Listen to M¯aori – they’re the most affected

The Horizon poll released by TV3’s The Hui this month, which shows 75 per cent of Ma¯ ori plan to vote in favour of cannabis legalisation at the referendum, should not be a surprise. The idea that we should stop taking a punitive approach to drug use is not a new one for Ma¯ ori. When you look at the drug policy landscape, it’s easy to see why. Ma¯ ori communities have been bearing the brunt of the ‘‘war on drugs’’ for more than

40 years. In 2017, 41 per cent of those charged for low-level drug offences were Ma¯ ori, as were more than 50 per cent of those imprisoned for the same offences.

A 2006 survey showed 3.5 per cent of the adult population met the criteria for a substance abuse disorder; it was 8.6 per cent among Ma¯ ori.

The human cost of this cannot be overstated. Percentages can be abstract, but they represent real people, and the vast majority of Ma¯ ori have seen the human cost first-hand, whether it be an uncle wasting his life away in prison, or a nephew sitting on the couch because his criminal record prevents him from securing employment.

People who suffer from substance abuse issues need a cloak of support and care, not punishment and stigma.

At present, we spend 3.5 times more on drug-related enforcement than we do on health interventions: $273.1 million compared with $78.3m.

Shifting resources away from police, Corrections, and the courts and into health, treatment, prevention and education is the best single thing we can do to reduce drug harm in Ma¯ ori communities.

The Drug Foundation and 30 other organisations, many of them Ma¯ ori health providers, have called on the prime minister to double investment in alcohol and other drug-related prevention, harm reduction and treatment in Budget 2019.

In 2018 Canada legalised cannabis and put in place a regulated market. One of its drug policy experts, Eric Costen, was in Aotearoa this month, and said many of the First Nations people did not feel the regulated model that was chosen fitted their needs, or enabled them to participate in the economic development opportunities that legalisation presents.

Partly, that’s because many did not engage in the debate about legal regulation until too late. This is a clear warning to us as hapu¯ and iwi that we stay out of the debate at our peril.

Wha¯ nau, hapu¯ and iwi should be central in designing the regulatory model for legal cannabis. No-one wants to see more harmful or prevalent use, and so it’s important we advocate for a tightly regulated market and greater resources for the Ma¯ ori health sector.

We must pressure the Government to ensure that the model truly enables a harm-reduction approach, and economic justice for Ma¯ ori communities.

Cannabis regulation and drug law reform have to be about true and enduring justice for the people who have been the victims of the war on drugs. In Aotearoa, that means ensuring Ma¯ ori voices, and solutions, are at the forefront of the debate.