Grog bans lead to substances switch - Aboriginal/Australia/Drugs
Adam Cresswell; 4/3/08
Alcohol bans in Aboriginal communities and the roll-out of unsniffable petrol may be doing “more harm than good”, with large numbers of indigenous people switching to marijuana. A new study says the latest restrictions on alcohol brought in as part of the Northern Territory indigenous intervention “have further fuelled the growth of a cannabis market”. That has “created a new set of problems” because marijuana carries health risks of its own and is harder to regulate. And because marijuana is used much more within the family home than petrol or even alcohol if the community is dry, its use is being noted by young children - with disturbing results.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23315205-5013404,00.html