ROYAL COMMISSION ON CANNABIS

leave out from 'House' to end and add 'welcomes the Government's decision to increase the penalties for the possession of cannabis in the light of overwhelming medical evidence that cannabis leads to poor short-term memory and learning problems, lung damage and cancer risks that are 50 to 70 per cent. greater than those associated with tobacco use, reduced immunity producing cells and impairment of heart function; notes that cannabis causes greater organic brain damage than any other drug with the possible exception of PCP and the end stages of alcoholism; and that the effect of one cannabis cigarette lasts five or six times as long as one unit of alcohol; and deplores any moves towards the legalisation of cannabis, based on the experience in Alaska where such a move was abandoned in 1990, having led to the increased use of both soft and hard drugs, increased drug related crime and increased health care costs.'.