Clark all-in on cannabis
Helen Clark has come out strongly for ‘‘yes’’ in next year’s cannabis referendum, and says she would have moved on cannabis herself if elected to a fourth term.
The former prime minister’s new think tank released a report yesterday evening making a strong case for cannabis legalisation. She is likely to be the most significant public supporter of the yes vote, as current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has pledged not to publicly support either side.
Clark said the evidence was clear that Kiwis were going to smoke cannabis no matter the law and bringing it out into the open would stop a lot of harm.
‘‘Isn’t this a waste of the justice system’s time and money? Haven’t the police got better things to do? Aren’t we better to face the reality that 80 per cent of Kiwis are going to try this at some point in their lives?’’ Clark said.
She made clear she was not a supporter of cannabis itself but recognised that keeping it illegal and unregulated only added further harm. ‘‘The basic principle is that there are so many things in a society that have a potential for harm. Tobacco – we regulate and tax it but don’t prohibit it. Same with alcohol.’’
Clark said she had long believed cannabis law needed changing, pointing to a 1994 speech in which she supported partial decriminalisaton, but said her views had evolved since leaving office in 2008 and joining the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Her nine-year government did not make significant moves in cannabis policy.
‘‘I would have liked to have done something,’’ Clark said, noting her Government moved on other contentious issues like civil unions, the legalisation of sex work, and the removal of the parental discipline defence in child assault cases.
Clark pointed out that both her 2002 and 2005 confidence-andsupply agreements with United Future expressly promised the Government would not move to change the legal status of cannabis.
‘‘What we did do was ask the Law Commission to do a report on the Misuse of Drugs Act. And they actually came out for decriminalisation. If I had the fourth term we would have picked up the report and done something with it.’’
The think tank’s policy document proposes not just legalising marijuana but expunging prior non-violent convictions for cannabis possession and supply.
‘‘I’m a firm believer in putting things right,’’ Clark said, noting this could enable former illicit growers to participate in the legal market. ‘‘There are people out there with experience in growing – why should they be banned from the market?’’
The current policy proposal from the Government does not address prior convictions.
Clark favoured a regime somewhere between Uruguay, where the government has a monopoly on selling it, and the Colorado model of full commercialisation.
The model of tobacco – where advertising was prohibited and regulation stringent – made sense as a regulatory framework.