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Effects of the Western Australian Cannabis Infringement Notice Scheme on Public Attitudes, Knowledge and Use

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Effects of the Western Australian Cannabis Infringement Notice Scheme on Public Attitudes, Knowledge and Use EFFECTS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN CANNABIS INFRINGEMENT NOTICE SCHEME ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES, KNOWLEDGE AND USE COMPARISON OF PRE- AND POST CHANGE DATA EFFECTS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN CANNABIS INFRINGEMENT NOTICE SCHEME ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES, KNOWLEDGE AND USE COMPARISON OF PRE- AND POST CHANGE DATA James Fetherston & Simon Lenton National Drug Research Institute Curtin University of Technology Copies of this report can be obtained from: The Administrative Assistant The National Drug Research Institute GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845 Telephone: (08) 9266 1600 Facsimile: (08) 9266 1611 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ndri.curtin.edu.au ISBN: 1 74067 564 9 Correspondence: Associate Professor Simon Lenton Deputy Director National Drug Research Institute Curtin University GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA, 6845 Email: [email protected] Pre-post effects of the WA CIN Scheme on public attitudes iii ___________________________________________________________________ Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Geoffrey Jalleh of the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer Control, Curtin University of Technology for his invaluable technical assistance in designing and administering the telephone survey, Christie Kenner, Ben Spiers and Julianne Eckersley for their assistance in coding the qualitative aspects of the data, and all the residents of Western Australia who participated in the survey. Phase two of the study was largely funded by the Drug and Alcohol Office of the WA Department of Health with contributions from the National Drug Research Institute. Phase one of the study was funded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund. Declaration of interest In 2001 the National Drug Research Institute made a submission to the WA Community Drug Summit which, on the basis of the available research evidence, recommended the introduction of a civil penalties scheme for minor cannabis offenders. In 2002 Simon Lenton was appointed to the Ministerial Working Party on Drug Law Reform which drafted the CIN scheme that was put before Government and informed the development of the Cannabis Control Act 2003. At the time of writing Simon Lenton was a member of the Expert Consultative Group set up to as part of the statutory review of the Cannabis Control Act 2003. ___________________________________________________________________ National Drug Research Institute October 2007 Pre-post effects of the WA CIN Scheme on public attitudes v ___________________________________________________________________ Table of contents Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................iii Declaration of interest ......................................................................................iii Table of contents ...............................................................................................v List of Tables...................................................................................................vii List of Figures.................................................................................................viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................ix Conclusions .....................................................................................................xii INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1 METHOD......................................................................................................................2 Response rate.....................................................................................................3 RESULTS......................................................................................................................4 Demographics....................................................................................................4 History of cannabis use .....................................................................................7 Cannabis use amongst recent users .................................................................10 Pre-post differences in proportions of recent users growing cannabis............11 Overall levels of support for the new laws......................................................14 General attitudes towards cannabis .................................................................21 Attitudes towards cannabis and health ............................................................23 Attitudes towards cannabis and the law ..........................................................25 Community perceptions of appropriate penalties for persons caught under the CIN scheme. ..............................................................................................27 Community perceptions of role of State Government in public education campaigns regarding cannabis.........................................................................27 Attitudes regarding specific aspects of the CIN scheme .................................29 Knowledge of current cannabis legislation .....................................................31 General attitudes to the law and police............................................................33 Attitudes to the current laws and proposed changes .......................................39 Changes to the cannabis market ......................................................................41 Exclusion of hydroponic cannabis and juveniles from the CIN scheme.........42 Personal use of other drugs and history of cannabis related charges or seeking help .....................................................................................................43 Sources of further information on cannabis ....................................................44 What respondents had heard about the Cannabis Infringement Notice Scheme ............................................................................................................45 Effects of the CIN scheme on cannabis users’ willingness to seek help.........47 Effects of the CIN Scheme on cannabis users willingness to seek help..........49 Reasons why respondents had never used cannabis or ceased use of cannabis ...........................................................................................................50 SUMMARY and DISCUSSION .................................................................................53 Sampling issues ...............................................................................................53 Demographic characteristics of the sample.....................................................53 Patterns of cannabis use...................................................................................54 Cultivation .......................................................................................................55 Overall levels of support for the new laws......................................................56 General attitudes towards cannabis .................................................................57 Health effects...................................................................................................57 ___________________________________________________________________ National Drug Research Institute October 2007 vi Pre-post effects of the WA CIN Scheme on public attitudes _____________________________________________________________ Attitudes towards cannabis and the law.......................................................... 58 Knowledge of cannabis law............................................................................ 58 Attitudes regarding detail of the CIN scheme................................................. 59 General attitudes to the law and police ........................................................... 60 Attitudes to the current laws and proposed changes....................................... 60 Changes to the cannabis market...................................................................... 61 Personal use of other drugs and history of cannabis related charges or seeking help .................................................................................................... 62 Sources of further information on cannabis.................................................... 62 What respondents had heard about the CIN Scheme...................................... 62 Effects of the CIN scheme on cannabis users’ willingness to seek help ........ 63 Reasons given for never using or ceasing use of cannabis ............................. 63 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 64 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 67 Appendix I: The phase two cannabis community attitudes survey................. 71 Appendix II: The phase one cannabis community attitudes survey ............... 99 Appendix III: Coding scheme for qualitative items in the phase two survey............................................................................................................ 119 ___________________________________________________________________ October 2007 National Drug Research Institute Pre-post effects of the WA CIN Scheme on public attitudes vii ____________________________________________________________________________________________ List of Tables Table 1: Response statistics....................................................................................3
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