Illicit drug use, peer attitudes, and perceptions of harmful effects among convicted cannabis offenders.

A sample of criminalized cannabis users provided information about their use of other illicit drugs and friends' attitudes toward various substances. The majority of those surveyed were regular, heavy users of cannabis, had friends who were similarly involved, and were more experienced with a variety of other illicit drugs than youthful groups from the larger population. In its perception of harmful effects of various substances, the offender sample held fairly conventional, high-risk views on opiates and amphetamines. Opinion was more divided over the psychedelics and cocaine. Cannabis was considered least harmful of all the other illicit drugs and alcohol. Those convicted of the offense of cannabis possession displayed the knowledgeable insider's perspective of a hierarchy of dangerousness for drugs that is at variance with their largely undifferentiated legal status.