Greens renew call for evidence-based cannabis regulation
The Green Party has renewed its call for evidence-based cannabis regulation, on the fifth anniversary of a referendum in which the public voted only narrowly against legalisation.
“Five years ago, 1.4 million New Zealanders voted on each side of the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Referendum. Today, the Greens continue to work for sensible, evidence-based regulation to reduce harm,” says Green Party Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
“Those who campaigned against legal regulation of cannabis could not defend the harm of criminal prohibition – the best they could muster was critique of legalisation. So today we’re launching an online platform for New Zealanders to tell us what they think sensible regulation could look like.
The last referendum was twisted by NZ Christian groups with money from American Churches, we should absolutely push the issue again.
Legalise weed and build a specific taxation system around it.
If cannabis were legalised, the New Zealand industry could employ about 5000 people and reap almost $1.1 billion in taxes a year, two in-depth reports by Business and Economic Research Ltd have shown.
Half the taxation should be ring fenced for rehabilitation services so people with addiction can be actually get healed.
We currently spend around $235m on addiction services, imagine what we could do with an extra $500million?
Instead we have a medicinal cannabis market for the middle classes, and that is ultimately the class issue at the heart of our drug laws.
If you are white and middle class, drug laws aren’t a problem, if you are brown or poor, they are used to destroy you.
That’s the reality of our drug laws…
Police bias questions with more Māori charged with cannabis-related crimes than Pākehā
…it’s class oppression aimed at punishing you for not being a productive unit of capitalism if you are too poor to fight the charges, if you have the money, leniency always happens.
Social policy shouldn’t cause moire harm and reinforce existing bigotry, it should focus on healing those addicted and not punish those who use drugs recreationally and have no issues with it.
This punitive model only empowers the State to punish and damage their own citizens rather than treat them like adults and help those who are addicted.
We want a local cannabis model that favours a craft beer approach rather than a mega corporation with an R20 age restriction and ring fenced revenue.
Limit on stores with a focus on small clubs and vaporisers.
The Greens should pick this up and run with it.
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Cannabis should be legalized, no question. But let’s not fool ourselves. Criminal gangs will take over the commercial production. They already have expertise, money, and a good supply of Vietnamese migrants to do the work.
My main concern is that any legislation includes the right for people like me who just want to grow a few plants each year in their greenhouse for their own use
Sleepy H
> But let’s not fool ourselves. Criminal gangs will take over the commercial production
Let’s not fool ourselves, this is who controls commercial production now! A licensing system for growers and retailers shouldn’t discriminate against people for past involvement in the black market. But as with alcohol licensing, it can and should come with duly enforced conditions that exclude organised criminal groups.
That tin lady (related to the action in Wizard of Oz) is holding up something shiny – is that what a ‘tinny’ is when talking about drugs? I don’t understand about these things.
That bag is a LOT bigger than a tinny. I don’t think that tinnies are even a thing anymore, for the last 15-20 years at least, every different “portion” is served in plastic ziplock bags.
Do we really need another drug on the market .Booze is legal and causes millions of damage along side the pleasure the majority get from drinking. The prove of weed causing lung cancer is still not there but it is certainly a cause of many lung complications because of the way it is inhaled .
I am all for freeing up medical cannabis and hemp being used in many other areas but we do not need it make it legal for recreational use
1 – Vape or edibles
2 – It helps us deal with right wingers like you Trev
3 – Arresting Māori and putting them in prison is preferable is it?
Do we need another Trev diatribe on the blog? What we get faced with because other people don’t do what we think they should do Trev? – it is just terrible, what superior persons like ourselves have to put up with, when we know how much better we could make or live their lives if only we were them. It’s all so difficult Trev and Blob (Freudian slip) and other people are meaner-minded than you, still slightly sweet at the core.
I’d say the most dangerous drug we have is the drug of power. Look how dangerous this government have become. Implementing policy where only the selected wealthy win. At a time Treasury has stated this government has created debt we can’t pay back unless selling off state assets one only has to go back to unaffordable tax bribes where the wealthy benefitted the most and middle and low income earners saw the small tax cuts they received gobbled up and some with the government’s high inflation and high grocery and electricity costs. Not to forget the billions wasted in giving landlords rebates that was absolutely not needed and ridiculous.
That drug of power has been the most abusive in our political history by all parties in the CoC.
Should’ve been legalized thirty years ago, instead Peter Dunne got involved, the backward butterfly.
We’re trailing America ffs.
Good litmus test for Cmor though – here’s a piece of pernicious obstructive legislation long overdue for reform – but suddenly Cmor ain’t standing beside us – wonder why not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqh1CQvR1Cg&list=RDUqh1CQvR1Cg&start_radio=1