Say no to Big Marijuana

Ivisited Colorado recently to see firsthand the effects of legalised marijuana. I quickly realised the drug has come a long way since the days of Cheech & Chong.

The New Zealand referendum promised during the term of this Parliament isn’t about a toke or a tinnie. We’re talking about Big Marijuana: a money-making industry of lobbyists and special-interest groups putting profits over evidence-based policy protecting public health and safety, and ready to flout and challenge any regulations.

While dope shops in Colorado have forms of marijuana buds to smoke, almost half the business is now in highly potent cannabis concentrates: edibles, dabbing (smoking highly concentrated THC), and vaping. The average psychoactive component of cannabis (THC) of all tested flower last year in Colorado was 19.6 per cent, and the average potency of concentrated extract products was 68.6 per cent. Potency rates of up to 95 per cent have been recorded.

The 2 per cent THC ‘‘Woodstock weed’’ has been replaced by popping a handful of Gummi Bears containing 10 times the legal limit of THC per serving, or a 90 per cent THC dab.

‘‘Ditch weed’’ refers to weak weed. It used to mean under 3 per cent THC. Today, ‘‘ditch’’ in Colorado is anything 15 per cent or less. This is definitely not your parents’ pot.

With increased potency comes increased health risks, including mental

illness, psychotic symptoms, suicidal thoughts among teens, respiratory problems, and a greater likelihood of addiction. And addiction is exactly what Big Marijuana wants.

It fascinates me that, at the same time as we are rightly booting Big Tobacco out of the country, we are in the process of putting down the welcome mat for Big Marijuana.

We got sucked in once, but we finally understood that the claims made by Big Tobacco – how healthy the product was, that it wasn’t addictive, and that they weren’t targeting young people – were all lies. The supporters of dope are now peddling the same myths.

In Colorado, I saw all sorts of THCinfused products, including coffee, ice-cream, baked goods, lollipops, fizzy drinks, tea, hot cocoa, breath mints and spray, pills, Gummi Bears, chewing gum, marinara sauce, and even suppositories. Big Marijuana deliberately targets these products at the young. The earlier they can get someone addicted, the better for business.

Users will be drinking it, chewing it, sucking it, and eating it as a dessert. These products are easily transportable and readily concealed or disguised. Teens and 20s-somethings will love it, and that should worry us all.

Despite 65 per cent of local jurisdictions in Colorado banning any medical and recreational marijuana businesses in their areas because of

public discontent, there are now more marijuana stores statewide than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined.

Other disturbing trends include the yearly rate of marijuana-related hospitalisations in Colorado increasing by 148 per cent, and toxicology reports showing the percentage of adolescent suicide victims testing positive for marijuana has increased.

At a time when New Zealand’s mental health system is bursting at the seams, why would we legitimise a mind-altering product that will simply add to social harm? It’s patently obvious legalisation will increase its use, and harm.

There is one positive about the referendum, though: it has revealed the ultimate agenda of drug advocates. The smokescreens of ‘‘medicinal cannabis’’ or ‘‘decriminalisation’’ no longer work. We now know the ultimate goal: legalisation of recreational dope. And, if we listen to drug advocates internationally, they will want legalisation not just of this drug but all drugs – cocaine, heroin, P.

Big Marijuana has high hopes for New Zealand, but liberalising marijuana laws is the wrong path to go down if we care about public health, public safety, and about our young people.

Now the focus is on Canada, which I’ll be visiting next, although disturbing trends are already starting to emerge.

This is not a ‘‘war on drugs’’ – this is a defence of our brains. People should always come before profits.

We should say no to Big Marijuana.