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Alcohol Worse than Cannabis
according to two official European reports
French Government Report Says Alcohol Worse than Cannabis
(Reuters, 16 June 1998)
PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - Flying in the face of official policy, a government-commissioned report published on Tuesday concludes that drinking is a far worse health hazard than smoking
cannabis.
The report, by the state medical research institute INSERM as well as foreign experts and published by Le Monde newspaper, questions French laws that place few restrictions on drinking but ban cannabis.
It identifies alcohol, heroin and cocaine in the group of substances most dangerous to health. Tobacco, psychotropic drugs, tranquillisers and hallucinogens are in a second group, with cannabis well down the list of substances categorised as posing relatively little danger.
The report, commissioned by Junior Health Minister Bernard Kouchner, is embarrassing for the government just a few days after President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin rejected calls to de-criminalise soft drugs.
An activist who mailed a marijuana cigarette to every French MP in a campaign to ease tough drug laws was fined 50,000 francs ($8,400) last month.
But there are few limits in France on the consumption of spirits, a well-established tradition in this wine - and cognac - producing country. Young people are not allowed to drink alcohol in bars but may buy it from stores.
The report said both alcohol and heroin are highly addictive both physically and psychologically, damaging to health and encouraged dangerous social behaviour.
Heroin is the most lethal drug as it carries the added hazards of overdose and infection through used syringes.
Alcohol and tobacco come next, associated with cancer, hepatitis and cardiovascular ailments. Drunkenness is also seen as a major cause of suicides, murders, traffic and workplace accidents.
But cannabis is seen as having low toxicity, little addictive power and posing only a minor threat to social behaviour.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Alcohol worse than cannabis says 'Lancet'
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
The Independent (UK),
Friday 13 November 1998
CANNABIS IS less harmful to health than
alcohol or tobacco, the medical journal The
Lancet says today.
Endorsement of the relative safety of the
recreational drug from a prestigious medical
source will increase pressure on ministers to relax
the legal ban on cannabis.
This week a select committee of the House of
Lords urged that prescription of cannabis, and its
derivatives, by doctors should be permitted for
some patients, such as those suffering multiple
sclerosis, whom it has been shown to help. The
Government rejected the Lords' advice on the
grounds that clinical trials have not been done. It
was backed by the British Medical Association,
which said crude cannabis was not a suitable
medicinal product because it contained toxic
ingredients, including tar.
The Lancet says in an editorial that patients are
entitled to advice on the likely dangers of
cannabis use. These include the risk of accidents
when intoxicated, irritation of the lungs,
dependence with daily use and subtle cognitive
impairment with long-term use. However,
compared to the damage wreaked by alcohol and
tobacco, these dangers are not excessive. "It
would be reasonable to judge cannabis less of a
threat to health than alcohol or tobacco, products
that in many countries are not only tolerated and
advertised but are also a useful source of tax
revenue."
A separate review article in the journal quotes the
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in
Sydney, Australia, which says most cannabis
users stop in their mid to late 20s and few use it
daily for years.
In its editorial, the journal says the debate about
whether cannabis should be legalised for
recreational use is complicating scientific
assessment of the therapeutic effects of
cannabinoids, the drug's active constituents.
"The desire to take mood- altering substances is
an enduring feature of human societies worldwide
and even the most draconian legislation has failed
to extinguish this desire . . . this should be borne
in mind by social legislators."
It concludes: "On the medical evidence available,
moderate indulgence in cannabis has little effect
on health, and decisions to ban or to legalise
cannabis should be based on other
considerations."
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