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New Zealanders are ready to vote in the upcoming referendum on whether or not they support the cannabis legalization and control bill.
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MPs Chlöe Swarbrick and Nick Smith appeared alongside NZMA’s Dr. Kate Baddock and Associate Professor Kylee Quince. Source: Q + A
TVNZ1’s Q + A brought together MPs Chlöe Swarbrick and Nick Smith, along with Dr. Kate Baddock from the New Zealand Medical Association and Associate Professor of Criminal Law Khylee Quince to discuss the legalization of cannabis.
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It occurs when the country heads to a referendum on whether to legalize drugs or not. Source: Q + A
Swarbrick said it was about what kind of “legal, social, economic and criminal response we want to have to a substance.”
“We all fundamentally agree that cannabis causes harm, so the question is, how do we respond to that harm?”
“All that damage has occurred under the criminal status quo.”
He said legalizing cannabis was “acknowledging reality … cannabis exists.”
Smith disagreed, saying that legalizing cannabis would not make New Zealand “a happier, safer, healthier or more successful country” and that it would exacerbate mental health problems.
“Happiness doesn’t come in a bong or a bottle.”
He said corporations would benefit from communities most at risk if New Zealand legalized cannabis.
When asked by host Jack Tame who currently benefits, Smith replied, “The gangs and we have to go after them.”
He said the claim that the criminal / gang element would disappear with legalization “was not correct.”
NZMA’s Dr. Baddock regrets that legalizing a drug that causes harm would not help.
“The more you eat, the greater the risk of harm.
“It has an effect on driving, it slows down your ability to concentrate, it slows down your psychomotor effects, so you don’t respond as quickly in an emergency.”
She said New Zealand would see 15- and 16-year-olds using cannabis, and the younger a person is, the greater the risk of problems.
Fifteen said that Maori were overrepresented in the health, justice, social, cultural and economic harms of cannabis.
“It’s about harm reduction, it’s not about a binary question of whether cannabis is good for you. Because your medical and scientific status won’t change with legalization, but what will change is the way we respond to those. results of justice “.
He called Dr. Baddock’s suggestion that cannabis should be decriminalized as an “awkward transitional house from a legal perspective.”
“Police officers shouldn’t make the law.”
If the majority is not in favor of the bill and votes no in the referendum, recreational cannabis is still illegal.
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1 NEWS online political reporter Anna Whyte explains what the proposed law means and what both sides of the issue are saying. Source: 1 NEWS
But even if the majority of people vote in favor, cannabis does not automatically become legal.
The next government can present a bill to Parliament after the elections and from there the public can share their thoughts and ideas on the legalization of cannabis.
TVNZ’s Vote Compass figures showed that 50 percent of respondents were in favor of cannabis legalization, 39 percent were against, and 10 percent of people were neutral.
