Right now you
can vote YES in a referendum to stop cannabis prohibition from harming society.
Many of the
reasons for cannabis prohibition have become pointless or proven wrong.
The use of cannabis in New
Zealand is regulated by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, which makes unauthorised possession of any amount
of cannabis a crime. Cannabis is the fourth-most widely
used recreational drug in New Zealand, after caffeine, alcohol and tobacco, and the most widely
used illicit drug. In the population of more than four million, 13.4%
of those aged 16–64 use cannabis. This ranks as the ninth-highest cannabis
consumption level in the world.
HISTORY
The
negative consensus about hemp that many of us know – and loathe – today, began
when a gentleman named Harry Anslinger (married to the niece of a DuPont
investor and promoted to head of the Bureau of Narcotics after the end of
alcohol prohibition) began looking into rumours of the Mexican population
smoking the flowers of the hemp plant.
Press baron William
Randolph Hearst’s newspapers (the mainstream media of the time, fuelled by the
timber industry) spread the slander, propagating stories about the “evil
marijuana”, including of people committing rapes and murder while “under the
influence”.
A propaganda movie
released to theatres entitled Reefer Madness portrayed
these horrendously inaccurate events happening to young people. This, of
course, had the papers selling like wildfire, but they failed to mention the
everyday uses of hemp – rope, fuel, textiles, food…
The
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 effectively made possession or transfer of marijuana
illegal throughout the United States under federal
law.
The American
Medical Association (AMA) opposed the act.
After the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act was passed, Anslinger ordered
hemp’s prohibition, using the excuse that agents wouldn’t be able to tell the
difference between it and marijuana, and that the farming of hemp made it too
difficult to enforce the marijuana prohibition. (Although WW2 delayed this due
to hemps neccessity in the war)
It just so happens that the crop was a threat
to many powerful industries at the time, including corporate giant DuPont, as
well as various cotton, paper and timber giants. These commercial enterprises
had enormous amounts of profit pouring in, which would simply have been
threatened if the more sustainable and environmentally friendly option of hemp
graced the marketplace.
It could be said that the only reason
Marijuana/hemp/cannabis is illegal is because of economics. There are thousands
of things the crop can be used for that would put big oil, plastic, paper and
profit over people pharmaceutical corporations out of business.
Cannabis was listed in NZ as a dangerous drug under The
Dangerous Drugs Act 1927 which was designed to bring New Zealand into line
internationally rather than to control a local problem. However cannabis
continued to be used as a prescription medication. In accordance with its
international obligations under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, New Zealand passed the
Narcotics Act in 1965, which banned a number of drugs, including cannabis , ie NZ
imported other countries bad drug policies.
Society was becoming more liberal with the introduction
of the pill in 1961. At first the Pill was supposed to be prescribed to married women
only. Many doctors were reluctant to prescribe the Pill to unmarried women
because of society’s moral objections to sex outside of marriage. To get around
this, clinicians at Family Planning clinics used to give unmarried women rings
to put on their fingers when they visited! But as you know society moved on past
these old archaic church values . Not long after in 1967, pubs were licensed
after 6pm to end the “6 oclock swill”. I would
imagine there was a big back lash from conservative MPS and churches around
this, which may have been injected into
fueling the hype around drug use with all this fun and liberation going on .
New Zealand became involved in the Vietnam
War, sparking a decade of protest , counter culture , hippies and backlash
against the establishment and freedom lose not just against the war. Of which
drugs were involved in.
The
Police publicly took the false view that marijuana created homicidal urges.
Officer Bob Walton was dispatched in 1964 to learn more from his American contemporaries
and, on his return, established New Zealand’s first drug squads and helped
draft the extraordinary Narcotics Act 1965, which reversed the onus of proof in
drug cases and set a penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment for possession of more
than an ounce of pot. (“At the time, the Act was seen as draconian in relation
to the problem,” noted the official Police tribute to Walton on his death in
2008.)
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided that the government needed to make an effort to
curtail the social unrest that blanketed the country at the time. He
started with drugs but it was President Nixon who started the “war on
the people of drugs” in order to appear tough on crime to get elected (a common
right wing political party tactic). But first he had to convince people they
were a problem then make them illegal . The “War on Drugs “ was a term popularized by the media shortly after a
press conference given on June 18, 1971, by President Richard
Nixon—the day after
publication of a special message from President Nixon to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control—during which he
declared drug abuse "public enemy number one".
In USA cannabis use peaked in late 1970s declined until 1980s
were it stayed level , then started
rising again in the 2007.
Cannabis has now been wrapped up in this “war on drugs” and must
be undone.
Why – because the banning of drugs including cannabis
was a political one and had little if anything to do with harm. Prohibition has
not worked . It ties up milllions and billions in taxpayer money and does not decrease
the use of cannabis policing it , with
huge cost to society .
Prohibition doesn’t work – it neither
reduces use substanually or the harm
They
already knew this when they tried it with the alcohol in USA in the 1920s. Prohibition
was oriven originally by churches . Alcohol was banned in various ways by Federal
in the 8th Amendment and in state legislation in 1920. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act, set down the rules for enforcing
the federal ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were
prohibited. Following the ban, criminal gangs gained control of the beer and
liquor supply in many cities. By the late 1920s, a new opposition to
prohibition emerged nationwide. Critics attacked the policy as causing crime,
lowering local revenues, and imposing "rural" Protestant religious
values on "urban" America. Finally repealed by the 21st
Amendment in 1933. The National Bureau of economics estimate the consumption of
alcohol during Prohibition fell sharply at the beginning of Prohibition. But during
the next several years, however, alcohol consumption increased sharply, to
about 60-70 percent of its pre-prohibition level. The level of consumption was
virtually the same immediately after Prohibition as during the latter part of
Prohibition, although consumption increased to approximately its
pre-Prohibition level during the subsequent decade.
In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs,
declaring: "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating
consequences for individuals and societies around the world.
Cannabis use increased 20% from 1980 to 1999 with 52% of
people 15-45 admitting they have tried it [1] , all while its illegal , despite
the wasted police resources spent on policing it (see below) !!
As Helen Clark points out, even a recent policy aimed at reducing
cannabis arrests has failed to make a dent. We’re still locking up far too many
young people for non-violent drug crimes, especially among Māori.
The cost of prohibition is higher than
any perceived or real harm
Drug consumption in Western societies continues to increase, and
drug-related crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise wherever these
black market crops are grown, processed or distributed.
It funds and empowers gangs : The black market is run by gangs . Huge volumes of cash flows in and out
of these gangs, all of it beyond the grasp of the IRD. In order to increase their sales they
have to find new users or take over another gangs market (area) this leads to
turf wars and often murder.
In Canada within
one year of legalisation 50% of users were getting cannabis legally and not through
the black market – this will depend in NZ on keeping the price down . The NZ
model is closer to Canadas model than Uraguays.
Decreases safety : Both sellers and users cannot get
help from the police for whatever problem arises for fear of being arrested and
prosecuted whether you are using it or in a gang selling it and using it.
Theres no
regulation on safety of the product. Notwithstanding its a bigger problem with A class drugs around quality, safety and clean
syringes, it could still be an issue
with cannabis being laced with something.
Taxpayer money is wasted : with more spent on policing
cannabis than in health aspects of it in dealing with addiction etc
Police spent 598,000 hours and 100 million trying to police
the Act and the War of Drugs. [1]
In NZ , from 2007-2011, New Zealand spent a further $59 million
imprisoning those who are convicted of minor drug offences and serve custodial
sentences.[2]
Theres no focus on harm
reduction :
just a punative approach on drugs . The lack of harm-reduction strategies was not for want of
official advice. The Blake-Palmer Committee report in 1973 declared there was
“little, if any, chance of halting, let alone reversing, the steady escalation
in the misuse of drugs” unless New Zealand was prepared to commit to treatment
and education.
Cannabis prohibition is carried out as
racist police and harms Maori. Māori when accounting for rates of use and
offending history, are -4 times more likely than non-Māori to be convicted on
cannabis charges. [4]
Cannabis is not treated as equal to Alcohol
Alcohol is worse for
society and health in general than cannabis . It can easily be argued alcohol causes more social problems, violence and
deaths than cannabis .Just ask the hospital staff on Friday and Saturday nights
. Yes cannabis can have some impairment to brain development but the proposed
bill wont legalise it to under 20 yo and its already a danger to those taking
it under 20 while it is illegal.
Lastly mental health will benefit
Since 2007
demand on services increased 17% on mental health services . Only 2% of Maori
access the services voluntarily . Yet
Maori are 4x higher in receiving a compulsory order under it.
NZ Government
is trying to fix the outdated and fragmented mental health and addiction
legislation under the “Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment And Treatment ) Act
1992.
NZ Government
has commissioned a report “He Ara Oranga” , which recommended to repeal and replacement of the
Act . Any other recommendations and any wellbeing outcomes framework ultimately
require legalisation of all prohibited recreational drugs – especially cannabis the most widely and
cheapest used.
https://mentalhealth.inquiry.govt.nz/assets/Summary-reports/He-Ara-Oranga.pdf
Studies of Other Countries :
Show
legalisation doesnt increase use substantially .
Not
withstanding that the proposed bill makes it illegal for under 20yo to buy cannabis
they also found teenagers dropped their use in Canada after legalisation.
https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/news-media-and-events/canada-whats-been-happening-since-legalisation/
Someone
raised concern about cannabis use in the workplace around performance and safety.
Cannabis is already illegal yet its tested in many workplaces and is built into
contracts and a fireable offence because being illegal doesn’t stop its use . No
doubt workplaces concerned with it would carry on the same regimes under
legalisation of cannabis.
There is only
one area of concern – that of capitalism and big herba within the cannabis
industry . This seems to differentiate NZ from Canadas legislation . Where as Canada
was designed towards big corporates and shut out indigenous first nations
people from participating in the market boom , NZ is saying its trying to
prevent that . Never the less this must kept an eye on in NZ to make sure
government doesn’t allow the capitalist profit model to rear its ugly head like
it does in food, pharmacueticals,medicienne and prisons etc
Sources
[1] https://norml.org.nz/library/key-facts/
[2] https://socialistaotearoa.org.nz/legalise-it-socialist-case-for-cannabis-reform/
[3] https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/matters-of-substance/august-2014/does-history-repeat/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_New_Zealand
Comments
Post a Comment