Ed

Stuff co.nz 7 September 2020
Our additional comment: Whoops!! – this messes up another argument for legalisation from Chloe, Helen and the Drug Foundation….
“The reality of policing the drug world is that police do not actively target end users of drugs, they target the manufacturers and dealers, those who are the main contributors to the harm. This applies especially in the gang-world driven methamphetamine scene, and for MDMA, where MDMA mimics and synthetics have caused deaths in New Zealand and overseas.. Anyone in prison for possession of cannabis or utensils, will be there for  other more serious charges as well, involving offences such as dealing, manufacture, possession of firearms etc. The commentary that people end up in prison for smoking cannabis is misleading, they do not. It is only the dealers.

OPINION: I am a former member of a police drug squad, in one of New Zealand’s major cities. I will be voting against legalising cannabis.

I agree that for the end users of drugs, where the use of that drug begins to affect a person’s health or mental wellbeing, medical or other intervention is very important, rather than putting that person before the courts.

But the reality of policing the drug world is that police do not actively target end users of drugs, they target the manufacturers and dealers, those who are the main contributors to the harm. This applies especially in the gang-world driven methamphetamine scene, and for MDMA, where MDMA mimics and synthetics have caused deaths in New Zealand and overseas.

Methamphetamine is well known to cause massive social harm, and with MDMA and mimics, the main problem and danger there is that the end user never knows what is actually in the drug. They have to trust the drug dealer, and who would trust one of them?

As far as cannabis is concerned, again, police do not target end users, and despite the social media commentary, I do not know of any end user of cannabis who has ever been imprisoned for simply smoking a joint. That simply does not happen.

Anyone in prison for possession of cannabis or utensils, will be there for  other more serious charges as well, involving offences such as dealing, manufacture, possession of firearms etc. The commentary that people end up in prison for smoking cannabis is misleading, they do not.

It is only the dealers.

The proposed legal purchase of 14 grams of cannabis per day per day is 10-plus joints. Who smokes that much? I’ve only ever encountered a very few, and they were basically permanently stoned.  It is way too much and a major step from decriminalising the possession of a simple joint.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/cannabis-referendum/122683839/i-used-to-be-on-the-police-drug-squad-heres-why-im-voting-against-legalising-cannabis

Author, consultant, advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, and assistant professor, Kevin Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for more than 20 years. He is currently the President and CEO of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), a non-profit organization he founded with Congressman Patrick Kennedy and David Frum. His book, Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana, was published by Beaufort (Midpoint) in 2013, and was released in its second edition at the end of 2017. He is also the co-editor of Marijuana and Contemporary Health, published by Oxford University Press, and an assistant adjunct professor at Yale University and an institute director at the University of Florida.

His work as a government advisor began in the Clinton Administration as a researcher, and he was the senior speechwriter on drug policy in the Bush Administration (2002-2003). He returned to government in 2009, where he was asked to assist in drafting President Obama’s National Drug Control Strategy as a senior advisor. In 2011, he stepped down after being the only drug policy staffer to have served as a political appointee in a Democrat and Republican administration.

He talks to Say Nope To Dope spokesperson Aaron Ironside about the effects of legalisation of marijuana in the US, and why he’s encouraging New Zealanders to vote NO in the upcoming referendum.

www.SayNopeToDope.nz

“The idea that legalising / commercialising cannabis is going to deal with those systemic injustices and inequalities in our nation is naive at best if not outright appropriating issues of systemic injustice for personal gain and personal profit.” – Will Jones III

Will Jones is a Communications and Outreach Associate at Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) a nonpartisan nonprofit that works with local, state, and federal legislators to promote science-based policies that reduce marijuana use and arrests and their consequences.

He talks to Say Nope To Dope spokesperson Aaron Ironside about the effects of legalisation of marijuana in the US, and why he’s encouraging New Zealanders to vote NO in the upcoming referendum.

www.SayNopeToDope.nz

Professor Mary Cannon is a Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

From her research, which includes involvement in the Dunedin longitudinal study, Professor Cannon warns that cannabis is strongly associated with psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. In fact, cannabis use is now the most powerful single environmental risk factor for psychotic disorder.

Recent studies from Europe have examined the risks associated with high-potency cannabis (defined as greater than 10 per cent THC) and have found that daily users of high potency cannabis have a nine-fold increased risk of developing schizophrenia or another clinical psychotic disorder. But this “psychotogenic” effect is not confined to adolescent-onset cannabis use and appears more linked to frequency of use. In addition, it is not confined to people with a history of psychotic disorder in their family (although they are at high risk and should avoid cannabis). It has been estimated that between one third to half of all the cases of psychotic illness in places like London or Amsterdam could be due to cannabis.

The failure of governments worldwide to control alcohol harms shows that once an addictive substance is legalised and freely available public health takes a second place to profit.

She talks to Say Nope To Dope spokesperson Aaron Ironside about the effects of legalisation of marijuana in the US, and why he’s encouraging New Zealanders to vote NO in the upcoming referendum.

www.SayNopeToDope.nz

NZ Herald 7 September 2020
Our additional comment:Well said Kate Hawkesby:
“It’s hard when much of the information in advance of this vote is skewed from one angle only – & muddied with spurious medicinal message.”
We’re trying to balance the message. Perhaps some of your colleagues could be less bias.

Amidst the current blitz of pro-cannabis legalisation media – both social and mainstream – a few things are getting lost.

One is balance. Where are the “vote no” stories?

Two, is the facts. No, we are not voting on legalising medicinal cannabis. That’s already legal.

The New Zealand Drug Foundation – pro the yes vote – has made claims that legalising recreational cannabis will make access to medicinal cannabis easier. That’s the claim. But it’s not what we’re voting on. Yet it hasn’t stopped a lot of the messaging and advertising around the referendum being focused on medicinal.

Three, even the pro-legalisation campaigners accept there are risks in normalising cannabis use.

One “yes-vote” columnist pointed out that “not all the facts support a rosy picture of life after a ‘yes’ vote… ” She pointed out that normalisation of cannabis use “won’t be good for everyone” and that “…legalisation probably won’t wipe out the criminal market completely either”.

Despite that, her premise was that no social and health issues are “tied up in tidy bows…”

In other words, it’s not perfect but let’s vote it in anyway. That’s a worrying low-bar approach to a potentially major public health issue for this country.
READ MORE: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12362658

Stuff co.nz 6 September 2020
Our additional comment: “The worst things that we see are probably related to the psychological harms … the effect that has on personality, the effect that has on anxiety, on mood, on the triggers for psychosis… She said it was contradictory to propose the legalisation of cannabis alongside a campaign to reduce smoking in New Zealand. “We’ve lost the argument with alcohol and cigarettes already and this is an opportunity to not lose this one.” As a medical professional, it was frustrating to see people confuse the referendum on recreational cannabis with medicinal cannabis, which is already legal. There was a legitimate pathway for people who needed medicinal cannabis. – Dr Kate Baddock, New Zealand Medical Association chairwoman.

A Northland GP has called for the proposed cannabis bill to be “thrown out”, and for the drug to be decriminalised rather than legalised.

Dr Kate Baddock, who is also the New Zealand Medical Association chairwoman, says she has been observing the harmful effects of cannabis on her patients for 30 years.

“The worst things that we see are probably related to the psychological harms … the effect that has on personality, the effect that has on anxiety, on mood, on the triggers for psychosis.

“We see it often enough now while cannabis is illegal that we would expect to see a lot more of it, if it were to be made legal.”

Last week the Sunday Star-Times spoke to people in favour of legalising the cannabis referendum, and this week those opposed had their say.

Baddock said there was no legal barrier to treating patients suffering from cannabis addiction, but if they went before the courts they often missed out on receiving the health treatment they needed.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/cannabis-referendum/122667284/northland-gp-calls-for-binning-the-cannabis-referendum-decriminalising-the-drug-instead

Stuff co.nz 4 September 2020
Our additional comment: Superb comments against the social justice argument which is used for legalising cannabis
“Cannabis issues are presented from a middle-class Pākehā paradigm, says Kaa, that carries fewer risks for them than other sections of society. He says for those living in poverty or dealing with systemic racism, cannabis is a lot more damaging and dangerous. “It won’t fix racism in the justice system, we shouldn’t pretend it will,” says Kaa. “Our history of social policy in this country really worries me. It’s going to send a signal cannabis is accessible and okay to use.””

Anglican minister and historian Dr Hirini Kaa has weighed up all the evidence and will be voting no in the referendum.

The medicinal argument confuses the focus of the referendum, he says, which is about recreational use. Kaa says if everyone votes no to recreational use, medicinal cannabis will still be allowed and prescribed by a doctor, and hemp will still be legal.

Cannabis issues are presented from a middle-class Pākehā paradigm, says Kaa, that carries fewer risks for them than other sections of society. He says for those living in poverty or dealing with systemic racism, cannabis is a lot more damaging and dangerous.

The proposed legislation also relies on the health, education and justice systems mitigating any harm, but those systems don’t currently work for Māori, says Kaa.

“It won’t fix racism in the justice system, we shouldn’t pretend it will,” says Kaa. “Our history of social policy in this country really worries me. It’s going to send a signal cannabis is accessible and okay to use.”

Kaa agrees that a health approach to cannabis is better than the current punitive regime. But it’s not enough to sway his vote.

He smoked his first joint when he was 14 years old. His older cousin, a heavy user, introduced him to the drug.

“They used it several times a day and thought it was harmless to give to a 14-year old,” says Kaa.

“It gets into our whānau, it’s insidious. It’s a creepy drug. It’s not good for us.”

He doesn’t use cannabis now but sees its effects on his wider whānau.

“They wait every day to have a smoke. They wait for the growing season. It might not be psychologically addictive in a clinical sense but it’s certainly in the context of poverty, hopelessness many of my whanaunga are in. It’s addictive in that context.

“I see my 15-year-old nephews who just want to smoke weed every day, so they can escape from their reality. This is the dangers of cannabis in our communities.”
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300096454/cannabis-referendum-would-legalisation-change-the-racebased-targeting-of-mori