Letters: Legislation should focus on cannabis harm, not ideology

John Roughan (Opinion, May 7) implies that there will be less crime with an open market for drugs.

Evidently, this is mistaken - we have more than 300 alcohol-related offences per day in New Zealand, in an overly commercialised environment.

The "puritans" he refers to acknowledge that drugs are not ordinary commodities, and need to be treated accordingly.

After careful consideration of overseas and local evidence, the NZ Drug foundation has recommended light regulation as the least harmful of potential legal situations, which range from prohibition to no regulation at all.

There are harms with legalisation, but the evidence points to lesser harms, and arguing with false dichotomies is unhelpful to the debate which should centre on the balance of harm, not the absence of it.

He also describes the marijuana experience in an all-or-nothing way when cannabis has markedly variable effects depending on dose, preparation, strain and context of consumption.

A free market for cannabis will create problems with physical and mental health, car accidents and lost productivity, as it has with alcohol - so our legislation should focus on harm, not ideology.

Dr Tony Farrell
Mount Maunganui

Procrastination is the thief of time

Seriously, how hard is it for the council to lease a paddock with the capacity for 400 cars, next to the rail track at Omokoroa near Goldstone Rd or similar, and run a commuter train into the CBD of Tauranga at 7.30am each day?

Will they continue procrastinating? Guess it is easier to blame the NZTA and RMA.

Ian Davies
Tauranga
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