I've been up to my eyeballs in drugs
Ireally feel for my parents sometimes. First there was the nearly topless photo (my modesty preserved by strategically placed hands) that went around the world as part of the #MyBodyMyTerms campaign. I started writing eyebrow-raising columns in a national newspaper. Then I made a webseries about sex.
Now I’ve made a webseries about drugs.
It could’ve been worse, I tell them. I sidestepped teen pregnancy, tattoos, and nose piercings. I passed my exams. Graduated from university. You could say I’m just balancing the scales now.
Over the past few months, I’ve been up to my eyeballs (metaphorically speaking) in meth, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA, among others, making The REAL
Drug Talk. The series is a sequel to
The REAL Sex Talk and aims to give young people evidentially sound information about drugs and alcohol to help them to make healthy choices — without putting them to sleep.
The main goal is to reduce the harm that can be caused by drugs and alcohol, particularly to young people. Unpalatable as it may be, there is a relatively small percentage of young New Zealanders using
drugs and drinking, and funnily enough, telling young people not to do something doesn’t generally stop them. The REAL Drug Talk gives young people straight-up information to help them to understand the risks of using substances and to help them to make safer decisions.
It’s timely, as New Zealand debates whether to change the legal framework around cannabis — one of the most commonly used substances for young people.
There’s no point denying the prominence of cannabis. Given its widespread use around the country — and the tidy regular income it provides to gangs, funding their various criminal activities — it’s clear the current legislation isn’t working.
In New Zealand, the legislative framework, more than 40 years old, is as outdated as it is punitive. The Misuse of Drugs Act sought to criminalise both drug dealers and users. It achieved its outcomes, costing the justice system billions and causing drastic harm to families and communities — most severely to Ma¯ori. As an instrument of the “war on drugs” it was extremely effective at throwing people in jail, breaking up families, damaging employment prospects and making people with drug problems too fearful to seek help. It was extremely useless at preventing people from using drugs or protecting them from drugrelated harm.
With the proposed regulation of cannabis, the Government has taken a public health approach. Contrary to the scaremongering suggestions of some dinosaur commentators, in proposing strictly limited licensing, the banning of advertising and the control of commercial supply levels, the coalition is adopting a conservative framework.
From the details released in the Cabinet paper, it’s clear regulation and control are the main aims.
Such an approach won’t impress the corporate cannabis producers or some more hard-core cannabis fans. Other administrations overseas, such as California and Oregon, have opted for more free market-friendly regimes, with negative public health impacts. The strictly controlled market approach is considerably more sensible, and will prevent the replication of the enormous corporate influence currently enjoyed by alcohol companies.
Harm reduction simply must be at the heart of the cannabis discussion. I’ve heard commentators raise concerns about drug-driving, mental health and the neurological development of young people using cannabis under the proposed regulatory framework. Do these people not realise all of that is happening right now? Drug users are already driving while stoned. Heavy cannabis users are developing dependencies and experiencing mental illness. Kids much younger than 20 are using cannabis, with varying impacts upon their neurological development.
Treating drug users as criminals is not stopping any of this. By regulating cannabis and removing the fear of punitive consequences, we will have a better chance of getting people the help they need to reduce their use or stop altogether. By implementing an age limit of 20, we’ll make it harder for young people to access cannabis at an age when it may affect their neurological development (let’s be honest; black market drug dealers aren’t known for checking their clients’ IDs).
By creating public education campaigns, people will start to think of drug-driving the same way they think about drink-driving and we can prevent future generations making the mistakes some of their parents made.
The finer details of the draft bill are yet to be fleshed out, and there are many questions to be answered. Will historic cannabis convictions be expunged? (They should be.) Will Ma¯ori, who have been disproportionately harmed by addiction, criminalisation and their wider community implications, be given access to special licences in an attempt to address social justice and inequity? The Cabinet paper doesn’t say, but by the time the referendum rolls around, we will have all the information we need for a mature and sensible debate on the issue.
It’s beyond time that we had a decent national conversation around drugs, especially cannabis. Our current framework is almost as harmful as the drugs themselves. It’s time we detoxed the system.