Expert calls for marijuana to be legalised to reduce harm of binge drinking in teens

[Fozzledick]

Aleks Devic
Herald Sun
July 10, 2013 12:01AM

THE head of Australia's leading alcohol research body has called for marijuana to be legalised to reduce the harm of drinking.

Robin Room, director of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, says marijuana should be legalised under strict controls because the social harm associated with it was significantly less than from drinking.

"It makes sense to legalise marijuana in a controlled market," he told the Herald Sun yesterday. "We are in a situation where we need to look ahead. I think we need to have the discussion and it makes a lot of sense in terms of, among others, cutting down government costs to have a fairly highly controlled legal (cannabis) market and, while we are at it, tighten up the legal market of alcohol in the same way we tightened up the market of tobacco."
...
Teens were "better off" on a mixture of booze and marijuana rather than just pure alcohol in social settings, he added. Alcohol was more dangerous than cannabis because it had a closer association with aggression and violence, loss of co-ordination and impacts on work and family life, he said.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/expert-calls-for-marijuana-to-be-legalised-to-reduce-harm-of-binge-drinking-in-teens/story-fni0diac-1226676714223

[Billy Pilgrim]

1. Fantastic.

Thanks for posting this.