Vote based on evidence and don’t peddle ‘myths’

I. CLAYTONBRAY (Letters, 13.10.20) labels anyone supporting a Yes vote as ‘‘flatearth’’ addicts. That implies a Yes voter is a science denier not interested in the actual evidence.

They then list a bunch of negative health side effects of marijuana, but for the sake of a good argument, I wish they had also mentioned the harmful side effects of drugs that are legal and readily available, such as alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals.

They go on to peddle the myth about marijuana being a gateway drug to harder drugs. The evidence shows this is simply not true for most people. Sure, some people go on to harder drugs, but considering the vast number of cannabis users, I’d be expecting to see a lot more heroin addicts staggering around the streets if this was true.

I also wonder if the writer had ever thought about the failed war on drugs. Vast sums of money have gone up in smoke in the pursuit to make criminals out of cannabis users.

At least, by legalising, you can regulate, mitigate some of the harmful factors associated with it and tax it. It would not only save money but make money for our New Zealand. Money that could maybe be better used chasing after the purveyors of the harder drugs the writer is so worried about.

Andrew Glennie

Taieri Mouth

TO be called a flatearth addict by a bigot and science denier seems to be normal in this fake news world. But truth still gets defined through science and not beliefs.

Studies have shown that the prohibition of cannabis has more negative effects than the actual drug itself, and that cannabis is only a gateway to criminalisation and prison, but not necessarily to other drugs.

People who want us to believe that their personal experiences are of divine value are usually not spreading anything but vitriol, fake news and lies.

I. ClaytonBray even wants to make us believe that cannabis caused death; which represents an obvious lie and should not be left without comment.

That she/he has worked in mental health facilities makes it even worse, as you would hope that people there have the betterment of their patients on the forefront of their minds, not fearmongering and lying to strengthen an agenda.

Inform yourself at appropriate places and do not believe the lies which are being spread.

Vote Yes for a healthnot handcuffs approach towards cannabis.

Uli Ludemann

Ravensbourne

I WAS overjoyed to hear from I. ClaytonBray of miraculous

(unnamed) nonaddictive painkillers that could be used instead of cannabis for extensive longterm pain relief.

Unfortunately, the writer parrots the widely debunked myth that cannabis is a “gateway drug” — for that to be true, about 34,400 of your readers would’ve ended up in the very wards in which the letter writer was a worker.

We agree on one point: addiction is a public health matter which becomes progressively socially expensive to treat over time, something the proposed legislation precisely intends to remedy.

Regulating sales to over the age of 20 further restricts access to vulnerable youth. Please, think of the children.

L. Shaw

Cave

IT’S a dopey idea to keep criminalising the use of a plant that will still be consumed irrespective of the law.

A large crosssection of society — tradesmen, musicians, business owners, recreational sportspeople, inventors, lawyers, artists — enjoy its use.

Cannabis is subtly woven through the fabric of our society and a No vote will not make it go away.

W. Nicholson

Burnside