Auckland's Deputy Mayor is urging the Government to consider the decriminalising cannabis.
Penny Hulse says a ban on synthetic highs will not abolish the problem of drug abuse, and wants to reignite discussion around the laws of the use of the natural drug.
"What I'm suggesting is that we need to look at the least damaging option," she says.
"In my view, and the view of many in the scientific community, conventional cannabis is less damaging than synthetic cannabis."
Ms Hulse says the latest ban on psychoactive substances will only drive the problem underground.
Mayor Len Brown told the New Zealand Herald that although he supported the ban on synthetic highs, he did not support legalising cannabis.
Former senior police officer and current councillor George Wood strongly opposed Ms Hulse’s view, saying there are already problems with drug and alcohol.
"We would just be opening the floodgates if we legalised cannabis," he told the Herald.
Toxicologist studies have shown that natural cannabis contained several compounds with an anti-psychotic effect to balance the psychoactive effects and is less dangerous that synthetic products.
The Government recently banned on 41 synthetic highs, but still plans to allow products that have been tested and are considered low risk.
Prime Minister John Key also banned animal testing for recreational drugs and Ms Hulse is concerned about how synthetic highs will be tested.
"Without animal testing it's a desktop exercise," Ms Hulse said, "and if you do a desktop exercise of a theoretical combination as a result of chemical experiments, well then you are basically saying let's go out and test them on our kids and our families."
RadioLIVE / 3 News
source: newshub archive
