Since 1980, more than 120,000 Kiwis have been convicted for possessing cannabis. Photo / Dean Purcell
Since 1980, more than 120,000 Kiwis have been convicted for possessing cannabis. Photo / Dean Purcell
OPINION:
I don't smoke cannabis. I used to. I loved it. I didn't stop because I grew up, or worried about its illegal status, I stopped because I no longer enjoyed it. It began to make me clam up and be unable to communicate well. It diminished rather than enhanceda party.
I now exclusively use our most common drug: alcohol. Beer and scotch most regularly, but I'm partial to a gin and tonic in the summer.
I miss cannabis, particularly as I get older. Hangovers from drinking nowadays throw me around like a dog does a chew toy. But booze is easier to consume than cannabis. I don't miss having to skulk up to drug dealers, and worrying about hiding the dope. I just have to worry about the slight overfamiliarity I have with my local bottle store.
I know many people who still use cannabis, and I view them in the same way I view those who choose to drink. Meaning, I view them blandly — some people like to drink, others like to smoke, who cares?
Since 1980, more than 120,000 Kiwis have been convicted for possessing cannabis, and despite a smarter use of police discretion, that includes almost 5000 in the last two years. Māori amass nearly half these convictions.
If you have the wherewithal and the money, however, you can use cannabis perfectly legally in New Zealand right now. Let me tell you how.
Recently, a friend of mine — a Pākehā in a corporate profession — decided to quit the black market and get his cannabis legally. In doing so, he can now stand outside a police station and smoke dope with impunity.
The story starts here: any doctor can now prescribe cannabis, although not all necessarily will. Thus, a number of cannabis-focused doctors have opened up services online that are linked to their own online "dispensaries" for cannabis products.
My mate decided to check the websites of a few such clinics and was surprised at how straightforward it all seemed. On one of them, a multichoice pop-up quiz asked, "What symptom is affecting your quality of life the most?", and when he answered B) Sleep, it told him he'd be a good candidate to be prescribed cannabis.
Josiah Spackman from Skyman Industries. They're a medicinal cannabis startup that got a Ministry of Health certification this year. Photo / Dean Purcell
Next up was a 10-minute Zoom consultation with a doctor. The doctor on-screen didn't ask too many questions, but did ask my friend if he currently used cannabis. He had learned from an online Reddit group (which advises on these matters) to be honest and say "yes". Apparently, this makes being prescribed cannabis more likely.
Whatever the case, the doctor gave my friend the nod, and he was sent a link to their online store (basically an online pharmacy) that displayed a large number of cannabis products, including buds like the ones you'd buy off the street, which he purchased. A few days later it turned up in the post. Legal as you like.
New Zealand is good at growing cannabis, and the local illegal cannabis market is completely supplied domestically, but to buy it legally it has to come from offshore. In my friend's instance, from Australia.
As they did our banks, it looks like the Aussies are taking up a bit more of our economy. Perhaps because this whole thing is far from efficient, the price of the cannabis was high (no pun intended but enjoy it if you like).
It was about a third more expensive than what you'd pay on the street, and once the cost of the doctor's consultation was factored in, it came to about double the street price — about $400 for 10 grams of cannabis (although it got cheaper if he bought larger amounts, but still significantly above street prices).
My friend says it's a good feeling to have the state's stamp of approval on his cannabis use, and he no longer needs to worry about being arrested for using it. And given his financial position, the extra cost is affordable and well worth the trade-off of being legal. But make no bones about it, this is a crazy situation. Our drug laws are absurd. We got it dreadfully wrong in the 2020 referendum. And now we have a situation in which, if you have the wherewithal, you can legally consume cannabis, but if you don't — or if you're poor — you will continue to face arrest.
As much of the world moves ahead in sensible drug approaches, New Zealand gives every appearance of being, well, drunk.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a sociologist at the University of Canterbury and the Director of Independent Research Solutions.
