcomes and less than four percent of participants experienced panic attacks, paranoia and delusions.

Health effects from chronic use of cannabis are reported by the World Health Organisation to lead to respiratory illnesses.

They report it impairs short term memory and causes lethargy. WHO reports that it can increase the heart rate, it can lower blood pressure and alter motor skills and reflexes.

The positive outcomes WHO reports from randomised study trials, show marijuana reduces anxiety, aides in sleep, reduces nausea, stimulates the appetite, works as a muscle relaxant, helps with pain management and relieves MS and cancer symptoms.

There are no refutable scientific studies that have been conducted with large groups of participant cohorts over a three decade period that conclude smoking cannabis results in death.

There are no death statistics on the American Medical Association website neither are there any reported by the UK Health Service Website.

2013 Gallup statistics reveal that in the United States 38 percent of adults have tried marijuana.

Continued in tomorrow’s Royal Gazette