Police bracing for cannabis referendum

WELLINGTON: Dealing with legal recreational cannabis, including how to measure impairment among drugaffected drivers and even onduty police officers, is the major focus of the Police Association annual conference, which begins today.

New Zealand will have a referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis by or at the 2020 general election, as part of the confidence and supply agreement between Labour and the Greens.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the association does not have a position on whether personal use should be legal, but police have to be ready to hit the ground running if it is a ‘‘yes’’ vote.

‘‘We’re not saying whether it should or should not happen, just that we should be prepared. It’s for New Zealanders to decide.’’

Among the issues to be addressed are whether a ‘‘yes’’ vote would increase drugdependency and harm to young people, and how to measure impairment from cannabis use, he said.

‘‘You can have cannabis in your system and have no impairment issues. That’s the challenge.’’

Personal use of cannabis is about to become legal in Canada next week and police there have raised questions about officers who could use it legally while working. Canadian policy says they can use cannabis and come to work as long as they are not impaired — but measuring impairment is complex.

Mr Cahill said the issue was similar to the challenge of measuring impairment in a driver who had used cannabis.

Canada’s driving laws allow up to a specific amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, in the blood while driving, but Mr Cahill called the amount ‘‘arbitrary and not scientific’’.

He said New Zealand would need to have something scientificallybased and ready to be implemented when the referendum went to a vote.

‘‘We don’t want to be chasing our tails with an increasing road toll six months after it’s legalised because we weren’t able to test appropriately for drugaffected driving.’’

Last month, a member’s Bill from National MP Alastair Scott to allow for random roadside drugtesting of driver’s saliva for THC, ecstasy and methamphetamine was voted down.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford, speaking at the Bill’s first reading, said the Bill was ‘‘implausible and impractical’’ and tested only the presence of drugs — not impairment.

But he said drugdriving was a serious problem, and the Government was actively working on the issue.