Move to reform cannabis laws meets supporters, opponents

marijuana cropRadio NZ News 21 October 2017
Family First Comment: We said “”It just seems highly ironic that we’re starting to finally realise the harms of tobacco and trying to do everything we can to discourage it, and here are believing in the myth that marijuana is harmless.”
But we also said “now we know the real agenda! Legalisation. The Greens have revealed the ultimate goal which the Drug Foundation have always tried to hide behind the smokescreen of ‘decriminalisation’.
www.saynopetodope.nz
The Drug Foundation is welcoming what it calls Labour and the Greens’ fresh approach to tackling the country’s drug problems.
New Zealand will have a referendum on legalising marijuana for personal use as part of the Greens deal with Labour.
Under the deal, drug use will be treated as a health issue and there will be an increase in drug and alcohol treatment funding.
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said that approach was long overdue.
“One of our frustrations with the National government was its reluctance to look at things like medical cannabis and decriminalisation,” he said.
Lobby group Family First said legalising cannabis could put New Zealanders’ health at risk, however.
Its national director Bob McCoskrie said he was against the move and there were too many health risks from marijuana, including its effects on cognitive ability.
“It just seems highly ironic that we’re starting to finally realise the harms of tobacco and trying to do everything we can to discourage it, and here are believing in the myth that marijuana is harmless.”
READ MORE: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/342079/move-to-reform-cannabis-laws-meets-supporters-opponents
Referendum on ‘obsolete’ cannabis law ‘long overdue’ – Drug Foundation
NewsHub 20 October 2017
The director of the NZ Drug Foundation is welcoming a referendum on cannabis law reform, saying we need a change after 42 years of drug legislation that’s “done nothing”.
In an email sent out to Green Party delegates on Thursday night, the party outlined 10 big policy wins – including a referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis by 2020, and more financial backing for drug and alcohol services.
Drug Foundation director Ross Bell says that as a country with one of the highest proportion of users in the world, it’s about time we got onto it.
“Fundamentally for us, it’s long overdue that New Zealand had a crack at its obsolete drug law. The law that’s in place today, in 2017, was passed in 1975,” he said.
Family First NZ national director Bob McCoskrie says the announcement of a referendum on personal cannabis use is “stunning hypocrisy” for a party that only wants the public’s view on “the questions that they ask and the results that they like”.
“This is the same party that rejected the voice of New Zealanders when they sent a clear message on the anti-smacking law in 2009 – 87 percent of New Zealanders voting against the law,” he said.
“The Greens also voted against having a referendum on the hugely controversial issue of changing the definition of marriage when the views of the country were clearly split down the middle.
“If the Greens want to show consistency and they want a binding referendum on marijuana, then they should acknowledge and respect the result of the smacking law referendum.”
READ MORE: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/referendum-on-obsolete-cannabis-law-long-overdue-drug-foundation.html facebook_icon

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