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Why regulate?

  1. Stop criminalising people – the cost of a criminal conviction (in lost opportunities – jobs, travel, community involvement etc.) far outweighs the ‘harm’ done by using cannabis (often there is no harm!). See our more detailed post here.
  2. Restrict use by young people – frequent use of cannabis by young people has been linked to adverse life outcomes. The current system doesn’t stop adolescents from using cannabis. In fact, it leaves the sale of cannabis in the hands of dealers who often do not care how old their customers are. A regulated system would have a minimum age limit enforced, like alcohol sales. See our more detailed post here.
  3. Get the police dealing with ‘real’ crime – we all know government resources are spread thin. Why are we spending over $300 million a year and countless police hours on arresting cannabis users, growers, and sellers? Does this actually represent a good use of resources? With the far more important work police have to do, we resoundingly say, ‘No! See our more detailed post here.
  4. Reduce harm to people who use cannabis – illegality creates numerous harms to a section of our community 300,000 people in size: fear and shame about getting treatment if they have a problem, contact with the harder drug market and the criminal underworld, poor or non-existent education campaigns, lack of product safety etc. See our main post on this here.
  5. Take the cannabis market off criminals and gangs – cannabis regulation removes a large source of income from gangs as well as ending one of their main points of contact with the otherwise law-abiding population.
  6. Put the tax income to good use – estimated by the NZ Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) at being around $150 million a year, the tax revenue from regulated cannabis sales could go towards not only the cost of regulation, but to drug education, improved addiction services, and the public health system.