After a slow start to the year in terms of drug law reform and drug policy, things have suddenly started to look interesting again. For those who support an evidence-based approach to drugs, a glimmer of hope has emerged in the form of Green Party drug law reform spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick and the perhaps less likely form of Dr Shane Reti, National Party spokesperson on health.
Swarbrick is gauging the level of support for a cross-party bill on cannabis decriminalisation, while Reti recently indicated more discussion is needed about decriminalisation. This is exactly the kind of courageous leadership around cannabis (and other drugs) that is needed, particularly after the 2020 referendum to legalise cannabis was unsuccessful.
There has been a lot of commentary and dissecting of the referendum result, but what stands out clearly is the Government’s unwillingness to act around drug law reform. Various statements from politicians about “respecting the referendum result” that “rejected legalisation of cannabis” to defend their inaction sound hollow and stilted, with promises to look into the failure of the 2019 Amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act a smokescreen stalling any action on reform.
Since the introduction of the 2019 Amendment, the number of actions taken by police (‘proceedings’)—e.g. street warnings and pre-charge warnings—has risen, with only 10.7 percent of total police actions resulting in a health referral.
Does this therefore mean nearly 90 percent of people were dealt with using a law enforcement lens, the exact opposite of what the Amendment intended? In addition, the total number of proceedings for Māori has risen and the disproportionality of Māori in drug statistics persists.
So we already know the 2019 Amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act is not working as it was supposed to, with minimal effects on convictions, more Māori and young people coming into contact with police (referred to as ‘net widening’) and continued over-representation of Māori in the prosecution statistics. We don’t need any more committees or to ‘drill down’ into what is happening—this has already been done. What we do need is to act decisively and courageously to address these pressing issues of (in)equity and (in)justice.
Decriminalisation is an important approach to address the harms related to drug use. It means people would not be prosecuted and criminalised under the law for possessing small quantities of cannabis (or other drugs) for personal use. This means those caught in possession of a small amount of cannabis, for example, can be offered harm reduction information or a health intervention or referral. Crucially, this also avoids the stigma of a criminal conviction, one of the greatest harms caused by our current drug laws, harms disproportionality distributed throughout New Zealand society.
The Government has also said it supports a harm reduction health approach focused on illegal drugs like cannabis. The recent poll by the Helen Clark Foundation shows strong support for decriminalisation of cannabis, demonstrating decriminalisation is a popular and well-supported option (69 percent of those polled were in favour).
Although New Zealanders narrowly voted against legalisation, many see decriminalisation as a sensible approach to cannabis. So what’s the problem? Why the evasion and stalling? Why is the Government not prepared to act on this important issue?
To go forward with the option of decriminalisation respects the referendum result – the referendum was about legalisation and a specific draft piece of legislation, it was not about wider drug law reform. If legalisation of cannabis was a step too far for some of the New Zealand public, it seems decriminalisation is a step too far for the New Zealand Government.
That the Prime Minister can express opinions on death and abortion, but not on cannabis, shows just how embedded stigma and myths about drugs and drug users are.
It seems that both dying and abortion are considered less controversial than drug law reform, and until we address the reasons why this is the case we will languish in a punitive and ineffective approach to substances like cannabis while the rest of the world moves ahead in leaps and bounds.
Most recently, Norway has decriminalised the use and possession of all drugs, taking a health-focused approach, and several US states have also decriminalised psychedelics or all drugs, as Oregon did this year.
The evidence is clear that our current drug laws are not working, that legalisation does not increase use among young people and that decriminalisation alongside a health-focused approach works to reduce drug-related harms, so let’s just get on with reform and properly address the harms from criminalisation and the use of drugs.
Associate Professor Fiona Hutton is in the Institute of Criminology at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
Read the original article on Newsroom.