Cyprus Mail runs an article with some statistics of drug use in Cyprus. Â It is said that drug use doubled over the last three years. Â That’s not too good. Â But the report itself is hard to understand – quotes say one thing and numbers say another. Â For example:
“Cannabis is not so fashionable anymore among young people,” said EKTEPN head Neoclis Georgiadis. “The United States and Europe had their [cannabis] peak in the nineties, our peak was in 2004. We are ten years behind Western Europe.”
That’s on one hand. Â And on the other:
THE PERCENTAGE of cocaine and cannabis users in Cyprus doubled between 2006 and 2009 with more women using, and a hike from zero to 1.6 per cent in the 55-64 age group taking up cannabis, it emerged yesterday.
Judging by what I can only see around myself, cannabis use more than doubled. Â People who were occasional users before seem to do it more often, and those who wouldn’t even think about smoking pot just a few years ago, seem to welcome an opportunity now. Â Also, on a few occasions where I could observe the high-school generation, I was rather surprised as to how familiar they are with the drug, how easily they can access it and how integrated it is with their culture. Â I obviously can’t compare it to my own high-school years, but I’d says that even during my college years in this country the situation wasn’t the same.
And for the record, since I did mention cannabis, I have to say that I was pretty much neutral on the legalization issue for a long time. Â Now I am more inclined towards legalizing it. Â However, it should be clearly separated from the rest of the drugs, which should remain illegal. Â And I do think that there is a whole lot of education to be done if legalization is to be considered. Â Here is a place to start – real facts about drugs.
Some films’ titles don’t say anything about the film. Some even go as far as make you pause thinking if you should watch it or not. “