20000225

Bhung use rising, available thru internet

MEHMUD AHMED

ISLAMABAD: The International Narcotics Control Board says that Cannabis, popularly known as bhung in South Asia and Hashish in the Middle East and America, was being used by large population groups, primarily the young because of its easy availability.

In many countries, the INCB's annual report for 1999 says, it could be bought from the so-called hemp shops (bhungar khanas) or through the Internet.

The unregulated sale of cannabis seeds and growing paraphernalia has also led to an upsurge in indoor cannabis cultivation, it adds. An inferior quality known as the 'Indian Hemp' grows wild during the monsoon in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The Report said that increasingly widespread abuse of cannabis is particularly apparent in Europe. In Switzerland the prevalence of cannabis abuse among 15-year old pupils is secondary schools had quadrupled in the past 12 years. In France, one third of the pupils in secondary schools have experimented with cannabis. The figure for Paris was more than 40 percent. Half of those who experiment, abuse it regularly. In germany, 69 percent of juveniles participating in "techno-parties" have taken the green leaf.

The INCB has voiced its especial concern over the easy availability of very potent cannabis varieties and detailed cannabis cultivation instructions and also the paraphernalia. The international community had decided in 1961 to include cannabis in the list of drugs controlled under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The action was based on the evidence of its harmfulness to health and its dependence liability. Since that time, new technologies have been developed which make it possible to grow increasingly potent cannabis varieties.

Inferring that the green leaf may have upto 25 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, INCB has called for licensing and other control measures required by the international drug control treaties as in the case of morphine or codeine even if its medicinal utility is proven.