Daily cannabis purchase limits fire up opposing views

WELLINGTON: Opponents to cannabis legalisation say the amount people could buy each day would make those with heavy addictions worse.

Those who support it say buying up to 14g of dried weed would be just like any other shopping trip, and would not be used all at once.

It is one of the key areas of debate for those weighing up the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill before next month’s referendum.

The Bill that has been put forward is a guide for how legalisation might work, and suggests a daily purchase limit of 14g of dried cannabis or the equivalent of that.

According to research in the United States, that would equal roughly 42 joints.

But if you talk to regular users in New Zealand, they suggest 14g would be more like 20 to 25 joints.

Aaron Ironside, who leads the Say Nope to Dope campaign, said that limit would make it easy for heavy users to keep up their habit.

‘‘We try to help people not develop cannabis addiction, so giving them access to much more than they could hope to use in a day does nothing to help people with problem behaviour,’’ Mr Ironside said.

‘‘The point in Uruguay was that they wanted to make people have to turn up to the shop, not just to do that, but also because then they would be logged as someone who was using regularly and that would help assist that person if their behaviour was getting out of control.’’

In Uruguay the purchase limit is 40g a month.

The drug is far more restricted in Uruguay than it would be if it was to be legalised here in New Zealand.

But does that mean Uruguay is preventing heavy cannabis use that Mr Ironside is concerned about? No.

‘‘I think that’s the whole point of why it is we oppose this Bill,’’ Mr Ironside said.

‘‘It is the pretence of control, and ultimately trying to control it through these artificial mechanisms does nothing to actually help people with problematic behaviour.

‘‘The answer is in strengthening our health and education approach.’’

Regular cannabis users RNZ spoke to said it was possible to go through 14g of cannabis in a day but that was highly unlikely.

They said 14g would usually last two to four weeks, while some less regular users could take six months to get through that much.

Mr Ironside compared the purchase of 14g of cannabis to being able to buy three bottles of vodka in one day.

Under New Zealand law, there is no limit on alcohol sale, and consuming that much vodka in a day would cause serious alcohol poisoning and quite possibly death.

Consuming 14g of weed in a day would have varying effects, but death is not one of them.

NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell compared the 14g limit to a weekly supermarket visit.

Mr Bell said it was important that people who were heavy users and relied on cannabis were given easier access to the drug, along with greater supports promised with the introduction of the Bill.

‘‘I think people who have cannabis dependency who are using really heavily need to be provided help.

‘‘We need to, one, provide that treatment, make sure that treatment is available, and two, remove that barrier of fear. Keeping something illegal makes it really scary for someone to admit that they need some help.’’

Mr Ironside said those supports could be put in place for heavy users without legalising recreational cannabis. — RNZ