Smoking marijuana poses few serious health risks, Health Ministry officials told a Parliament select committee last week. The ongoing hearings are in response to a report issued in April by a coalition of New Zealand scientists and health care professionals who support legalizing marijuana.
“Overall, the current public health risks of cannabis use are small to moderate in size, and are less than the public health risk of tobacco or alcohol use,” the Ministry said in a written statement.
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said the Health Ministry’s position echoes those of other international health organizations. “Both the World Health Organization and the French medical institute INSERM concluded earlier this year that marijuana smoking causes less harm to public health than alcohol and cigarettes,” he said.
The Ministry also said that most New Zealanders only use the drug occasionally, and downplayed health dangers even among long-term heavy users. Dr. Nick Judson, deputy director of mental health, said that no more than two to three percent of the population were at serious risk from marijuana abuse.
Dr. David Hadorn, director of the New Zealand Drug Policy Forum Trust, testified in favor of establishing a system to regulate marijuana consumption. “By driving cannabis use underground, we surely make the situation far worse than would be the case under a controlled, regulated system of cannabis distribution,” he said. “Creating a flourishing black market for a widely used substance inevitably fosters criminal activity.”
Assistant Police Commissioner Ian Holyoake told the committee that he opposed marijuana legalization, but remained open to the possibility of decriminalization. He admitted that criminalizing the drug had not reduced marijuana use.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Dr. David Hadorn of the New Zealand Drug Policy Forum Trust may be contacted via e-mail at: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz.
