Letters to the editor: Nothing to fear in cannabis legislation

Smoking and growing cannabis for personal consumption are up for debate. Photo / File

It was sad to read Patrick Walsh's view on the cannabis referendum (Opinion, June 16).

College students are currently buying cannabis from criminals. The dealers don't care who they sell to, or their age. They will not only sell students cannabis but hard drugs - including methamphetamine.

They will encourage students to become dealers and sell to other students.

And so this goes on, year after year, decade after decade.

Since the Narcotics Act in 1965, and later the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, the law has not stopped the supply, nor its widespread use.

It is futile to continue along this path.

Under the legislation proposed it will be strictly illegal for anyone under the age of 20 to buy cannabis. And with an end to the illegal trade, this legislation will, at last, protect young people.

There will be no advertising and no smoking in public spaces.

There is nothing to fear in this legislation. It is sound public health policy.

(Abridged)

Paul van Miert
Rotorua

Misleading and mischievous

"For a relatively brief period, its sprawling mass stood above the waves ... Today 94 per cent lies underwater, much of its 4.9 million square miles lies more than a kilometre below the sea. This is the ancient continent known as Zealandia, which has been mapped and is now available to view digitally.'' (Daily Post, June 22).

In no way would I dispute the geographic facts, it's the interpretation of these facts that I take issue with.

Each of us views whatever we see through the lens of our personal belief system so we react, always, from a biased position.

To present the explanation of this geographic phenomena along evolutionary lines is expected in this age and I'm not surprised. However, I find that I cannot let this go unanswered.

I am no less biased in my contention that this vast undersea continent became submerged by the global flood some 4000 years ago as recorded in the 6-7th chapters of the Bible.

The vast amounts of water involved re-sculptured the face of the entire planet as it flowed into the oceans as they exist today. To teach the long-age theories as fact - they can only be theory as the processes involved cannot be either observed or demonstrated - is, in my view, misleading and mischievous and, at best, poor science.

I recognise that my arguments are counter to today's culture and are also theoretical but we need to encourage thought and debate.

John Williams,
Ngongotahā.

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