Proposal: Blanket our MPs on 20th April (4/20) with a fact riddled Legalisation letter (see inside for the letter) that requests their comments.
Hi guys,
NZTrees has nearly 500 subscribers now :) - so even if 200 of us contact our MP, it'll be a pretty significant information bomb for them to deal with - and if it's also circulated to the media, it 'might' get some airplay or column inches. The goal would be at least getting a response from every MP and put the results together to see if there's any consensus. From these we can maybe/hopefully embarrass some or get others on board to the cause - mainly because they've given a written answer.
It's a bit long for a text post, so the end of it is in my first comment.
Once you've had a read through, please comment if you think there's anything missing, needs changed or should be taken out! When there's a general level of agreement, I'll update the doc & provide a link so you can email or print and post to your MP. 20th April would be a good day as the rest of the western world will have others doing something similar (hopefully!)
-- Dear [MP name]
If cannabis policy in New Zealand was based on up to date science, Government funded studies and their respective references given below, it would be decriminalised and regulated like alcohol. Can you please outline your position on this? And also why you believe this government has ignored recommendations from the NZ Medical board, Ministry of Social Development, NZ Drug Foundation, top ranking Police Officers and the NZ Law Commission (see below for links to related studies and evidence).
As the evidence is irrefutable - and all but political opinion is for regulation and decriminalisation; please also advise the course of action to be taken in order to change this incorrect policy so that it aligns with current scientific studies, lessons and studies from decriminalisation & regulation in other countries, and New Zealand Government funded reports - including their common sense recommendations, given the evidence cited below.
--
Goal of the National Drug Policy (http://www.ndp.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexcm/ndp-policyactionplans-policy)
The overarching goal of the National Drug Policy is to prevent and reduce the health, social and economic harms that are linked to tobacco, alcohol, illegal and other drug use. It does this through a balance of measures that:
• control or limit the availability of drugs (supply control)
• limit the use of drugs by individuals, including abstinence (demand reduction)
• reduce harm from existing drug use (problem limitation).
Nowhere does it say, criminalise users – which would be increasing the social and economic harms (wouldn’t it?). The Law Commission cited (in no.2) below agrees.
NZ Government policy justification for criminalisation on the grounds of health:
http://jcp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/11_suppl/71s.
Rebuttal: http://erj.ersjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/1/42
http://erj.ersjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/2/280.
Rebuttal: http://erj.ersjournals.com/cgi/content/full/32/3/815
http://thelancet.com/journal/lancet/article/PIISo140-6736(07)61162-3/abstract - article not found...
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/180/3/216 “Mental health of teenagers who use cannabis” – no rebuttal to this because cannabis, like alcohol and cigarettes should be regulated to keep it away from children that way. Teenagers have better access to cannabis (and anything else) because dealers don’t ask for ID.
--
Taking Peter Dunne as an example, he admits (citation below) to smoking cannabis as a student and it was "hardly a big deal". If by some chance Peter had been caught smoking and charged at the time, any future career or travel prospects would have been severely curtailed, this is a fact. Just imagine if the country had not had the benefit of his common sense, beyond reproach history and measured man of mystery statesmanship, that has helped guide us to this much improved New Zealand.
[Associate Deputy Health Minister, Peter Dunne (http://www.3news.co.nz/Peter-Dunne-admits-smoking-cannabis-in-the-1970s/tabid/419/articleID/221183/Default.aspx), "I smoked cannabis a couple of times as a student in the 1970s." He later clarified that yes - he did inhale...."Hardly a big deal", he wrote on Twitter.]
Below are high level conclusions and their respective links to the most up to date studies and information available, covering medicine, the law and sociology:
##1. Cannabis is considerably less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol:##
• NZ Drug Foundation. (2009). Through the maze - healthy drug law reform. http://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/healthy-drug-law/through-the-maze.
• New Zealand Health Information Service. 2001. New Zealand Drug Statistics. Wellington: Ministry of Health. http://www.ndp.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagescm/685/$File/nationaldrugpolicy20072012.pdf
• Adrian Field, Sally Casswell. (2000). Options for Cannabis Policy in New Zealand - Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Social Development, Alcohol & Public Health Research Unit, University of Auckland. http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj14/options-for-cannabis-policy-in-new-zealand.html
• Ryder D, Salmon A, Walker N. 2006. Drug Use and Drug-related Harm: A Delicate Balance. 2nd edition. Melbourne: IP Communications. (Note: This is referenced by, National Drug Policy 2007-2012 http://www.ndp.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagescm/685/$File/nationaldrugpolicy20072012.pdf)
• Robin Room. Benedict Fischer. Wayne Hall. Simon Lenton. Peter Reuter. 2010. Cannabis Policy, Moving Beyond Stalemate. Oxford University Press. (Note: Referenced by, "A Delicate Balance" above.)
• The Centre for Public Health, Faculty of Health & Applied Social Science, Liverpool John Moore's University. (2012). A summary of the health harms of drugs. British National Health Service. http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/healthharmsfinal-v1.pdf.
• Louisa Degenhardt PhD, Wayne Hall PhD, Prof John Strang MD, Prof Thomas Babor PhD, Prof Jonathan Caulkins PhD, Prof Benedikt Fischer PhD, Prof David Foxcroft PhD, Prof Keith Humphreys PhD, Prof Robin Room PhD, Prof Peter Reuter PhD. (2012). Addiction. British Medical Association, http://www.thelancet.com/series/addiction.
• Mark J. Pletcher, MD, MPH; Eric Vittinghoff, PhD; Ravi Kalhan, MD, MS; Joshua Richman, MD, PhD; Monika Safford, MD; Stephen Sidney, MD, MPH; Feng Lin, MS; Stefan Kertesz, MD; (2012). Association Between Marijuana Exposure and Pulmonary Function Over 20 Years. The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/2/173.short
• Further references on Neurogenesis, Neuroprotection, Glioma, Neurodegeneration & Cognition - http://norml.org/component/zoo/item/references-13?category_id=557
##2. Legalisation and regulation would free up between $400 and $860 million in Policing and the Judicial system - and allow that money to be better focused on treatment and education:##
• Law Commission, Review of Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. 2011. http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/project/review-misuse-drugs-act-1975?quicktabs_23=media_and_speeches#node-2080 “There is clear evidence that treatment can be cost effective. Some studies estimate that for every $1 spent on addiction treatment, there is a $4 to $7 reduction in the cost associated with drug-related crimes.” Justice Hammond.
• Hon Justice Grant Hammond (President). Law Commission. Controlling and regulating drugs. 2011. http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/media/press-releases/2010/press-release-controlling-and-regulating-drugs. “There are adverse social consequences from a distinctly punitive approach to lower level offending. Quite large numbers of young New Zealanders receive criminal convictions – which might subsist for life – as a result of minor drug offences. this is a disproportionate response to the harm those offences cause.”
• Roger Brooking, Flying Blind (2011). New Zealand. http://www.flyingblind.co.nz/ “In New Zealand, all psychoactive drugs except alcohol are prohibited, and users are prosecuted. And yet over 700,000 Kiwis smoke cannabis every year, 100,000 nearly every day. The number of prosecutions for cannabis offences is rising and in 2008, there were 9,500 convictions. Enforcement and social costs have gone up accordingly. In 2001, the black market for cannabis in New Zealand was estimated at $190 million; in 2006 the social costs, which includes the cost of police, the courts and Corrections to enforce cannabis laws, were estimated at $430 million.
This approach is part of the failed strategy of prohibition condemned by the UN and is a huge waste of time and resources. If cannabis was deregulated and taxed (like alcohol and cigarettes), and police no longer had to enforce ineffective laws against casual users, they could spend more time investigating crimes which have victims. The net benefit to society is estimated to be between $400 and $860 million.”
Sir Geoffrey Palmer, SC, Former Prime Minister, Former Head of the Law Commission:
“The choice is simple: a fence at the top of the cliff, or an ambulance at the bottom? Roger Brooking favours the fence at the top. And he has compiled formidable evidence that this is not only common sense, but also makes economic sense. With the call for heightened accountability in today’s fiscally constrained environment, we hear many claims of the waste of taxpayers’ funds in numerous areas. But, few of these claims are as well documented as in ‘Flying Blind’. It provides a clear argument that spending more and more to cope with increasing incarceration rates is an obvious misuse of our taxes.”
• Cannabis tactics wrong, says former top cop. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4025675/Cannabis-tactics-wrong-says-former-top-cop
edit: continued in comment below.
Posted Apr 5, 2012, 12:55 AM UTC · edited