There’s been considerable discussion on the cannabis referendum, much of it generating more heat than light.
Consider what’s happening now.
If I go to a bottle store to buy a bottle of gin, that store is a licensed legal entity.
The owner is responsible for checking my age and sobriety.
The gin I purchase is a labelled product. What’s on the label is in the bottle.
The Government benefits from the regulation and the tax.
The same number of people in New Zealand have tried cannabis as have tried alcohol.
If I want to buy some weed, I go to the local drug dealer who may or may not be gang connected. Either way they’re indulging in an illegal activity.
Whether I’m 10 or 50 is incidental. If I’m stoned or out of it on P it doesn’t matter. If I have the money I get the product.
I really don’t know what I’m buying as there’s no regulation. It could be simple weed, supercharged weed or weed laced with P.
The only one benefitting from the deal are the criminals and eventually the gangs.
The consistent anti-cannabis argument I hear is that if it’s legal, it will become more available to youngsters and that’s bad.
What a pious load of old codswallop.
Youngsters can get it now, at whim. If it was regulated there would be some control as there is now with alcohol. Currently, it’s simply the law of the jungle. If you have the cash, you get the stash.
Let’s talk about rural security.
Some years ago we planted a forest which I hunted regularly. Most years I’d come across some cannabis plants, well-tended and obviously watered. I have no idea how they got there or who was responsible, but whoever it was they accessed our property regularly and illegally.
Like many farmers, we’re on average hill country and relatively remote so it was a concern.
That’s another reason I want it legal and regulated.
Currently, 10 to 15% of 15-year olds in NZ have used cannabis and 45% of 18-year olds.
Cannabis has been around for over 50 years to my knowledge. I’ve had a lot of mates who tried it for a while. I’m unaware of any that still do. I can guarantee no one went on to hard drugs, as has been the claim.
Cannabis is easy to grow, not dissimilar to tomatoes – or so I’ve been told.
Put me in any town or city in New Zealand and I’m sure I can find cannabis in a short space of time. It is readily available.
The reasons for legalisation are many and varied.
For a start, the industry that has been undercover and illegal for years can come out of the closet and be regulated, visible and taxable.
That means the criminal element is largely removed.
Talking to drug counsellors is sobering. Cannabis isn’t addictive. Correspondingly, Methamphetamine (P) is extremely so.
It is therefore in the dealers’ interest to wean people off cannabis and onto P and they do it well, including lacing cannabis with P.
It’s been suggested that legalising cannabis will result in a race of addicts. Experience overseas has shown us that isn’t so.
Overseas experience has also shown that legalising cannabis does not encourage non-users to try it. Youngsters also consume less as the criminal element is removed.
Crime rates were unchanged.
Talking to a psychologist mate I’m told that those under the effect of cannabis tended to be happy. With alcohol they were aggressive and more likely to commit violence as our domestic violence figures indicate.
With driving cannabis users tend to compensate by driving slower, leaving bigger gaps between vehicles and not passing. Those impaired with alcohol are exactly the opposite.
Those under the influence of cannabis had a greater sex drive. Those affected by alcohol had “a higher desire and lowered performance” as Falstaff told us many years ago.
Finally, the horse has bolted. It’s the third most popular drug in NZ behind alcohol and tobacco. I’d suggest it’s the least harmful.
So, come the referendum I’ll be ticking two boxes.
That could well be a waste of time, however, as National’s Nick Smith has told us that no matter what the result of the referendum, the Party wasn’t guaranteeing the legislation would be passed.
That is rampant arrogance, undemocratic and gives Nanny state a whole new meaning.
I can’t understand the righteous indignation of the anti-cannabis brigade. It tells me how removed they are from reality. How distanced they are from what’s really happening on the street.
My view is the main difference between alcohol and cannabis is that one is legal the other isn’t and that just one is regulated, quality controlled and taxed, which I believe is wrong.
