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07/02/2017
Canna – bliss Vs Alcoholism: You decide
Nelson Kairi
In Papua New Guinea the cultivation, grooming, storing, consumption and trading of marijuana
is illegal.
Marijuana or cannabis is the main illegal drug produced and consumed in large amounts in the
country. It is cultivated for private use and for selling but it can also be exported; with reports
suggesting it is being bartered for weapons and money.
Medical research show that the effects of smoking marijuana fade quickly, but the drug can be
detected in the body for weeks and sometimes longer. How long it remains in a user’s body
system depends on how often or how much the user has consumed.
The most common effect upon a user is that through prolonged use, it alters the mind of the
user.
A known user for over 45 years who requested anonymity supported the results shown by
medical research saying that the effects are real and that it has affected a lot of lives of users in
Papua New Guinea.
However, he argued that the tendency for a person to become mentally affected from the use
of marijuana depends on the person themselves and the way they use it. He added that young
people must stop smoking cannabis because their bodies and minds are still developing and has
not yet reached maturity.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) in America, the brain of a teenager is
still developing until they reach their mid-20’s. Thus the consumption of marijuana at an early
age will have damaging effects on the teenager’s ability to progress in a normal way.
The abuse of cannabis affects a teenager’s emotional development, their education and social
interactions. THC, the active psychoactive compound in marijuana, affects the way sensory
information is processed by the hippocampus in the limbic systemof the brain.
The limbic system of our brain is responsible for learning, memory and the combination of
sensory experiences with emotion and motivation. THC causes learned behavior to decrease
often leading to the teen’s stunted development both physically and mentally.
The anonymous drug user we spoke to also said he has seen teenagers who began smoking
after he began his usage show signs of either psychosis or having wild mood swings which have
affected their lives and their families.

He also said teenagers these days have now taken to smoking cannabis because it is more
accessible to them, unlike in the past.
He recounted that in the past, the early 70’s and 80’S, marijuana was only available to and used
by criminals (raskols).
“Bifo taim mi save stil wantaim ol mangi, em mipla save smuk na go wokim trabol, ol mangi
nating no save smuk, em smuk bilong ol raskol mangi tasol”, he said in Tok Pisin.
(In the past when I was a raskol, we would smoke and then go and commit crimes, normal boys
did not smoke because marijuana was for criminals.)
When asked if the consumption of marijuana altered their thinking when they were planning to
commit a crime; he agreed that it had a lot of impact on them and their way of thinking.
He said that after smoking a joint or two of marijuana it made them more focused on their plan
and on most occasions they were successful in carrying out their plans.
A drug dealer recently interviewed said that marijuana itself is not the problem; the problem is
with the person who is smoking it. He added that the user must try to control the amount he or
she decides to consume.
He said he did not believe marijuana had much effect on the mind of a casual smoker, although
it is common knowledge that consuming it led to or contributed to altering the users mind, thus
making him or her mentally unstable.
“Marijuana does not make people crazy; people make themselves crazy by abusing it for wrong
reasons. You cannot blame everyone who smokes marijuana for the few who abuse it,” he said.
“We all have reasons for doing things, you must have a reason or purpose for smoking it and
everyone has their own reason for smoking and I cannot speak for everyone, however I must
say that yes – it is illegal but there are too many confusion surrounding this issue”
He asked the same questions that often pop up in the cannabis versus alcohol debate. He asked
why alcohol was legal when it accounts for more deaths then cannabis.
A comparative assessment published in Scientific Report last year found that alcohol was 144
times more dangerous than cannabis.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) found in 2012 that over 3.3 million deaths were caused
by alcohol in the US alone. If 3.3 million deaths resulted from alcohol consumption in America,
then how many have died from the abuse of alcohol in Papua New Guinea through drink driving
and other related incidents?
Comparatively, there are currently no reported deaths from smoking marijuana. The Huffington
Post reported that a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to almost 40,000 times
the amount of THC in a joint in order to be at risk of dying.

Still, studies on both drugs do not appear to be convincing – meaning one cannot say that
cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol or vise versa. There are many factors to take into
consideration.
The bottom line is that both are dangerous drugs and the abuse of both may result in negative
effects on a person’s mind and body. Not to mention the terrible social problems caused by
consumption of both alcohol and drugs by those who cannot handle the effects.
//ends…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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