Cannabis : a discussion paper.

  • South Australia. Royal Commission into the Non-medical Use of Drugs.
Date:
1978
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Cannabis : a discussion paper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/140 (page 26)
    assessment of their user status. The information in the table is used by the Health Commission as a measure of the prevalence of cannabis use, but as such it must be regarded as somewhat imprecise. This is because the table is based on questions that do not specify a definite time period for use. TABLE 4.2 : CURRENT CANNABIS USERS - NEW SOUTH WALES 1971, 1972 AND 1973) 1971(%) 1972(%) 1973 (%) Form 4 6.1 8.9 9.8 Form 6 hea 10.9 13.5 Trade school 19.5 26.1 28.8 Day matriculation 29.7 33.3 Art school 41.5 48.0 Nurses (general) 9.6 11.5 Nurses (psychiatric) 33.6 34.6 (a) from Trends in Marijuana Use in New South Wales 1971 to 1973, op cit., p. 34. In discussion of results the New South Wales Health Commission concludes that although admitted use of cannabis has increased over the period of their surveys there has been no proportional increase in the numbers of heavy users of cannabis. They defined heavy users as ‘those who smoked at least occasionally during the week . . . at least 3 joints or pipes on each occasion’ .!° The New South Wales Health Commission studies show a relatively high prevalence of cannabis use amongst all the sampled populations. Their results suggest that approximately one-third of young persons who use cannabis have discontinued use of the substance. Unfortunately, the results cannot tell us whether those persons who discontinue using cannabis do so after one or two experimental encounters or after continued occasional:use. Of those young people who admitted to continuing use of cannabis a high proportion used cannabis once a month or less. There are few admitted users who could be described as heavy users. Other drug use research was carried out in Melbourne by Krupinski and Stoller in 1971! and later repeated by Graves in Ballarat in 1974.!” Krupinski and Stoller sampled fifth form secondary school students, apprentices, students who left school before reaching fifth form, first and third year tertiary students, and student nurses. A further sample was taken from young persons under 23 years employed in various occupations. Unfortunately, the response rates obtained in this research limit the reliability of the results. The authors also acknowledge some sampling problems which must further affect the results. Table 4.3 shows some results from this study.