Cannabis
In his attack on Liberal Party anti-drugs policy, Gary Meyerhoff (Write On, GLW #656) contends that "despite claims by some mental health professionals that some pre-existing mental illnesses can be exacerbated or 'brought on' by marijuana use, the evidence that supports this is extremely dubious". I fear this is an instance of sloppy arguments serving a good cause.
While the level of psychiatric illness caused or exacerbated by cannabis is greatly exaggerated by many psychiatrists and politicians, not least John Howard in his recent COAG speech, this does not mean that the negative health effects of the drug are always "negligible".
Gary mentions a study that shows the overall prevalence of schizophrenia has not increased in Australia over 30 years, despite a large increase in marijuana use. But this only proves that there is no simple causal link between the two. Recent Australian reviews of the issue (such as in the latest issue of the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry) suggest the picture is much more complex than this.
Cannabis use is part of a dynamic set of risk factors that can contribute to various mental disorders. In the case of drug-induced psychosis or cannabis withdrawal syndrome, the connection is obvious. But in mood disorders and schizophrenia it is an additive in a complex web of causation. In particular, there is compelling evidence that heavy use of marijuana can affect the brain during key stages of adolescent development, when it is most vulnerable to environmental insults (whether chemical, psychological or social).
None of this is to suggest that anything other than decriminalisation and safe legal supply are sensible policies. But they need to be accompanied by honest discussion of both benefits and risks — something made more difficult by the polarised debate engendered by the current regime of criminal sanctions.
Dr Tad Tietze
Alexandria, NSW
Ten years of what?
It has taken John Howard 10 years to establish an Aussie class system, a growing underclass of feral youth, a welfare system that rejects welfare recipients and an education system that prevents social mobility. He's done a wonderful job of constructing a health system that ensures the class system prevails. Ten years of tax reform (sic) will protect the good life for the wealthy and rob the poor to pay for it.
Howard's world trade initiative to sell the country to global corporations, without the approval of citizens, has taken thousands of jobs offshore. His new IR system gives foreign corporations and businesses complete control of the
welfare of workers and takes most of us back to the 19th century.
By ignoring a future energy crisis and world environmental and scientific advice he uses terror successfully as a tool to frighten citizens into submission. This ensures the opposition has no platform to win the next election.
Good on yer John. Good on yer Kim!
Mary Jenkins
Bibra Lake, WA
Howard's 10 years
Treasurer Peter Costello implicitly acknowledged a return to assimilationist thinking when he suggested those who do not conform to Australian values should be deported.
He brought out that reliable whipping boy, the Muslim community, and flogged it loud enough for the arch-conservatives to hear.
Ten years of Prime Minister John Howard's reign has seen a dramatically regressive shift in Australian society. Costello's comments on migration should have been greeted with widespread derision, and his rhetoric regarding Australian values belittled for its parochial utopianism.
Instead, both were given serious consideration in parliament and the media.
It is effortless to trot out some rhetoric about universal ideals and a few colloquialisms and brand the resultant set our own. Among this list of Australian values would certainly be democracy, acceptance, freedom, secularism, egalitarianism, fair-go, "mateship" and compassion.
At least for some.
This is still a nation profoundly affected by the legacy of its colonial roots and the White Australia policy, which was only formally disbanded under Whitlam.
People are again using the word assimilation as though it has relevance, when the preponderance of academic thought suggests that it is synonymous with cultural genocide. As a policy it was seen as unrealistic by the 1960s, when society recognised that migrants were inexorably part of the Australian community.
A paradigm shift was supposed to follow, in which the bigoted values of White Australia were replaced by notions of acceptance and pluralism.
Perhaps multiculturalism was always unrealistic in the context of a nation striving to maintain continuity in its Anglo-Saxon identity while concurrently allowing a plurality of cultures to intertwine with its own.
It was a compromise which we never fully committed to but it was, and perhaps still is, the best way forward as a means of overcoming our racist legacy.
The drift back to assimilation began soon after Howard took power. At first it was subtly woven into the political dynamic and then overtly spruiked alongside a healthy dose of xenophobia.
Zahid Gamieldien
via email [Abridged]
HIV drugs
In my article on the queer revolution unfolding in Venezuela (GLW #658) I stated that only three countries in Latin America supply free HIV drugs to patients. While technically true (Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela are all situated in Latin America), I omited to herald the role that Cuba, a Carribean nation is playing. Cuba, the small socialist island under seige from a crushing US economic blockade, is providing free HIV drugs and free, high quality care to those living with HIV and AIDS. It is also providing free operations to transexuals who want to surgically change their gender. So once again, Cuba leads the world on sexual and health fronts.
Rachel Evans
Dulwich Hill, NSW
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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