Right question key to drug poll
The Greens have their early Christmas present: the Government is to hold a binding referendum on cannabis use at the next general election.
As momentous as that sounds – New Zealanders having the opportunity to change the nation’s stance on a drug long deemed illegal – this is the easy part.
Much tougher will be framing the question. Because the answer will be binding and it will form the basis of any legislation to follow.
As drug researcher Chris Wilkins has said, if we get it wrong we will be stuck with the consequences for a lifetime. It could end up being the gift that keeps on taking.
New Zealanders understand that cannabis use is now commonplace in this country. Surveys consistently show they agree that the war on it has failed and it makes more sense to treat it as a health issue rather than a justice or policing one.
But we must be careful about what we wish for, because powerful forces are circling this potentially lucrative pot, and see the opportunity to cash in.
In a number of overseas jurisdictions, the approval of a medicinal cannabis market has been followed by the creation of a recreational equivalent. In many cases that has opened the door to large corporate players with an eye on profit, rather than the potential social harm of their products.
Many commentators and experts here are concerned that these corporates have pursued alcohol’s recognised 80/20 rule, by which companies rely on 20 per cent of their customers consuming 80 per cent of their product. As part of that, they have produced a number of innovative products designed to appeal to a broader audience: gels, edibles, suppositories, even lollies.
And they have increased the potency of the product; they are nothing like the mild joints that used to be passed around at parties.
All this is a great deal further on from most people’s support and understanding of decriminalisation and small-time personal use. But it is one path that may be created from whatever answer we give in 2020.
That path could lead to other destinations as yet unknown.
Colorado was the first jurisdiction to allow a legal, regulated cannabis market, in 2014. There followed a small rise in drug-related traffic offences and fatal accidents.
Authorities there and elsewhere have the means to detect the drug, but they still cannot measure the level of impairment or its contribution to those accidents. And neither have they been able to eliminate the criminals: about 40 per cent of Colorado cannabis still makes its way through the black market.
New Zealand has an opportunity to learn the lessons of what has happened overseas; to balance the right of someone to have an occasional smoke without censure and the need for a better, wellfunded health and prevention regime.
But we must get the referendum question right, and what follows it.
But we must be careful about what we wish for, because powerful forces are circling this potentially lucrative pot, and see the opportunity to cash in.