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Citation:
McDonald, D 2004, „Cannabis in Papua New Guinea‟, Pac Health Dialog, vol. 11, no. 1,
pp. 96-101.
 Cannabis in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This review covers published information on psychoactive drugs, particularly cannabis,

in Papua New Guinea. Legal drugs are mentioned to place the illegal drugs into a broader

public health context. Although a number of psychoactive drugs were used traditionally

(and are used now), cannabis is the only illicit drug for which prevalence of use is

currently not negligible. Very little epidemiology research on cannabis use and its

individual and public health sequelae has been conducted, although a fuller criminology

literature on the topic exists. The published cannabis use prevalence studies are limited in

scope, and the most-cited one is of questionable accuracy. The complex interactions

between the health of individuals and their social environments are highlighted by the

destructive impacts that cannabis cultivation, trafficking and use are having in

contemporary PNG.

Papua New Guinea – the nation

Papua New Guinea is the largest nation in the South Pacific. It was colonised by

Germany, Britain and Australia from the nineteenth century to Independence in 1975, and

was occupied by Japanese and Allied forces during the Second World War. The year

2000 population was estimated to be 5.2 million, with 40 per cent under 15 years of age.

Life expectancy at birth is just 53 years. On the 2004 Human Development Index, PNG

ranks 133 among the 177 nations listed (1).

 2

Traditional psychoactive substances and their use

As in most societies of the world, the use of substances that change the way people think

or feel (psychoactive substances, generally referred to as drugs) is an integral part of life.

A wide range of traditional psychoactive substances has been used, and are still used, in

Papua New Guinea. Perhaps the best known is betel nut (the fruit of Areca catechu) a

mild stimulant which is chewed in combination with the leaf or fruit of a pepper plant

(Piper betle) and lime powder. (Betel nut chewing is an important cause of oral cancers
(2)
).

Tobacco Nicotiana tabacum is a more recent introduction, but was used prior to the

colonial period in many, perhaps most, parts of PNG. The adverse health consequences of

tobacco consumption in Oceania, as elsewhere, are well known to health professionals (3).

Kava Piper methysticum was also used and still is used in some localities. It is thought

that the plant was introduced from Vanuatu in pre-colonial times. Traditionally, the

Admiralty Islands in Manus Province was the area of greatest consumption, although it

was also used elsewhere including the coastal areas of the Madang, Morobe and Western

Provinces (4). The drug is still used in isolated pockets of the nation, including the Rai

Coast of Madang Province and the Fly River delta in Western Province.

Alcohol was also made and consumed in earlier days. According to Papua New Guinean

scholar Chamilou Posanau (5), who cites various sources:

Traditionally … people in certain areas had their own form of brew. The Tolais (an ethnic group in

PNG [who come from the Gazelle Peninsular of East New Britain]) called it „tava’ or „yawa’ …
 3

and the Kiwais (another ethnic group in PNG [who come from the Fly River area]) called it

„tubas’. These traditional drinks were prepared from young coconut sap (tubas) and other

vegetable matter (tava or yawa).

This information is inconsistent with the position adopted by other scholars, that alcohol

was not used traditionally in PNG (6-8), but it is more likely to be a correct statement of

the position.

Posanau also refers to other psychoactive substances „such as mushrooms, wild ginger,

the bark of several species of trees, wild fungi, taro leaves‟(5) as having been used prior to

European contact, without adverse impacts. Further details are provided by Marshall (9),

Iamo & Ketan (10) and Thomas (11).

Colonial era illicit drugs

Very little has been published about the history of cannabis (marijuana) in PNG.

Although it is not known when the drug was introduced to that nation, it should be noted

that cannabis use was rare in Australia (the colonial power) before the 1960s but its use

became widespread among young Australians from the mid-1960s onwards. (Chen,

Johnson and Taufa (6) are wrong in stating that „cannabis was introduced into Papua New

Guinea…in the 1970s‟ (p. 99). I know from personal experiences in PNG that the drug

was available there before that decade.) The late 1960s and early 1970s was the time of

greatest involvement of Australians in PNG. By the late 1960s the smoking of cannabis

was common among young expatriates in PNG and it was relatively easy to import illegal

goods such as cannabis across the customs barrier. The drug was also grown locally by
 4

some expatriate smokers for their own use and to share with their friends. Marshall refers

to media reports in 1977, 1980 and 1981 of non-nationals being prosecuted for cultivating

cannabis (9).

Cannabis use has been observed in the Western Pacific only since the Second World War
(9)
. Iamo concluded that „the evidence available to date suggests that cannabis only

reached upper Simbu Province [where it is common today] in the mid-to-late

1970s…While this means that the plant probably was grown elsewhere in Papua New

Guinea at an earlier date, it is unlikely that its has an antiquity of more than 50 years in

the country‟ (12).

Some time between the early 1970s, when the expatriate population of PNG was at its

peak, and the mid-1980s when cannabis was recognised as being grown and used by

many Papua New Guineans, a process of diffusion from the expatriate to the Papua New

Guinean population took place. Some suggest that this was linked to the development of

mining, especially the opening of the Ok Tedi mine in Western Province. The rapid

uptake of cannabis cultivation, use and trafficking once it was introduced into Papua New

Guinean societies is notable, and should be borne in mind as we contemplate the possible

introduction of other drugs readily available in the Pacific Islands region, such as the

amphetamine-type stimulants, especially methamphetamine.

 5

Contemporary illegal drugs and drug use

This discussion focuses on cannabis, as it is the only illegal drug the use of which is at all

prevalent in PNG.

Prevalence of cannabis use and cultivation

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has stated that „…the prevalence of

cannabis abuse in Australia and Papua New Guinea is among the highest in the world‟.(13)

While this is true for Australia (14) it is a remarkable and unjustifiable comment to make

with regard to Papua New Guinea. The reason is that no national data exist on the

prevalence of cannabis use in PNG. Furthermore, no data exist from which one can

extrapolate to make a reasonably accurate estimate of prevalence. One cannot

legitimately compare data derived from a national household probability sample survey

in Australia with information derived from quite different sources (not surveys) in PNG.

No studies of the prevalence of cannabis use have been reported covering the rural areas

of the nation. Two studies have been reported, however, in particular populations in

urban areas, as follows.

In the first, Johnson studied the use of and attitudes towards alcohol and other drugs

among 50 young adults living in Port Moresby: 25 University of Papua New Guinea

students and 25 clerks employed by the PNG Posts and Telecommunications Corporation
(15)
. The published paper does not explain how they were selected for interview. Although

apparently not matched samples, the age and sex distributions of the two groups were
 6

similar, with ages ranging from 20 to 35 years and the sex distribution being 29 males

and 21 females. They came from most of the provinces of PNG. The results of the study

included the following:

 Only seven of the 50 people interviewed responded to the question about their own

use of cannabis and of them, three students and one clerk reported having used the

drug at some stage in their lives.

 A question on exposure to use resulted in a somewhat higher level of responses with

36 of the 50 responding. Asked „During the last six months, how often have you been

around people who were taking [cannabis]‟, 28 responded „not at all‟ and 8 responded

„once or twice‟.

 All but one of the respondents answered the question „How difficult do you think it

would be for you to get [cannabis] if you wanted some?‟. Of the 49 responses, 13 said

„fairly easy‟, 12 said „very difficult‟, 11 said „probably impossible‟, 9 said „fairly

difficult‟ and 4 said „very easy‟.

From this study published in 1990 one may conclude that, at that time, both the use of

cannabis and the availability of the drug were low among young adult university students

and clerks living in Port Moresby.

The second prevalence study, also undertaken by Johnson and published in 1998 (16),

compared the use of alcohol and other drugs among the students of two Port Moresby

campuses of the University of Papua New Guinea, namely the main Waigani campus and

that at Taurama when the Medical School is located. The survey was self-administered;
 7

45 were completed from each campus, a total of 90 respondents, and the students were

selected randomly. (The method of randomisation is not described in the paper.)

Fifty-eight of the respondents were male and 32 female. The modal age group was 21-25

years, with 60 of the 90 students falling into this age group and a further 18 in the age

range 26-30 years.

 An important finding was as following: Asked „Do you use marijuana?‟, three

students from each campus (6 of the total) replied „yes‟. (The number replying „no‟,

and the level of non-response, are not reported.) This represents a user prevalence of

7%E1.

 The reported data on amount used are unclear. Unfortunately other questions of

interest did not differentiate between cannabis and alcohol, betel nut and other drugs.

The conclusion to be drawn from these two studies is that, among the people questioned,

the level of cannabis use was low as was its availability to Port Moresby young adults in

the 1990s. (This conclusion is in conflict with the perceptions of many informed

observers who report the ready availability of cannabis in Port Moresby in the late 1990s,

and its widespread use particularly among poor, unemployed youths there as well as in

many other parts of the nation (18). Apparently no other prevalence studies of cannabis use

have been conducted in PNG.

A third study warrants attention in this context: Iamo‟s ‘Spak Brus’ in Papua New

Guinea (12). „Spak brus’ is a Melanesian Pidgin term for cannabis, spak meaning

intoxicating and brus meaning home grown tobacco. The importance of this study is not
 8

so much what it says but how its findings have been misused. It was a preliminary study

of cannabis in four Highlands provinces (the Southern, Western and Eastern Highlands

and Simbu), and two north coast provinces, Madang and Morobe, although data are

presented in the report on only four provinces, Western Highlands, Simbu, Eastern

Highlands and Madang. It is unclear, from the report, if the field work for the study was

confined to the provincial headquarters towns or extended into the rural areas. University

of PNG students were trained in field research techniques and sent, apparently during the

1990/1991 university Christmas break, to their home provinces in groups of four to six.

There they interviewed „drug users, cultivators and dealers‟, and engaged in participant

observation activities. The report on the study presents, for each of the four provinces,

national census data, local names for cannabis, locality of cultivation, comments on

growers, dealers and consumers, prices and incomes, marketing strategies, criminal

justice system involvement and socio-economic impact. Unfortunately overall

conclusions in most of these areas are not presented in the published report. It includes a

valuable discussion of the purported link between cannabis use and violence (concluding

that cannabis use does not cause violence), as well as drugs policy and legislation.

It is crucial to note that it was not a prevalence survey; it was a study of drug users,

cultivators and dealers. It produced no data that enables conclusion to be drawn about the

extent of cannabis cultivation and use in the provinces studied.

A typical illustration of how the study results have been misinterpreted and, indeed,

misused, is an article (19) in the September 1998 issue of the Papua New Guinea
 9

Magazine, an insert of the Post-Courier newspaper, the largest circulation newspaper in

the nation. Under the headline „K56m earned by four provinces from marijuana‟, the

author states that the survey showed that, in the four provinces:

… there were 123,000 households involved in cultivating marijuana out of 170,467 households

surveyed. The monetary value derived from marijuana cultivation in those four provinces

surveyed was K56.8 million. Each province was earning K15.6m. Today it must be many times

more (p. 9).

In reality, the journalist can perhaps be forgiven for publishing these unjustifiable

estimates as the logic of Iamo‟s 1991 paper is flawed. Iamo‟s figures seem to be based on

the assumption that all, or almost all, food and coffee growers in the Highlands

provinces, and all growers of food crops in the Madang Province, grow cannabis. The

numbers produced under these assumptions is then multiplied by an estimated value of

cannabis sales by cultivators to produce an estimate of the value of cannabis sales by

growers. Neither data nor argument is presented in the paper to support the conclusion

that all or virtually all farmers grow cannabis, an observation not supported by any other

source. Iamo‟s 1991 paper is useful for its discussion of the cannabis/violence link and

for some of its description of cannabis markets in the provinces reported upon, but cannot

be relied upon as a source of information about the number of cannabis growers nor the

value of their production. To use it for this purpose is to promulgate grossly inflated

estimates.E2
 10

Research among cannabis users

A study of current and former cannabis users was conducted in 1998 as part of a rapid

situation assessment of illicit drug use and related problems in PNG (18). Although the

report on that study has not been widely distributed, copies are available from the author

and a summary is in press (21).

Clinical observations: cannabis (and other drugs) and mental illness

Two studies have been published reporting clinical observations of psychoactive

substance use by psychiatric patients in PNG in which cannabis is mentioned. In the first,

Johnson presented data on a prospective study of patients admitted to the Port Moresby

General Hospital for health problems directly associated with drug use (22). The drugs

involved were alcohol, cannabis and diazepam. The patients were aged from 15 to 35

years; all were Papua New Guineans; they included 28 males and 2 females. Important

findings for this review include the following:

 Cannabis was involved in 20 of the 30 patients; 12 were diagnosed as suffering from

„schizophrenia and cannabis induced psychosis/cannabis abuse‟; 6 were diagnosed as

„cannabis induced psychosis‟; and 2 were suffering from multiple illnesses including

psychosis and cannabis „abuse‟

 Five were given a diagnosis of diazepam dependence and the remaining five patients

had alcohol-related health problems.

The second study reporting clinical observations was conducted by Pal (23). His study

covered all 64 mental patients referred to the Laloki Psychiatric Hospital near Port
 11

Moresby by the courts for assessment and treatment. As the author points out, „as this

psychiatric hospital is the only referral psychiatric hospital, so the patient population

could be assumed to represent the forensic psychiatric population of the country‟ (p. 89).

The ages ranged from 10 to 59 years; 60 were male and 4 female. Thirty of the 64 had

been admitted to hospital for mental illness prior to committing the offence for which

they were in custody. Significant findings were that:

 27 of the 64 patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia; 8 with psychosis not

otherwise classified; 4 with personality disorder; and the remainder with a variety of

diagnoses. None was specifically drug-related, e.g. the drug dependence syndrome.

 One-third of the total (21 patients) were reported to have a history of drug abuse: „10

(15.6%) were alcoholics, six (9.4%) abused cannabis and five (7.8%) abused both

alcohol and cannabis … No one was found to have narcotic abuse…‟ (p. 94).

Unfortunately, the term „drug abuse‟ is not defined in the paper so it is not possible to tell

if the six former cannabis using patients were experiencing any cannabis related harm.

We also cannot tell from the study if cannabis use was involved in the offence or offences

for which the patients were in custody.

Drug availability and law enforcement

Additional insights come from criminological research in PNG. In the late 1980s Harris

discussed drugs in the context of his ethnographic research into criminal (raskal) gangs

in Port Moresby (24). He noted that, at that time, most cannabis use was among expatriates

but some Papua New Guineans were also using this drug.
 12

Gang involvement in the drugs trade was well established by the late 1980s, according to

Harris. By then, PNG had become a cannabis producing nation, with the drug marketed

both internally and on the international market, primarily to Australia. He stated that

„gangs are taking a major cut of this market and are increasingly displacing the expatriate

middlemen who until now have dominated the market‟ (25).

Dinnen reviewed the situation in PNG in 1994 (26). He pointed out that „a comparatively

small number of committed, “hard-core” criminals are supplemented by a large number

of peripheral youth who drift in and out of crime‟ (p. 401). Stating that cannabis was

grown principally in the Highlands and that it had proved impossible for the authorities to

contain its cultivation, he argued that, „for growers with few other opportunities for

generating cash, marijuana provides a ready option for acquiring the funds to pay school

fees and other requirements‟(p. 403). He concluded that significantly less was said and

done about alcohol-related problems than those linked to cannabis, despite the fact that

alcohol-related problems were (and are) „the most serious and injurious form of substance

abuse in PNG‟ (p. 403). Dinnen‟s central theme was that most of the serious issues

labelled as „law and order problems‟, including cannabis cultivation, supply and use, and

violence, „… represent alternative avenues to accessing resources. The appeal of these

options can only increase as the [economic] crisis deepens, and the resource-starved

criminal justice system is in no position to offer other than token resistance‟ (p. 407).
 13

This theme of involvement in the cannabis industry for economic reasons was illustrated

by journalist/researcher Ben Bohane (27). Writing in 1995 about cannabis in the Simbu

Province, he reports that a gang member advised him that cannabis was the main source

of income for the gangs in the rural areas of that province. A gang leader is quoted as

saying:

Growing spak brus to us is not a crime. It‟s business. When we smoke it, it gives us good ideas to

make guns and road blocks and hold up vehicles. We are able to sell it to white men for money,

and to others in exchange for guns…

Australia introduced the cash economy to us, but how can we make a living? We can‟t even get a

good education so how can we get jobs? (p. 17).

Conclusion

This review has considered the literature on cannabis in PNG in the colonial period and

since Independence. The limited literature on the epidemiology of cannabis use and

related harms has been reviewed and insights from the criminological literature have been

presented. The complex interactions between the health of individuals and their social

environments are highlighted by the impact that cannabis cultivation and supply is having

today in PNG, especially in the Highlands provinces. There cannabis production,

trafficking and use; firearm manufacture, trafficking and use; and disputes between

groups over access to resources (both traditional and modern) are interwoven, creating

immense social problems for the people, problems apparently far beyond the capacity of

the authorities and traditional social control methods to cope with.(28)

 14

It seems that social and economic development will continue to be retarded in much of

PNG as a result of what appears to be a still-increasing impact of cannabis, along with the

continuing severe impacts of interpersonal violence linked to the consumption of

alcoholic beverages. The International Narcotics Control Board, who sent a investigative

mission to PNG in 2003, concluded that the PNG Government is ill-equipped to deal with

the current and potential problems associated with illegal drugs in that nation.(29)

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liberty in today‟s diverse world. New York: United Nations Development Program; 2004.

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1998;38(1):81-8.

3. Marshall M. The second fatal impact: cigarette smoking, chronic disease, and the

epidemiological transition in Oceania. Soc Sci Med 1991;33(12):1327-42.

4. Lebot V, Merlin M, Lindstrom L. Kava - the Pacific drug. New Haven: Yale

University Press; 1992.

5. Posanau CS. Substance abuse in the Pacific Islands, with special reference to

Papua New Guinea. Int J Ment Health 1997;26(3):55-68.

6. Chen PCY, Johnson FYA, Taufa T. Societal and health aspects of psychoactive

drug abuse in Papua New Guinea. Pac Health Dialog 1999;6(1):93-100.

7. Marshall M. Alcohol consumption as a public health problem in Papua New

Guinea. Int J Addict 1988;23(6):573-89.

8. Loeb EM. Primitive intoxicants. Q J Stud Alcohol 1943;4(3):387-98.

 15

9. Marshall M. An overview of drugs in Oceania. In: Lindstrom L, editor. Drugs in

Western Pacific societies: relations of substance. Lanham MD: University Press of

America; 1987.

10. Iamo W, Ketan J. How far under the influence? Alcohol-related law and order

problems in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby: National Research

Institute; 1992.

11. Thomas B. The psychoactive flora of Papua New Guinea. J Psychoactive Drugs

2003;35(2):285-93.

12. Iamo W. "Spak brus" in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby: National Research

Institute; 1991.

13. International Narcotics Control Board. Report of the International Narcotics

Control Board for 1997. New York: United Nations; 1998.

14. Hall W, Pacula R. Cannabis use and dependence: public health and public policy.

Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge; 2003.

15. Johnson FA. An epidemiological survey of alcohol and drug abuse in the National

Capital District of Papua New Guinea. Med Law 1990;9(2):797-830.

16. Johnson FA. A study of substance abuse on two campuses of University of Papua

New Guinea. Med Law 1998;17:229-41.

17. McGeorge JM. The effect of decriminalisation of cannabis on patterns of use

among university students [Honours thesis]. University of Melbourne; 1994.

18. Papua New Guinea National Narcotics Bureau. Rapid situation assessment of

drug abuse in Papua New Guinea, 1998; a report prepared by David McDonald and
 16

Michael Anis Winmarang. Port Moresby: Papua New Guinea National Narcotics Bureau;

1999.

19. Matbob P. Drugs will be an epidemic by the year 2000. Post-Courier, Papua New

Guinea Magazine 1998 September 1998:7-9.

20. Ivarature H. Drugs, arms and national security: the global becomes local in Papua

New Guinea. Port Moresby: National Research Institute; 1997.

21. McDonald D. A rapid situation assessment of drug abuse in Papua New Guinea.

Drug and Alcohol Review in press.

22. Johnson FA. Clinical observations on substance abuse related health problems at

the Port Moresby General Hospital, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea. Med

Law 1994;13(3-4):251-62.

23. Pal S. Mental disorders in abnormal offenders in Papua New Guinea. Med Law

1997;16(1):87-95.

24. Harris BM. The rise of rascalism: action and reaction in the evolution of rascal

gangs. Port Moresby: Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research; 1988. (IASER

Discussion Paper).

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1989;1(3):3-4.

26. Dinnen S. Papua New Guinea in 1994: the most turbulent year? Current Issues in

Criminal Justice 1995;6(3):395-408.

27. Bohane B. The new bushrangers. The Bulletin 1995;116(5976):14-9.

28. Ware M. Savage harvest. Time 2001 9 April;14):24-31.

 17

29. International Narcotics Control Board. Report of the International Narcotics

Control Board for 2003. New York: United Nations; 2004.

E1
This figure is similar to that observed among undergraduate students at the Australian
National University, Canberra, in 1994 (17).
E2
A similar conclusion was reached by one of Iamo‟s colleagues (20) . In contrast, Chen,
Johnson and Taufa uncritically accepted and reproduced Iamo‟s findings which are
simply not supported by the data presented in his report (6).