CANNABIS is kidstakes when it comes to the overall health damage drugs do according to Wayne Hall, a substance abuse specialist at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research.Professor Hall’s new paper on the global pattern of drug consumption written with Louisa Degenhardt from the Burnet Institute, attracted media attention during the week for its finding that cannabis is the world’s most widely used illicit drug. On the basis of UN figures they argue between 125 and 203 million people across the planet used cannabis in 2009. This compared to a maximum of 21 million injecting drug users.The reason for its popularity, they argue in the new edition of The Lancet, is the drug is easily produced.But the good news is while the drug is a real problem among heavy-using adolescents overall it does a tiny fraction of the health damage heroin does. “Cannabis is at the bottom of the list of drugs causing disease, behind tobacco, alcohol and opiods,” they write.
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