Majority believes cannabis is 'easy' to get - survey

Almost 80 per cent of people believe it is "easy" to obtain cannabis, a major study on the use of the drug in Ireland has revealed.

The report, published by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs this morning, shows that 79 per cent of those surveyed said they considered it either "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get the drug within a 24-hour period.

Some 31 per cent of respondents who have ever used cannabis said they were given it by a family member or friend while a further 27 per cent said they had shared it amongst a group of friends.

A large majority (72 per cent) of those surveyed believed cannabis use should be permitted for medical purposes. Some 21 per cent of respondents believed that recreational use of cannabis should be allowed.

The Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy Noel Ahern focused on this finding, saying it "reinforces the position of Government in relation to cannabis".

He added: "I believe that cannabis is a complex substance and notwithstanding the fact that it is not as dangerous as some other drugs, it can have many damaging effects on the physical and mental health of the user, particularly the young and those who are heavy users of the drug."

But 13 per cent of those who had never used cannabis agreed that recreational use should be permitted, compared to 61 per cent of those who had used the drug at some stage in their lives.

The study showed that 17 per cent of the general population (those aged between 15 and 64) have used cannabis at some stage in their lives.

However, the report also shows that only 3 per cent of those surveyed said they had used the drug in the last month, and only 5 per cent had done so in the last year.

Hash was the most commonly used form of cannabis - used by 68 per cent of current users, while the majority of those (98 per cent) consume cannabis using a joint.

Prevalence rates were higher among younger respondents. Some 24 per cent of those aged between 15 and 34 said they had used cannabis, compared to 11 per cent of those aged between 35 and 64.

Men (22 per cent) of all ages used it more than females (12 per cent), the survey found.

The average age of first use was reported as 18, but regular users of cannabis started at the age of 16 on average. Some 22 per cent of current cannabis users reported daily use.

Just over a quarter (27 per cent) of respondents who said that they had ever taken cannabis said that they had used it regularly.

Of these, 58 per cent said that they had stopped taking cannabis. They had stopped using it for a variety of reasons including, not wanting to take it anymore (43 per cent), it was no longer part of their social life (26 per cent), the ill-effects were not enjoyable (23 per cent) and health concerns (20 per cent).

The survey of the general population was undertaken by Mori between October 2002 and April 2003 both in the Republic and Northern Ireland. A total of 8,434 people aged 15-64 were surveyed (4,918 in the Republic and 3,516 in Northern Ireland).

Dr Des Corrigan, chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) said the survey "contradicts the popular view of the dealer as someone completely unknown to the user and highlights how important it is for parents to know who their children are associating with, what they are doing and if they are being supervised."