NCJ Number
185720
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2000 Pages: 265-269
Date Published
September 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study sought to determine the impact of a civil sanction called the Cannabis Expiation Notice (CEN) scheme on the prevalence of lifetime and weekly marijuana use in South Australia.
Abstract
The research used data from five National Drug Strategy Household Surveys conducted between 1985 and 1995 to test for differences in trends in (1) self-reported lifetime marijuana use and (2) self-reported current weekly marijuana use, after controlling for age and gender, between South Australia and the other States and territories. Results revealed that rates of lifetime marijuana use increased in South Australia from 26 percent in 1985 to 36 percent in 1995. Significant increases also occurred in Victoria (from 26 percent to 32 percent), Tasmania (from 21 percent to 33 percent), and New South Wales (from 26 percent to 33 percent). The increase in South Australia was significantly greater than the average increase throughout the rest of Australia. Findings suggested that the differences between South Australia and the rest of Australia in increases in marijuana use were probably not due to the CEN system. The reasons for this conclusion were that similar increases occurred in Tasmania and Victoria, where no change occurred in the legal status of marijuana use, and weekly use of marijuana did not change in South Australia during the same period. Thus, findings provided no indication that the CEN system increased levels of regular marijuana use. Tables and 15 references