Letters to the editor: Cannabis reform is not needed

The current cannabis legislation is enough, says one reader. Photo / File

I see that Helen Clark (News, July 9) agrees that cannabis is harmful, although not to the extent that it will make your teeth fall out.

She at least points out that legalisation will mean an increase in our taxation contributions to try and reduce the level of harm it will cause, but doesn't add that this could be done under the present law.

It beggars belief that some people think that legalisation will reduce cannabis use. It has long been forgotten that the Abortion Act was originally promoted as a means of reducing the number of abortions.

Politicians frequently bemoan the fact that the consequences of their laws are not what they anticipated but, to quote the philosopher Georg Hegel, "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."

D A McPherson
Rotorua

Ex-mayor is correct

I feel compelled to write in relation to former mayor Grahame Hall's plea to the Rotorua Lakes Council about the Annual Plan.

To suggest, in my view, that Mr Hall is out of touch and that the way the city is administered has no relevance to his time in office is a poor response to a very valid concern about the level of debt being inflicted upon the ratepayers in future.

It is now, and has always been, the responsibility of elected officials of any council to ensure they run the business efficiently within a budgetary framework that is affordable to its ratepaying constituents.

I acknowledge it is impossible to avoid the need to borrow but this should always be at a level that does not overburden future administrations.

The only major difference between the time Mr Hall was serving this city and the present day is the interest rate at which funds can be borrowed.

The present low-interest rate should not be used as justification to overburden the ratepayers in the very uncertain times we are currently experiencing.

A return to double-digit interest rates would have a crippling effect on the council's finances.

Anyone who refuses to be a servant of history risks being blindfolded to upcoming events.

Tak Tothill
Springfield

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