‘We can’t arrest our way out’ – Report calls for radical meth change
The Helen Clark Foundation/Drug Foundation report says a tough on crime approach has failed, and moving to a health-based approach would be cheaper and more effective.
The report’s lead researcher Philippa Yasbek told Q+A we “need to change our paradigm on meth”.
She said the current approach to methamphetamine forced addicts into crime to feed their habit, so one recommendation of the report was to provide addicts substitution drugs, or in some cases even small quantities of methamphetamine and a safe place to take it.
“We’re hoping to help people disengage from that black market,” said Yasbek.
“The Government has talked a lot about taking a health-based approach, and we know a lot of people support a health based approach.”
The War on Drugs doesn’t work!
Meth is a highly addictive drug that gives a sense of euphoria many never find in their own lives. Becoming enslaved to that and damaged by it with no off roads other than prison is a failure in social policy of immense scale.
The only way we can blunt the horrifying and mutilating influence of heavy organised crime with links to South American Cartels is by curing the illness of addiction, it’s not by throwing users into prison.
Keep the terrible system of punishment for commercial dealing in place but allow users to get properly funded rehabilitation programs.
And that’s the crunch.
Properly funded meth rehabilitation programs.
Where will we find the money for that?
Hold on, wasn’t there a place where we could find that money?
That’s right, a legal market for cannabis!
Election 2020: Legalising weed could see $675m a year spent on health interventions – report
A legal cannabis market for recreational use could generate $675 million a year for the Government to spend on reducing cannabis-related harm, new economic modelling shows.
It finds the ethical structure of the proposed legislative structure will channel $675million each year into drug rehabilitation programs!
$675million!
We currently spend around $150million annually on alcohol rehabilitation – THIS $675million would fund rehab not only all cannabis addiction, but it would also fund all alcohol addiction AND all drug addictions services!
Regulating the cannabis market would inject more funding into all harm minimisation programs than we have ever had.
This would be a new age of rehabilitation funding, the taxation revenue is just beyond anything NZ has ever experienced in the field of drug rehabilitation.
But it gets better.
On top of that $675million in rehabilitation programs that could fund ALL drug addiction, there is almost quarter of a billion to the State in GST, plus 5000 new full time jobs plus creating over $200million in salaries and wages plus saving millions in the judiciary and tens of millions more in the prison system!
This is how far out of whack we have allowed the moralists and prohibitionists to succeed in this country!
The alternative to the current prohibition is so good that the status quo is utterly reprehensible!
If you are still against legal Cannabis after reading this report, then YOU are the fucking problem, not the stoners!
We should be collectively outraged that we have allowed the State to have this prohibition power for as long as they have. Cannabis is a civil rights issue, the State has crushed hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens for decades upon decades to enforce a law that was always about control and not our welfare.
How dare they and how dare we allow them to get away with it!
Legal cannabis market could fund all the meth rehabilitation programs we could ever need while providing desperately needed jobs and desperately needed public taxation while removing power from organised crime.
This issue must be on the 2023 election agenda – almost 50% of us demanded a legal market!
The status quo can not hold!
The medicinal cannabis market is a joke, we demand a legal market so that we can generate desperately needed jobs, taxation revenue, social justice and rehabilitation funding streams!
We shouldn’t tolerate this moralistic cannabis prohibition one second longer!
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I liked Helen Clark as PM, her government’s competency is now a forgotten dream compared to the bumbling timid amateurs we have now. Her government achieved a lot. But…
Give it a bone Helen. Apart from stymieing anyone using that vast waste of space, Eden Park, along with her follow residents, her musings nowadays are mile’s off target.
Jacinda led the change with almost clandestine secrecy that one upped anything Chloe ever tried with cannabis, by tweaking the law to unofficially decriminalise meth possession and use. But there was plenty in the media about it, it’s now a “health issue”. Except its reliant on addiction treatment infrastructure and experts existing which there isn’t, true to the half arseness form of this government. It is also highly reliant of addicts engaging, which they largely resist.
So no one is going to jail for meth use or possession Helen but a few do for dealing sizeable amounts of this poison. If Helen thinks that’s a travesty then her opinion is worthless!
What addicts do go to jail for is the crime they commit because meth turns them into feral animals. Horrendous unspeakable things they do. Does Helen think the rest of us should just suck it up and put up with these self made psychopaths wreaking havoc? Meth is a terrible substance and it’s negative side effects are as legendary as they are well known. If someone chooses to go down that black hole and harms others there must be consequences like jail for the safety of the rest of us.
But here’s an idea, let’s turn the largely disused Eden Park into a world class rehab facility. What you reckon Helen?
Yeah yeah so you’ve got a thing about Helen’s Nimbyism.
The issue is the destruction of the younger generations by meth and the backwardness of our continuing to prosecute thousands for cannabis. These convictions are still incarcerating otherwise law abiding citizens and destroying life opportunities for many skilled young people.
The puritanical fuckwits who Jacinda is sooo afraid of need to be put in their place once and for all.
Anyone who can’t agree with the obvious benefits of legalizing weed is a moron.
Well said Shona
Your bang on re: using legalized weed to fund harm reduction.
We also need safer legal alternatives to meth.
When the government banned BZP in 2009 they handed the entire recreational stimulant market to organized crime.
They need to allow a legal market for something safer, legal and made with quality controls around things like dosage, packaging.
Ritalin, Adderal, or even D-amphetamine would all be much safer than meth. There are endless other chemicals out there worth exploring.
Package it for oral consumption only, cut with vitamins and amino acids to replenish the affected neurotransmitters. Mix something with it that binds it in a way its unable to be injected or snorted. Oral use is always safest for drugs, as one can vomit an excessive dosage back out.
Restrict sales so its not in dairies or places where children frequent, just chemists or R18 shops.
Why should the gangs be getting all that money when it could be used to fund the solution.
Indeed. Likewise, it’s very difficult to get Adderall in NZ. This is much, much, much safer than meth.
Medical marajuana should be easy to get at a sensible price from legal sources. Personally I still am against legal supply of normal marajuana as it should not be needed in the same way alcohol should not be needed to make lofe enjoyable . If they make marajuana legal it will have to be tested and sorted into grades then GST will be added plus those clipping the ticket on the way so it will not be as cheap as the illegal supply. ACC will have more workplace claims and insurance will go up for all,to cover the extra accidents caused by impaired driving .
Okay Trevor and do you have any evidence to back up your claims cause there is a lot of evidence about alcohol harm yet we still have many bottle stores everywhere and particularly in poorer towns.
You can tell the people who try come across as experts on the matter but have never used the stuff to give a qualified comment.
The psychactive effects of cannabis differ greatly to that of alcohol which so many try compare it to, cannabis doesnt slow down your motor skills, in fact you’re so in tuned with what you’re doing you work hard to do everything right.
Different strengths of cannabis means the stronger it is, the less you take basically. Having too much just puts you to sleep.
I think you problem Trevor is you have swallowed everything prohibitionists (govt, family first, newspapers) have provided to you as fact when in reality many of these things they are just trying to justify why it must remain illegal. Alot of things if you were to put them beside and compared to alcohol makes cannabis look incredibly safe but you never see prohibitionists do that because doing so would question why alcohol is legal.
I was a teenager in the 60s and spent 6 nights a week at nightclubs so know first hand the allure of marajuana and alcohol and drugs generally.. I discovered the vast difference in strength when I visited San Francisco when I was walking on air after a few puffs .
Now a mature retiree I help,at the local City Mission and see the results of drugs and alcohol . Some can handle both with ease others have problems .With police and hospitals stressed why add more problems from them to deal with.
Trevor why do assume there will be more problems than there are now? Taking things above ground and regulation will go a long way to general improvement. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any negative examples but there is likely to be less than there are now.
I hope you are tight but the problem is once the genie is out of the bottle it is hard to get back . Someone in a National Government thought synthetic marajuana was ok .That turned out bad and while not as bad is vapping which was going to be the great health substitute for smoking .It is now found to be nearly as bad as smoking and is attracting many young people and previous none smokers.
Right but I would argue synthetic cannabis ( stupid name because it is not cannabis at all) only became a real problem once it became illegal.
Bullshit Mark, and I have tried weed so I do know it’s bullshit.
Burying the negative and varying effects of weed is one of the reasons I don’t trust stoners with legal weed. It’s fine for you, that’s great, in no way is it fine for everyone.
As a mod in my youth I agree with you
Yes too much of anything is not fine sugar, salt, beer, white bread, pies etc etc moderation is the key but some people don’t do moderation
Officialdom is clueless about what their own doings creates in the real world.
When the govt started using choppers to go after cannabis, growers moved indoors to grow more potent strains.
The same war on drugs against cannabis trying to restrict the availability of cannabis in the black market led people to find alternative drugs and along came meth.
Legalising recreational cannabis is the answer, then meth users have a drug to use as an alternative that is far safer for them to use. Get drug users back to using cannabis again.
But then we have a govt more interested in appeasing boomers rather than the 48% who voted yes
Agree with ya Mark, Judith Gollins openly bragged about how she got rid of most of the strong skunky strains of Cannabis yet we then saw more people turning to ‘P’. So a shortage of Cannabis which is way less harmful than ‘P’ and many Cannabis users looking for something to replace it and now ‘P’ has caused a huge scourge on our communities. Now many said this would happen but National never listen and they have that, we know best attitude when they don’t. Cannabis if used sensibly is in fact not as bad as alcohol. As they say moderation is the key although we know some people don’t do moderation and they mix it with Alcohol and end up wasted. We also have pills causing mental illnesses.
The problem is the NZ Police decide where the proceeds of crime money goes and really this should not be there role. Our government said they were already doing a lot in this space but really its not enough many of the heinous crimes including people neglecting their children is committed by ‘P’ users so we need to do much more using the proceeds from crime. I would say a large proportion of those in motels (transitional housing like the ones in Fenton St Rotorua are or have used ‘P’ which is why many are homeless. And many have been disowned by their whanau due to burning that bridge and its very hard to rebuild trust when they are on that shit.
surprised to see TDB promoting soma for the proles….or am I?
soma is boring, kush is relaxing…
Fully agree Martyn — but the Cannabis Health Providers will fight to keep Cannabis access from the general public – why? They (the Providers) are making a killing in selling Cannabis Products.
Meanwhile, the insane nanny-statists who hate the poor are driving people to grow tobacco for illegal sale with their tax hikes. Not exactly the example anyone with an ounce of gray matter should want to follow for more dangerous drugs like cocaine or meth or the really bad stuff like weed.
do more kiwis die of arse cancer than smoking? I don’t know but would be keen to sit on the board of ‘ARSEFREE-NZ’
SERIOUS POINT BEHIND THE LEVITY
Now that’s an entirely different matter.
Smoking is the sort of thing the poors enjoy. That’s why it must be completely banned.
Likewise, people driving at reasonable speeds on the open road and taking less than ten seconds to pass a single campervan are obviously nasty yobbos and clearly didn’t do the right university courses, and so driving at reasonable speeds must be banned.
This despite the fact that by the end of this year, the government will have allowed more unnecessary COVID deaths than people who die in road accidents in a decade. Because it has nothing to do with lives. It has to do with crushing normal people.
But the sort of thing that increases risk of anal cancer? That’s very much something the professional managerial classes that rule over us enjoy.
Good drugs are great. The trouble with drugs generally is getting good ones and by good ones, I mean as defined by knowing what you’re getting and you’re never going to know what you’re getting if drugs are illegal. The last time I took what I thought was Ecstasy years ago I instead found myself crawling about in the middle of Latimer Square in Christchurch getting laughed at by dero’s. Sooooooooooo embarrassing.
We’re humans. That’s what we do. We get into all sorts of human troubles type stuff.
All drugs must be decriminalised and freely available. What should be illegal is knowingly supplying what it ain’t for absurdly inflated prices.
I’ve read some of the comments above. Some of you are proudly conservative therefore almost certainly ignorant so if you’re likely to be making decisions that might affect me, you’d better know what the fuck you’re talking about.
The biggest problem with drug taking is not knowing if what you’re taking is what you’re told it is.
Some babies know all about that one.
Russell Brand.
“A recent study apparently shows 95% of pre-packaged baby food was contaminated with harmful & toxic heavy metals. Surely the FDA & the Government will step in to further regulate baby food? Or is there more behind this?”
https://youtu.be/5QClLdrbkw8
The meth is brought in by the gangs isn’t it, and the gangs prefer Labour with their soft touch and deep pockets. Labour provided cover for Big Pharma, then provided cover for Ukranian Nazis, and now they are providing cover for the gangs (and worse, they are delegating discretion for drug prosecutions to police, who are there to enforce the law not make it).
The meth is brought in by the gangs isn’t it, and the gangs prefer Labour with their soft touch and deep pockets. Labour provided cover for Big Pharma, then provided cover for Ukranian Nazis, and now they are providing cover for the gangs (and worse, they are delegating discretion for drug prosecutions to police, who are there to enforce the law not make it).
And who is providing it to the gangs Ethan is it cartels
The war on drugs is a platform for racial inequality and unchecked police brutality
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