Inqyiry #4

By Te Arai & Sam

Inquiry #4 Cannabis Legalisation

Whatever the real number, cannabis is a huge cash crop. As the nickname suggests, weed is easy and cheap to grow, with much of the black market price related to risk. A US study found the cost per pound could be as low as US$70 (NZ$100) in a legal commercial greenhouse. On the higher side, estimates range to US$400(NZ$597.48) a pound.





Introduction:

So today we will be talking about the legalisation of cannabis in NZ, what are the effects of cannabis and some of the pros and cons of cannabis. We will also be talking about the appropriate age for purchasing cannabis( if it does become legal ) and the countries that already have cannabis legal for all reasons. Our thesis is that Cannabis should only be legal for medical uses. We hope you enjoy


Cannabis has many names like marijuana, weed, pot and many more. But most people know it as marijuana or weed. Cannabis can be taken many ways like smoking, vaping, drinking it or consuming it. Some of the main effects of cannabis in you get a fuzzy head and become really mellow.The main problem with cannabis is the age group that's taking it, The government has said that the appropriate age to take cannabis would be 18 to 25. But there are teens who are between the ages 12 to 16 who are taking cannabis weekly and sometimes daily. Cannabis is made out of three plants that are dried and that makes cannabis. When you eat, smoke and all the different ways you use cannabis it goes into your bloodstream and goes to your brain then goes to the receptors in your brain. If you take too much your receptors will get affected and you will act funny and you will become stoned.


So we have talked about the effects of cannabis, and how old you need to be to take it and what it is. Cannabis can be used as a really good pain reliever but it isn’t good if it is used in the wrong hands. In most countries its illegal like NZ but it can somethings be allowed for medical purposes,


So if New Zealand makes cannabis legal, there's gonna have to be some rules about the age, the amount of cannabis, ect….So you are going to have to be over the age of 20, you can only buy 14 grams of dried cannabis per day from licenced outlets. You have to be in an licenced area to where cannabis is sold or consumed and if you get a note from the government, you can grow 2-4 plants maximum per household. If it is legal, more parents will start using it and their kids will think it's fine to do the same and more kids will start smoking.

So what are some of the pros and cons of legalizing cannabis?

, let me tell you some of the pros. Legalizing cannabis would put the amount of underaged cannabis users down, driving while on drugs will hopefully go down by a lot. And if you are buying cannabis from a licenced seller and not a gang or an illegal seller, your safety will be good because most gangs spike their products with stuff to get you really addicted and you will end up buying from that group until you have no money left in their bank. It helps Lower the Chances of Getting Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

You can also become depressed, anxious and a lot of other things from taking cannabis.


If cannabis becomes legal would more people die from drug overdose?

All drug use has a risk of harm, which can include death. Some people ask how often does death by cannabis occur?In the last couple of years the average of people dieing to cannabis has been 32 to 34 per year, And these have all been illegal drug users. So if NZ made cannabis legal, the amount of deaths would have a good chance of going down because you would need a note or something from your doctor to access cannabis if you were underaged.


Should cannabis be legal for people who need pain relief?

New Zealand already allows medical cannabis, not many people know that and no one actually has sign-off to use it, but technically, cannabis can already be prescribed as a medicine. The catch, and reason why no one is legally using it, is that the application process is extremely complex and it needs sign-off from the Minister of Health.

We think that cannabis should only be legal for people that need it for pain relief because then it has a good cause, and not a bad one.


So there are certain places in the world where you can use cannabis legally like Canada, Georgia, South Africa and Uruguay. In Canada the legalization of cannabis has backfired on themselves. Because the crime rate went up by a really big amount in the first year of cannabis being legalised.


Lots of young people use cannabis in australia which is quite bad, but not that many older people use it in australia. In Canada the common age to use cannabis would be around 25-34.and that is quite concerning and older people don’t use it as much. So that means that Australia uses a lot more cannabis than Canada.


So now that you have listened to our presentation, we hope you have learned Something about cannabis and what it could bring to NZ if we legalise it. And if you do end up trying cannabis, make sure you get it from a safe source like your doctor or licenced seller. Thank you for listening