Irish teenagers are much more likely to use cannabis than their counterparts in other European countries, according to a new Government report.
The Oireachtas report shows that 38 per cent of Irish 16-year-olds have used cannabis at least once. As many as 5,000 16-year-olds also admit to using the drug at least three times per month, in what is double the EU average.
The Oireachtas report also finds that as many as 300,000 people regularly use cannabis, with 10 per cent admitting they are dependent on the drug.
Fianna Fáil TD Cecilia Keaveney
The report, entitled What everyone should know about Cannabis, is one of two reports to be published tomorrow by the Oireachtas Arts, Sports, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs committee.
Chairperson of the committee Fianna Fáil TD Cecilia Keaveney said the report "debunks the myths that the drug is both safe and harmless, and it contains some powerful case histories which bear this out".
She described the dangers from cannabis to young people as well as young mothers and their offspring as "considerable".
"The young people who use it are already at an age when they are particularly vulnerable to mental health difficulties which are compounded by cannabis use, and you only have to look at the suicide statistics to bear this out," she added.
The use of cannabis by adolescents leads to a four-fold increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia, according to the findings of the report.
The report recommends a national strategy to deal with cannabis use and further research to examine the long-term cognitive effects associated with heavy use of the drug, particularly the effects related to have use in adolescence and to prenatal exposure to cannabis.
Awareness of the risks of cannabis use needs to be raised, according to the committee, and recommends that public information campaigns be carried out.
At an estimated value of more than €375 million, cannabis is the largest single componsent of the illicit drugs trade, Ms Keaveney said.
The committee calls for as the same resources to be devoted to the criminal side of cannabis and pursuit of those who gain from it financially as there is for those with Class A drugs.
The second report, to be published by the committee tomorrow, The Inclusion of Alcohol in a National Substance Misuse Strategy,calls for alcohol to be included in a national substance misuse strategy.
EU statistics show that Irish annual per capita of comsumption is 15 litres of pure alcohol. Our consumption per capita rose by 41 per cent between 1989 and 1999.
Ms Keaveney said it is "no wonder we have problems of binge drinking, teenage alcoholics and drink related homicide".
With the National Drugs Strategy, which did not incorporate alcohol, coming to the end of its term, the report says: "It is vital for any future strategy dealing with substance abuse to include and prioritise alcohol".
Having alcohol included on such a strategy would "cement alcohol policy at the Governmental level, satisfying growing public demand for an integrated policy response to alcohol-related problems," the report added.