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Page 12
Campus News
Study finds legalization of marijuana
not a factor in increased usage
At coffee shops in the Neth
erlands, there's more than lattd
on the menu.
For the past 2o years, Dutch
laws have allowed the sale of
marijuana at coffee shops, which
often maintain inventories of up
to SOO grams.
That's radically different than
the U.S. drug policy, which con
tinues to forbid the sale or pos
session of marijuana.
Anew study indicates that
widespread availability of the
drug at places such as coffee
shops is linked to a steep rise in
its use, especially among young
adults. At the same time, the
study suggests that getting rid
of criminal penalties for smok
ing marijuana doesn't prompt
more people to light up.
The study, appearing in the
Oct. 3 issue of Science, com
pares the Netherlands, which
relaxed enforcement of mari
juana laws in 1976, with the U.S.
and other nations.
"For years we've heard argu
ments for and against drug le
galization," said Robert
MacCoun, a professor at the
University of California at Ber
keley. "There are lots of claims
about the effects of the liberal
Dutch cannabis policy, but the
two sides disagree completely
on what actually happened
there."
He and co-author Peter
Reuter, a University of Mary
land professor, found that Dutch
rates of marijuana use are even
with the United States, despite
radically different drug policies.
But that masks two important
trends in the Netherlands, the
authors say. Marijuana use re
mained well below U.S. levels
for years after marijuana laws
eased up, but rose sharply when
the drug became broadly avail
able at coffee shops in the 'Bos.
According to Dutch law,
marijuana or cannabis is illegal.
But in 1976 the Dutch adopted a
policy of non-enforcement for
possession or sale of up to 30
grams of cannabis, which is
more than most marijuana users
consume in an entire month.
The Dutch also allowed sales
at coffee shops, which can stock
as much as 300 grams. During
the early years, the shops were
scarce and kept a low-profile
indicating, the authors say, that
the initial "depenalization era"
had little effect on levels of use.
Butin the 1980s, coffee shops
grew in number—by at least ten
fold in Amsterdam, for instance
-and became more accessible.
"You now find them in the
central business districts, right
next to bakeries and department
stores," said MacCoun. "They
do sell coffee, but if you ask,
they'll show you a menu with
samples of hash and different
strains of marijuana."
Customers most often are
young adults, including tourists,
and prices are similar to the
United States. The overall ef
fect, said Reuter, "was to make
cannabis readily available at
minimal legal risk to interested
Dutch adults."
During this time, the report
round mat marijuana use in
creased "consistently and
sharply." Among 18-year-olds,
those who admitted having used
me drug climbed from 15 per
cent in 1984 to 44 percent in
1996.
While use in the United States
and other nations has climbed
sharply in me last four years,
me jump in Dutch sales from
1984 to 1992 occurred in an era
of flat or declining use else
where. This, said Reuter, seems
to implicate me coffee shops as
culprits in me increase.
"It is striking that the expansion
of the coffee shops was followed
by a growth in use," he said.
The authors caution, however,
that the upward trend may reverse
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itself. The Dutch recently reduced
the possession limit from 30 grams
to 5 grams and began aggressively
enforcing rules against promotion,
closing the most problematic cof
fee shops.
Though me steep increase in
use among me Dutch raises trou
bling questions about legaliza
tion, other aspects of me Dutch
experience look promising.
"During me depenalization
era, me Dutch stopped punish
ing low-level marijuana trans
actions without any detectable
increase in use, much like me
experience in states mat de
criminalized marijuana posses
sion during the 19705,"
MacCoun said. "So depenalizing
drugs and allowing legal com
mercial sales should be consid
ered two very different inter
ventions."
The Dutch adopted their tol
erant policy in part to separate
me soft and hard drug markets,
theorizing that this might
weaken me so-called "gateway"
link-the concept mat marijuana
users are more likely man non
users to move on to hard drugs.
This study suggests me Dutch
may have had some success in
mis regard. The probability of
trying cocaine among marijuana
users is 22 percent in
Amsterdam, but 33 percent in
the United States.
The study was funded by me
RAND Drug Policy and Re
search Center.
from ground the world
Health Association
recommends vaccination
B ALTIMORE-The American College Health Association is recommending
that college students getvaccinated against meningitis, a deadly disease that often
strikes university campuses.
hi the past, ACHA recommended the vaccination of students only after a
college outbreak.
But the health organization changed its policy because the number of menin
gococcal meningitis outbreaks has risen sharply, officials say. Since 1992,36
outbreaks have been reported, compared to only 13 outbreaks between 1981 and
1993.
"AD of us who wom in college health live with the fear of a phone call reporting
meningococcal meningitis or die death of a student who was well just a few hours
before,” said Mar Jeanne Collins, MD, chair of ACHA's Vaccine-Preventable
Diseases Task Force. "No one expects young, healthy adults to die fimn a disease
that could have been prevented by a vaccine."
Meningococcal meningitis is a potentially fetal bacterial infection that causes
swelling of fee membranes around the brain and spinal cord.
The disease is spread through the air from sneezing or coughing, and direct
contact with an infectious person.
Studies of college outbreaks also suggest that the lifestyleofstudents-smoking,
drinking and going to bars-increases the risk of catching die disease.
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