The fact cannabis isn’t legalised is perplexing for many reasons.
Let me start with the perception that legalisation will throw our country into ruin and lead to our children being hopeless drug addicts. This sort of talk comes from people who may mean well, but have a loose grip on the reality of the situation.
I recently visited Denver, Colorado in the United States, where cannabis has been legal in the city since 2005 and state-wide since 2013, and I actively sought information on the transition.
What Colorado has now is an orderly, well-regulated system and a cannabis industry of responsible tax-paying employers that have added a considerable amount of funds to state coffers.
Stoned people are not falling about the place and children are not exposed to an evil drug culture. Adults who prefer cannabis to alcohol have the opportunity to partake without falling foul of the law.
Are there people who abuse cannabis? Of course there are and many would be regardless of whether it was legal or not. Are people deciding to try harder drugs? Some probably are. Not because cannabis is legal, but for their own reasons, whatever they may be.
There will be some unsavoury characters involved with cannabis, as there are with alcohol. Let’s understand that and not punish everyone for the indiscretions of a few, and let’s not focus on the negative aspects of the argument. If we had focused on the negative aspects of alcohol it would have been banned centuries ago.
Imagine, if you would, Jesus turning the tobacco into cannabis and not the water into wine. Must we accept alcohol because our ancestors did and by the same token shun cannabis? I think we are a lot better than that.
As with all things, moderation is key when it comes to cannabis use. We can’t have stoned people at work or driving vehicles.
But a bigger problem exists and that is the implementation of a robust test for cannabis intoxication. I have seen many extremely capable people branded as incapable because of a cannabis testing system that doesn’t discriminate between sensible moderation out of work hours and chronic, full-time use.
This injustice must be addressed – and that has often been said to me by employers who have lost good people because of a testing system that needs an overhaul and, in reality, is a breach of human rights.
The cannabis argument seems to be extremely polarising. We have the side that can only see the negative things and the side who thinks it’s all sweetness and light. As with many big debates, there are not enough pragmatic realists.
Inevitably a government committee will be set up with the wrong people running it. It’ll receive submissions from both ends of the scale and eventually come up with the decision that it is easier to leave things as they are (certainly that would be the case under our current Government).
I say we need to take the industry from the underground to the mainstream and allow the police to spend time on stopping the scourge of P and other hard drugs, and to deal with the fallout of current alcohol legislation.
The benefits of cannabis far outweigh the detriments and I haven’t even touched on the medical benefits or why the pharmaceutical companies are the the loudest voices against medical marijuana.
Legalising cannabis would not be perfect, but it would be a damn sight better than many other legal substances such as tobacco, sugar, alcohol to name a few.
Grow up New Zealand. Make the change.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Grow Up And Legalise Cannabis, New Zealand
Author: Mark O’Neill
Contact: Stuff
Photo Credit: Kirk Hargreaves
Website: Stuff
