Expert warns of marijuana dangers

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 22

Expert warns of marijuana dangers

NZPA-AAP Sydney Women who smoke marijuana during pregnancy are five times more likely to give birth to children who are disfigured, of lower weight, or with smaller brains, according to a drug expert Dr Gabriel Nahas, a consultant to the United Nations Commission on Narcotics, said he had facts to show that anyone who smoked marijuana several times every day was risking serious physical and mental damage. Long-term effects included depression of the immunity system, with a

-consequent lessening of the body’s ability to combat disease, as well as serious damage to the reproductive “But the more alarming effect is the long-term damage caused to the brain,” he said. “Sustained smoking of between one and five joints a day can produce a general lack of alertness and an incapacity to perform simple tasks. “It produces a general dislocation from society — people who are called ‘burnouts',” he said. Dr Nahas said that marijuana smoking could lead to

experimentation with other drugs. The risk of a daily marijuana smoker moving to cocaine or heroin was 10 times greater than the risk of two-pack-a-day smoker’s contracting lung cancer. Dr Nahas, who was m Sydney at the invitation of Lions International and the Pryde organisation (Parents Reaching Youth through Drug Education), warned of the growing problem of drug dependence in the Western world. ' Dr Nahas said he wished to help recreate a drug-free environment in which children could grow creatively.