Health warnings, recall provisions needed on dangerous plants

Progressive MP Matt Robson says he welcomes the Green Party's calls for health warnings on contaminated cannabis plants and recall provisions, and adds that it is a good idea that young people know cannabis use is a serious health hazard.

"Cannabis in its natural form is a dangerous plant. It is by nature contaminated and dangerous and good work of the police to destroy this social pest could well benefit by having a publicity campaign pointing out to all young people that consuming cannabis can do irreparable harm," the Progressive MP said.

"All distributors of cannabis to the young are unscrupulous. They peddle their contaminated weed to the most unsuspecting of users, our most vulnerable young," Matt Robson said.

"The law is there to protect peoples' health, especially the young, which is why cannabis is illegal. But it may be that a more active publicity campaign outlining the dangers of cannabis could help national efforts to defeat the unscrupulous peddlers of dangerous drugs," he said.

The Greens in New Zealand are campaigning against contaminated corn while last week in the United States officials expressed their alarm by reports that marijuana is becoming more potent than ever and that children are trying it at younger and younger ages. It was reported that marijuana isn't the "gentle weed" promoted by the 'Me-Me-Me Generation' of the 1960s, but may pose a greater threat to society than cocaine or even heroin.

The National Institutes of Health in America is in particular aiming to shift some of the focus in research and enforcement from drugs such as cocaine and heroin to marijuana.

Around the developed world, data suggests that the children who are trying marijuana are doing so at ever-younger ages, when their brains and bodies are vulnerable to its dangerous side effects.

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