When I voted yes in the cannabis referendum I said I had many reasons, but I gave only one. I thought I would try to articulate some more.

Undoubtedly, cannabis abuse can be harmful, very harmful to some people, but: [A thread of reasons] https://twitter.com/BarristerNZ/status/1311025697125732352

1. Cannabis is nowhere near as harmful to health as tobacco which kills ~5000 NZers every year.

2. Cannabis is nowhere near as harmful to health as alcohol which kills ~800 NZers every year.

3. Alcohol (in stark contrast to cannabis) is also a factor in a third of NZ’s family violence cases, a third of NZ’s homicides, and 40% of NZ’s cases involving assault, abduction, robbery, threats, and damage to property.

4. Criminalisation has proven ineffective at reducing use and (even more so) harm.

5. Regulation can be much more effective at reducing harm.

6. Criminalisation makes it harder to address abuse through education.

7. Criminalisation makes it much, much harder to address abuse as a health issue.

8. Criminalisation makes it hard to even identify situations of abuse.

9. The law is redundant. Roughly 80% of NZers admit to having broken it.

10. But less than 1% of NZers are punished for breaking it. This is, in itself, very unfair.

11. When so many people break a law, and so relatively few are punished, criminal enforcement becomes arbitrary and a reflection of institutional biases.

12. You are about twice as likely to be convicted of cannabis possession if you are <25 than if you are 25+.

13. You are about three times more likely to be convicted of cannabis possession if you are Māori than if you are Pākehā.

14. You are about six times more likely to be convicted of cannabis possession if you are a man than if you are a woman!

15. The punishment is massively disproportionate to the harm caused by the crime. Not only is possession an imprisonable offence, a conviction can have a major impact on future employment or travel prospects.

16. We waste a disproportionate amount of money, estimated to be >$200M annually, policing and prosecuting this law.

17. It also takes up the limited time of our police and our courts which could be spent on much more pressing social issues.

18. It funds organised crime.

19. To protect their criminal income, cannabis producers commit many much more serious crimes including murder.

20. Ultimately, cannabis use is a health issue and an issue of personal choice. It should not be a criminal law issue.

So, please, vote yes in the cannabis referendum. This is a failed law, and it is long past due for New Zealand to chart a new course in drug control.