An insight Into the Cannabis Referendum

Illustrated by Kimi Moana Whiting

We all had strong feelings towards the cannabis referendum in 2020. So strong that the bill failed to pass by 0.7 per cent. So, what’s the story here? Why is it illegal? Why is it controversial? Like with most political debates, it really comes down to classism, racism and diplomacy.

Well before going into it I’d like to insert a little piece of information to keep at the back of your head: In 2021 Otago University did a study on voters' choices in the referendum. An indicator that someone would vote in favour of the bill was that they actually read it.

Anyway, let's rewind time a bit. In the 1920s, Harry Anslinger found himself in charge of the United States’ Department of Prohibition. Now, this was when alcohol was illegal, so as you can imagine Anslinger was super busy. Once the ban was inevitably lifted, mans had very little do.

So, he began looking into the devil’s lettuce, which he’d previously described as harmless. Anslinger sent letters to 30 different scientists inquiring about banning weed. 29 of the scientists wrote back saying it would be a waste of resources because the drug wasn't considered harmful. But one of the scientists wrote back in strong support of a ban. This was the man Anslinger presented to the world as he began campaigning against marijuana.

Racial and class tensions were growing at the time and weed use was common among working classes, Black Americans and Mexicans. This was of course really the fuel to the fire of this debate, one article from the 1930s read, “I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents.”

Stories of violence and weed use flooded the news, some of these stoned murderers ended up showing no traces of weed in their systems but this detail never made it into the conversation.

Eventually the US banned weed, shortly followed by the UK and of course the rest of the world.

Since then, the criminalisation of marijuana has cost millions of dollars in government resources to fight the use of this largely harmless drug. Really the only harms associated with marijuana are in those under 25.

Marijuana can “make changes to the brain’s structure (including size and how areas are connected), lower the quality of brain interconnections and cause less blood flow to parts of the brain” when used by adolescents. However, by legalising marijuana, teenagers’ access to marijuana will begin to decrease, dealers aren’t going to ID their customers, but a legal supplier ABOSLUTELY will.

Once your pre-frontal cortex has done its time developing, cigarettes and alcohol (which are very legal) are significantly more harmful.

No one has ever died from real weed. Alcohol kills between 600 and 1000 people each year, while smoking kills around 5000. Yet these are the substances we can buy at the supermarket.

In 1988 Francis Young, the DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge even went as far as to state that, “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume… Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”

So, will the referendum make a comeback?

No one knows. Regardless of the narrow margins between voters, the topic pretty much fell off the news’ agenda. Apparently 0.7 per cent is significant enough to drop the bill.

Can we really consider this democracy though? I mean think about it, if actually reading the bill was a sign someone would support the bill, how much does that say about all of the misinformation around the campaign?

It’s no secret that fearmongering was a go-to when debating the bill, but if voters were actually taught about the bill how different would the outcome be? We’re all familiar with Ardern hiding her support for the bill, do we think a display of support could have changed the outcome?

We can, however, continue fighting for legalisation or at least decriminalisation. As time goes on older generations pass and more youth grow old enough to vote, really in a couple years the majority of adults in Aotearoa will hopefully have shifted to support the bill. Hopefully we will see the impacts of legalisation or decriminalisation overseas and soon bring the topic back to parliament.