Election 2020: the pros and cons of legal cannabis to debate

The arguments for and against the legalization of cannabis for personal use are at the center of tonight’s debate on next month’s referendum.

Hosted by Heather du Plessis-Allan of Newstalk ZB, the discussion features Drug Foundation Executive Director Ross Bell, Associate Law Professor Khylee Quince, who is a member of the scientific advisor’s Cannabis Expert Panel Expert Panel Chief Executive Officer, Police Association President Chris Cahill and Say Nope to Dope spokesperson Aaron Ironside.

Cahill said the police will follow what the public decides, but cautioned that without the correct price or the correct level of THC (the psychoactive ingredient), users would simply be left on the black market.

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Ironside argued that youth use would increase with legalization simply because “it will be everywhere,” but Bell and Cahill cited Canada, where youth use declined, official statistics that Ironside questioned.

Bell said the proposed legal regulation in New Zealand would protect young users because millions of dollars would be available for education and treatment, and it would be easier to talk to young people about legally regulated products.

Everyone agreed that cannabis was easy to get at this time.

Cahill said that 50 percent of cannabis in Canada was purchased on the legal market during the first year of legalization, but that most people who were vulnerable users were more likely to remain on the black market.

He said it was “nearly impossible” to be jailed for cannabis use / possession.

But Quince said that statistics from the Justice Ministry showed that 230 people in 2019/20 were convicted of cannabis use / possession alone, and five of them were imprisoned.

Cahill said that he did not believe that people were incarcerated and that they were more likely to be in jail for a short period rather than a large fine that they could not pay.

He said police action for cannabis use / possession had been significantly reduced, but that it should be up to Parliament to decriminalize drugs if that is what legislators want.

It should not be done through police discretion, which is applied differently in different regions and for different people.

Ironside said he used cannabis every day for three years and his mental health “collapsed.”

Polls so far show that the October 17 vote will likely be a close race.

It is about legalizing cannabis for recreational use, the proposed framework of which is detailed in the Bill for the Legalization and Control of Cannabis.

An expert panel headed by the prime minister’s chief scientific adviser, Dr. Juliet Gerrard, has published detailed information on the subject, without taking sides.

Gerrard has said the key question is whether legalization under the proposed controls would reduce cannabis-related harm more than the status quo.

These damages are not only health, affecting mainly young users or regular users, but also social, such as the way in which a conviction for cannabis can see someone excluded from society or unable to find work.

The panel said New Zealand’s proposed regime was closer to Canada’s than any other overseas region where personal use was legal.

Canada was legalized two years ago, and since then, there has been a moderate increase in occasional use by adults, an increase in daily or near-daily use for those 65 and older, and no changes in use have been reported. use between 15 to 24 years for occasional or frequent use.

The panel, whose work has been peer-reviewed nationally and internationally, added that legalization abroad had not been in place long enough to show long-term trends.

Last week, two reports from Business and Economic Research Ltd (Berl) showed that legalization could bring in $ 675 million a year through excise taxes and license fees that could be spent on healthcare services.

Berl’s model assumed that a legal market would displace about two-thirds of the black market.

To meet that demand, 49.7 tons of cannabis per year, Berl says New Zealand would need 134 retail stores, 59 licensed cannabis cafes and 227 stores combined; 207 retail stores would be located in six major cities, including 125 in Auckland.

The referendum has turned political, after the National and Act confirmed that a majority vote “yes” would not necessarily lead to the bill becoming law under a National Act government.

Both sides said they would send the bill to a select committee, but its progress beyond that would depend on what the committee recommended.