Cannabis use has insidious ramifications

“There are three kinds of lies,” Benjamin Disraeli once wrote, “lies, damned lies and statistics.”

The media uses headlines to attract attention to a story, but if people do not read the whole story, the headlines can sometimes be misleading.

This was especially true in relation to the sensationalised series of drug surveys that were published last week. Various factors had to be taken into consideration.

A United Nations survey noted that this country had the third-highest use of cannabis in the world.

It found that some 9.4% of Irish people in the 15-64 age bracket had smoked cannabis within the past year, but that survey was based on 1998 figures, as was the European Union drug survey published last week.

The National Advisory Committee on Drugs also published a survey last week, but it was based on more recent research, which found that 5.6% of Irish people had smoked cannabis in the past year, while 18% had tried the drug at some stage in their lives.

The use of illicit drugs is mainly by those in the 15-34 age bracket, where statistics show that 24% have tried cannabis.

That is almost one in four young people, but that figure drops to 9% for those who have used it within the past year.

The cannabis figures would seemed to suggest that the main users are young people experimenting with the drug, but this should not be treated lightly, because such experimentation may lead to dabbling with much more dangerous drugs.

It is time that the authorities took another look at the whole cannabis question, because the level of illicit use of the drug among young people could breed a culture of contempt for law that could have disastrous long-term ramifications.