Modern humans must learn how to relate to psychoactives
responsibly, treating them with respect and awareness,
working to minimize harms and maximize benefits, and
integrating use into a healthy, enjoyable, and productive life.
Select Committee on Science and Technology Ninth Report
6.7 Neil Montgomery
described for us various ways to take cannabis recreationally
(QQ 544-554). He divides recreational users into three groups:
·
Casual Irregular use, in amounts up to 1g of resin
at a time, to an annual total of no more than 28g (Q 545);
·
Regular Regular use, typically of 0.5g of resin a day
(equivalent to 3 or 4 smokes of a joint or pipe), adding up to
about 3.5g per week (Q 548);
·
Heavy More or less permanently stoned, using more
than 3.5g of resin per day and 28g or more per week (Q 554).
The smallest group, around 5 per cent. "The extent to
which a heavy user can consume cannabis is largely unappreciated."
Herbal cannabis appears to be consumed
at twice the rate of cannabis resin, presumably because of its
lower content of THC. Comparable data are provided by IDMU (pp
2313).
6.8 According to POST's
Cannabis Update, 9 per cent of ever-users use cannabis
daily, and 14 per cent several times a week, making it of
all illegal drugs the one most likely to be used regularly. According
to Professor John Strang, Director of the National Addiction
Centre, few users end up in hospital with acute psychiatric problems,
and most regular users are not nowadays advised by their doctor
to change their habits (Q 244). For the risk of dependence,
see Chapter 4.
6.9 Many cannabis users
also consume a variety of other psychoactive agents. As the commonest
method of using cannabis in the United Kingdom is to smoke cannabis
resin mixed with tobacco, nicotine use is very high among cannabis
users. Among other things, this makes it difficult to assess the
respiratory risks of smoked cannabis as they are confused with
the well-established risks of smoked tobacco. Alcohol use is also
common, but regular cannabis users may consume less than non-cannabis
users. Drug treatment clinics often see poly-drug users, who are
consuming a variety of illicit substances, of which cannabis is
commonly one (QQ 42, 216, 487, 515, 562; DH p 47).
6.10 According to the
Department of Health, most cannabis users have discontinued by
their mid to late 20s (p 46); and of those who have ever
been daily users, only 15 per cent persist with daily use
in their late 20s (p 45). Neil Montgomery has identified
a group of regular users who stop in their 30s and start again
in their 50s (Q 575).