Due to the inherent limitations of studies on impairment, the same caution should be applied to studies of cannabis use and occupational injuries. How will the legalization of cannabis affect health, safety and social justice? Much depends on the 14Ps, Beau Kilmer (2019). An essay by a drug policy expert on 14 factors that should be considered when designing cannabis regulation to improve the impact of legalization. According to Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser in the Obama administration, it`s time to stop playing with medical cannabis. Instead, we should focus on unsmoked cannabis-based medicines for the really sick. Sativex is one such option available in New Zealand, and while it is currently prohibitively expensive, it is a step in the right direction to take advantage of the medicinal properties of cannabis without endangering the health of New Zealanders. Medical cannabis is a sensitive subject. There is evidence that cannabis and cannabis-derived products can treat some diseases and relieve the symptoms of others. On the other hand, there are concerns about the effectiveness of using a raw product as a drug and concerns about availability.

So, should we allow medical cannabis prescribing in New Zealand? A handful of New Zealand`s biggest supporters and critics of recreational marijuana have explained how they will vote in this year`s cannabis referendum and why you should join them. That being said, there are many reasons why New Zealand should allow raw pharmaceutical cannabis and derivatives as regular prescription drugs. There is ample evidence that cannabis can relieve pain, fight nausea and loss of appetite, and act as an anticonvulsant. There are two main methods for how these studies have been conducted so far. One possibility is to check whether there are correlations between, for example, the number of car accidents and the time of the change in the law. The limitation of this approach is that drivers are not actually tested to see if they have used cannabis, so the results could be caused or affected by something other than cannabis. The other option is to test for cannabis (especially THC) in the blood of crash-causing drivers. This method is still limited because it does not really test the driver`s impairment at the time of the accident and does not take into account who was to blame for the accident. Due to the limitations of conducting these studies, all research on car accidents and cannabis legalization should be interpreted with caution.

So if you think I sound bitter, damn true! Perhaps it`s true that cannabis and other criminal issues should never be decided in a referendum – they are simply too open to sensationalist misinformation, especially in an age of fake news and clickbait headlines. The 2020 cannabis referendum narrowly failed: 50.7% of New Zealanders voted against the bill to legalise recreational cannabis and 48.4% voted in favour. 0.9% of votes were unclear or incomplete. This means that recreational cannabis remains illegal, although the Misuse of Drugs Act confirms that discretion should be used to decide whether or not to lay charges, taking a health-based approach. Medical cannabis remains legal. Instead of weighing the pros and cons of yourself, we asked four of the most passionate and educated parties on both sides of the debate to give their unfiltered arguments about why you, the undecided voter, should vote for or against cannabis reform. New Zealand should allow medical cannabis. There is enough evidence to use it for certain diseases, and by creating a robust and compassionate system, we are leaving legal space to those who narrowly voted against a particular law, and other types of reform should not be ruled out, especially by a government that supports a health-based approach to drugs. Even those who campaigned for a “no” vote noted that the current system is not working, so now is the time for the government to take a stand, implement much-needed reforms, take a social justice approach to drug use, and take a leadership role on this important issue. [8] Gracie et al., “Cannabis Use Disorder and the Lungs,” Addiction (2020) When cannabis is smoked, THC (and other chemicals) travels from the lungs to the blood, which quickly carries it through the body to the brain.

The effect is quickly noticeable. When cannabis is consumed, the effects are delayed by 30 to 60 minutes while the body digests the food or drink. This delay can cause some people to eat more THC, resulting in a higher dose than expected. The noticeable effects of cannabis last about 1 to 3 hours when smoked and can last for several hours when consumed. Cannabinoids can remain stored in the body for a period of several weeks or more, which has implications for drug testing. Another approach implemented in some countries is to legalize the production, supply and consumption of cannabis. In theory, this approach has the potential to undermine the illicit cannabis market, help reduce cannabis-related harms through regulated product safety, better facilitate intervention and treatment services, and separate access to cannabis from the illicit market for more harmful drugs. Whether this is the case in reality remains to be seen, as legalization reforms in other jurisdictions have not been in place long enough to make a full assessment of the long-term impact.

There is an inevitable delay before signs of changes in health and social interventions appear. It also takes some time for the effects of cannabis commercialization to be felt if a for-profit approach is adopted. We summarized the available evidence regarding cannabis legalization in a “at a glance” summary. The hard work of Yes activists who have brought important debates on cannabis and drug law reform to the public – there is no turning back, this knowledge will not disappear, and the hard work is starting again to achieve much-needed reform of our outdated and harmful drug laws. [6] Aydelotte et al., “Crash Fatality Rates after Recreational Marijuana Legalization in Washington and Colorado,” American Journal of Public Health 107, No. 8 (2017) No – people have a long history of cannabis use and criminalization is relatively new. [1] When Europeans arrived in Aotearoa, New Zealand, they brought with them medicines in the form of medicines. These included the children`s cough medicine, chlorodyne, which contained both cannabis and opium, and Dr TK Douglas` “Maori cigarettes”, which claimed to cure asthma, hay fever and whooping cough.

Cannabis was cheap, freely available and even featured in the popular book New Zealand Family Herb Doctor (1889). [2] Read the thoughts of Co-Chairs Juliet and Tracey as the cannabis project progresses. Les répercussions sur la santé publique sont liées à la consommation problématique de cannabis plutôt qu’à la consommation occasionnelle, de sorte que les effets sur la santé dépendent de qui consomme du cannabis et de la fréquence – voir « Toute consommation de cannabis est-elle nocive? [9] Leung et al., « What Have Been the Public Health Impacts of Cannabis Legalisation in the USA? A Review of Evidence on Adverse and Beneficial Effects », Current Addiction Reports 6, no 4 (2019); Fischer et coll., « Lower-Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines: A Comprehensive Update of Evidence and Recommendations », American Journal of Public Health 107, No. 8 (2017) [26] Burgard et al., « Using Wastewater‐Based Analysis to Monitor the Effects of Legalized Retail Sales on Cannabis Consumption in Washington State, USA », Addiction 114, no. 9 (2019) Jedes Cannabis, das über einen lizenzierten Verkäufer verkauft wird, würde: [1] Fergusson et al., « Psychosocial Sequelae of Cannabis Use and Implications for Policy: Findings from the Christchurch Health and Development Study », Psychiatrie sociale et épidémiologie psychiatrique 50, nr. 9 (2015); Silins et coll., « Young Adult Sequelae of Adolescent Cannabis Use: An Integrative Analysis », Lancet Psychiatry 1, Nr. 4 (2014); Anthony, « Die Epidemiologie der Cannabisabhängigkeit », Cannabisabhängigkeit: Ihre Natur, Folgen und Behandlung (2006); van der Pol et coll., « Predicting the Transition from Frequent Cannabis Use to Cannabis Dependence: A Three-Year Prospective Study », Drug and Alcohol Dependence 133, Nr. 2 (2013); Budney et al., « The Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome », Curr Opin Psychiatry 19, no. 3 (2006); Poulton et al., « Patterns of recreational cannabis use in Aotearoa-New Zealand and their consequences: evidence to inform voters in the 2020 referendum », Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand (2020) Drug Law Reform: Balancing the Racist Scales of Justice, Matters of Substance (novembre 2019). Une série d’articles de divers auteurs dans la publication de novembre de la Drug Foundation portant sur les injustices en matière de préjudice social résultant des lois actuelles prohibitives sur le cannabis. [24] Looze et coll., « Declines in Adolescent Weekly Alcohol Use in Europe and North America: Evidence from 28 Countries from 2002 to 2010 », The European Journal of Public Health 25, no suppl_2 (2015) The Health and Social Effects of Non-Medical Cannabis Use, Organisation mondiale de la Santé (2016).

Drawing on contributions from a wide range of experts and researchers from around the world, this report summarizes current knowledge on the health effects of non-medical cannabis use. [18] Leung et al., “What Have Been the Public Health Impacts of Cannabis Legalisation in the USA? A Review of Evidence on Adverse and Beneficial Effects,” Current Addiction Reports 6, No. 4 (2019); Cerdá et al., “Association between Recreational Marijuana Legalization in the United States and Changes in Marijuana Use and Cannabis Use Disorder from 2008 to 2016,” JAMA Psychiatry 77, No. 2 (2020) If we miss the opportunity to develop a confident and informed health profession in New Zealand, we may never have the chance to realize the full therapeutic potential of this complex plant.