Cannabis Referendum: Is the Proposed Legal Limit Too High?

Opponents of the legalization of cannabis say that the amount people can buy each day would make people with serious addictions worse.

But those who support it say that buying up to 14g of dried herb would be like any other shopping trip and wouldn’t be used all at once.

It’s one of the key areas of debate for those weighing the Cannabis Control and Legalization Bill ahead of next month’s referendum.

The bill that has been introduced is a guide on how legalization might work and suggests a daily purchase limit of 14g of dry cannabis or the equivalent to that.

According to research in the United States, that would equal approximately 42 joints.

But if you speak to regular consumers in New Zealand, they suggest 14g would be more like 20-25 joints, if that’s the way you consume your weed.

Aaron Ironside, who leads the Say Nope to Dope campaign, said that limit would make it easier for regular users to stick to their habit.

“We try to help people not become addicted to cannabis, so giving them access to much more than they could expect to use in one day does not help people with behavior problems,” Ironside said.

“The point in Uruguay was that they wanted people to have to go to the store, not only to do that, but also because then they would be registered as someone who used regularly and that would help that person to attend if their behavior was getting out of hand. control “.

In Uruguay the purchase limit is 40 g per month or 10 g per week.

The drug is much more restricted in Uruguay than it would be if it were legalized here, or compared to other countries with legalized recreational cannabis use.

But does that mean Uruguay is preventing heavy cannabis use that Ironside is concerned about? Not.

“I think that’s why we oppose this bill,” Ironside said.

“It is the pretense of control and ultimately trying to control it through these artificial mechanisms does nothing to help people with problem behaviors.

“The answer is to strengthen our approach to health and education. That doesn’t require you to set up a cannabis store.”

Regular RNZ users have spoken to say that it is possible to consume 14g of cannabis in one day, as suggested by some opponents of the referendum, but it is highly unlikely.

They say that 14g would generally last between two and four weeks, while some less frequent users could take six months to exceed that amount.

Ironside compared buying 14g of cannabis to buying three bottles of vodka in one day.

But according to New Zealand law, there is no limit to the sale of alcohol, and consuming that much vodka in a day would cause severe alcohol poisoning and possibly death.

Consuming 14 g of marijuana in one day would have different effects, but death is not one of them.

Ross Bell, director of the Drug Foundation, compared the 14 g limit to a weekly visit to the supermarket.

“You are not necessarily going to consume everything you bought in one go.

“When we do our grocery shopping, we will buy enough household items for that week,” Bell said.

“We’re not going to use all of our toilet paper in one go, so when someone buys 14 grams of cannabis, that could last the average consumer for two, three weeks.”

Bell said it’s important that cannabis-dependent heavy users have easier access to the drug, along with the increased support promised with the introduction of the bill.

“I think people who are dependent on cannabis and who use a lot of cannabis need help.

“We need to, one, provide that treatment, make sure that treatment is available, and two, remove that barrier of fear. Keeping something illegal makes it really scary for someone to admit that they need help.”

Ironside said those supports can be implemented for regular users without legalizing recreational cannabis.