A few months ago “legal highs” were the talking point as distraught parents pleaded with the government to ban the sales. Shops selling the seductive sachets were picketed and a number of the young victims were paraded before us on our TV screens. We saw first-hand the devastating results these mind-altering substances had on those who foolishly chose to partake.
We were told that the most common effects included violent seizures, vomiting for hours, unconsciousness and stomach pains. The National Poisons Centre revealed that users described black vomit, suicidal thoughts and blacking out repeatedly after smoking the substances.
The herbal base for the synthetic cannabis is apparently made from the damiana plant.
We were shown queues of people outside the discredited stores who looked as though they could scarcely afford the graphically packaged products with names like Kronic and Voodoo.
Eventually Minister of Internal Affairs and Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne, who had initially claimed he couldn’t stop the trafficking, managed to introduce legislation that did just that.
Subsequently the discussion around synthetic cannabinoids evolved into the public sphere and it was not entirely unexpected that the talk would soon turn to the issue of allowing the legal sale of natural cannabis.
Proposers apparently think that the marijuana plant is more sacred than the damiana leaf.
Last week a Herald/Digipoll on the subject came up with some disquieting results. Just under a third of those surveyed thought smoking cannabis should attract a fine, but not a criminal conviction, while a fifth went even further and said it should be decriminalised.
Decriminalisation means of course that you’ll be able to smoke it, but the gangs will no doubt still control its manufacture and distribution.
The majority of National supporters favoured the status quo, but Labour’s drug and alcohol spokesman Ian Lees-Galloway said there was a growing mood for reform and the Green Party believe cannabis should be decriminalised for people aged 18 years and over.
I’ve never understood the lefts attitude on this issue. Surely it is arguably their constituents who suffer the most from these incredibly harmful substances.
Marijuana has been legalised for those over the age of 21 in Colorado. This is the first American state to do so and the rest of the US is watching with much interest. Colorado has a population that is not too dissimilar to ours and reports show that their new retail pot-shops are raking in more than a million dollars a day.
It’s not just cannabis itself that is for sale, but pot-infused chocolates, biscuits, creams, lozenges and tinctures. I suspect we are being softened-up for a law change with regular reports of the magical medicinal properties of cannabis.
So smoking the real thing is harmless?
Not so says the CEO of the Waitemata District Health Board Dr. Dale Bramley. He says his DHB is responsible for running drug and alcohol addiction therapy services for the Auckland region and his staff see the clinical and social impacts of cannabis use on a daily basis.
He said the link between chronic cannabis use and mental health issues is well-proven. “A substantial number of individuals presenting to our mental health services have their presenting problem complicated or worsened because of the use of cannabis. Smokers of cannabis are about 2.6 times more likely to have a psychotic episode than non-smokers. High doses of marijuana can produce a temporary psychotic reaction and in some users can worsen the course of illness in patients with schizophrenia. Numerous studies following users over time and through the experience of our DHB’s own drug and alcohol services show a link between marijuana use and later development of psychosis – those who start young and smoke heavily are at an increased risk for later problems,” he wrote in the New Zealand Herald.
Marijuana use has also been linked to other mental health problems among the young, such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and personality disturbances, including lack of motivation to engage in activities they would usually find rewarding.
We should not be conveying to our impressionable teenagers that cannabis use is harmless. It’s not and it never has been. Any initiative that potentially makes cannabis more freely available will only further increase the burden of medical, psychological and social problems that cannabis use already has on our financially struggling health boards and our communities.
If the electorate does sensibly decide that marijuana shouldn’t be decriminalised it is entirely possible Russell Norman will throw his toys out of the cot and consider going back to Australia.
If so I’d happily pay his air fare. One way of course.
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