The cannabis referendum is not a choice about whether there is a recreational cannabis industry in Aotearoa. It's a choice about whether that industry is an unregulated black market - like the one that has thrived under prohibition - or a regulated and taxed one like alcohol and tobacco, whose use levels and related harms have been declining for years.
Given that choice, even if you object to cannabis use, doesn't it makes more sense to #MakeItLegal?
If you are disturbed to find yourself agreeing with some of the arguments for legalizing cannabis, but you can't bring yourself to actually vote "yes" in the upcoming referendum, consider abstaining. Even if you're not convinced about voting for it, you still don't have to vote against it.
Cartoonist Toby Morris serves up a comparison between the way alcohol and cannabis are currently regulated (or not) in Aotearoa, and the proposed system for cannabis regulation that we're voting on in the upcoming reeferendum:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/24-08-2020/the-side-eye-weed-versus-booze/
On October 17 New Zealand will decide whether cannabis should be legalised and regulated. Toby Morris compares and contrasts the weed rules with those for another popular drug: alcohol. The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read the res
If prohibition works so well for cannabis, why don't we apply it to #COVID-19? Just arrest anyone who's in possession of a COVID infection, and impose prison sentences on anyone supplying it to others. That would be such a powerful disincentive it'd knock community transmission on the head in no time, right?
#Cannabis is a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.
Listening to a livestream of former PM Helen Clark being interviewed by Instagrammer TheBuzzyKiwi, it’s surreal to hear her voicing the same points about cannabis that I've been making for years.
So when you vote in the cannabis referendum this year, the question in your mind needs to be:
Should we allow a regulated market for cannabis sales, as we do with alcohol and tobacco?
OR
Should we ban the sale and possession of alcohol and tobacco, in line with the way we currently regulate cannabis?
The scientific evidence that both alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than cannabis is now overwhelming. For example:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4311234/
A comparative risk assessment of drugs including alcohol and tobacco using the margin of exposure (MOE) approach was conducted. The MOE is defined as ratio between toxicological threshold (benchmark dose) and estimated human intake. Median lethal dose ...
A new paper based on the longitudinal studies in Dunedin or Christchurch finds no evidence that #cannabis use from 18 years onwards causes any increase in mental health risks:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018749540/how-does-cannabis-use-affect-new-zealanders-health
As the general election draws closer, so too does a referendum on legalising cannabis. The issue has long been debated, often on moral or political grounds rather than scientific. Professor Richie Poulton is the director of the Dunedin Study which follows the lives of 1037 people born between April 1972 and March 1973. Based on data from this study, and also the similar Christchurch study, he has co-written a report on the health impacts of recreational cannabis use here in New Zealand. He hopes it will help inform voters, whichever way they vote.
Strypey