A Guerrero Community Police member patrols at an illegal poppy field, in Heliodoro Castillo, Guerrero state, Mexico        (Image: PARDO/AFP/Getty Images)
A Guerrero Community Police member patrols at an illegal poppy field, in Heliodoro Castillo, Guerrero state, Mexico (Image: PARDO/AFP/Getty Images)

SocietySeptember 28, 2018

The war on drugs is killing Kiwis – we must choose a different approach

A Guerrero Community Police member patrols at an illegal poppy field, in Heliodoro Castillo, Guerrero state, Mexico        (Image: PARDO/AFP/Getty Images)
A Guerrero Community Police member patrols at an illegal poppy field, in Heliodoro Castillo, Guerrero state, Mexico (Image: PARDO/AFP/Getty Images)

We need to find an alternative to the dangerous enforcement tactics of the global response to the drug trade, or people will keep dying, writes Kali Mercier. 

New Zealand’s recent deaths from synthetic cannabinoids are deeply tragic and should never have happened. A report released yesterday by the Global Commission on Drug Policy shows how they’re also, sadly, part of a repeated pattern of harm caused by the international illegal drug trade and the international responses to that trade – the so-called ‘war on drugs’. 

Taking a world view, free of political agenda, can provide a fresh perspective. This is especially true when it comes to the hot potato issue of drugs. The Global Commission has a stunning cast of esteemed movers and shakers, including twelve former heads of State (one of whom is our own Helen Clark). Their report is unambiguous – rather than continuing with our failed global war on drugs, we need to regulate criminal black markets out of existence.

Whether it was by chance or strategy, Donald Trump called for all countries to sign up to a statement doubling down on enforcement approaches on the day the report was launched. Our prime minister took a principled stand and refused to sign. Instead, she emphasised New Zealand’s commitment to following an evidence-based approach and treating drug use as a health issue.

The Global Commissioners argue that demand for drugs exists, has always existed, and will always exist. If this demand is not satisfied through legal means, it will inevitably be satisfied by the illegal market. They point out that despite the unimaginably huge resources put into enforcement, illegal drugs are now the world’s largest illegal commodity market, estimated in 2005 to turn over a whopping $320 billion – which would mean they make up nearly 1% of total global trade.

The illegal drugs market is of course completely unregulated, ruthlessly profit-motivated, and unrestrained by the rules and accountability that guide legal economies. Drug producers are incentivised to increase the potency of products to maximise their profit margins, making drug use ever more dangerous. As an example, during alcohol prohibition, consumption patterns moved from beer to the much more harmful moonshine. In the same way, opium use has been supplanted in many countries by heroin use, and now fentanyl. This process is visible in our own country, where early wave synthetic cannabinoids have been replaced by much more dangerous compounds. Sadly, the result has been 40 deaths from synthetics during the past year. This is who the ‘war on drugs’ is killing.  

Synthetic cannabinoids are getting stronger and more dangerous (Image: Getty Images).

The Commission sets out how the global system is actively undermining the rule of law in developing countries, and hindering economic progress. Illegal drug markets promote money laundering and corruption, violence and instability. Poor communities are caught in the crossfire between the need to scrape out a living and repressive government crackdowns.

One example given in the report comes from an indigenous coca grower in Bolivia. Until Evo Morales came to power, her community faced “extreme violence, murder, the imprisonment of so many young men from our community, and the abuse of women. This was our day to day reality…. The military would come into our homes at any time of night and day. We were constantly being sprayed with gas.” Her family continued to grow coca despite the hardships because they had no other means of subsistence.

The report is careful to emphasise that regulation is not the same as liberalisation. The purpose is not to make drugs more freely available, but rather to minimise the harm that they cause. The commissioners list a range of different possible approaches to regulation. For example, the riskiest drugs could be prescribed by qualified medical professionals to people with drug dependencies. Day clinics in Switzerland that prescribe heroin are a working example of this approach.  Other options include pharmacy-only supply, and licenced (but heavily regulated) stores. They emphasise also that any changes should be introduced cautiously and incrementally.

As an example of the success of regulation in reducing health harms, they point to tobacco. Harm from tobacco use, while still huge, has been steadily decreasing in countries such as ours, due to controls on price, packaging, marketing and availability, plus public health education – only possible in a legal market.

What could this mean for New Zealand? Well if we take the cautious approach suggested by the Commission, we would start by regulating cannabis which we have the chance to do in the upcoming referendum. We should also remove criminal penalties for drug use and instead guide people towards health assistance if they need it.  

We also want to see a selection of lower harm psychoactive substances regulated for sale, to steer people away from the really bad stuff. We’ve tried this before in New Zealand but for various reasons the legislation ran aground – we should try it again and this time, get it right.

Let’s face it – the Global Commissioners have all been around the block a few times. They’re not afraid to say what needs to be said. We should sit up and listen.

Keep going!
Elle-hunt-feat2

SocietySeptember 26, 2018

‘You should move here too!’ How to get your NZ friends to join you in London

Elle-hunt-feat2

In her second Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt writes about seeing the city through the eyes of people who are just passing through.

I am at an indoor market in Brixton. I have never been to this market before, though it is held every week, about a half-hour walk from my house. After a year in London I now go between work, home and the places I’ve already been to.

I need to get out more, I think. I haven’t even been to the V&A.

The reason for this break in routine is my New Zealand friend is visiting. There is always a New Zealand friend visiting. My London friends think I make them up to get out of seeing them on the weekend. “That’s right, your New Zealand friend is here,” they say in tones heavy with scepticism.

They don’t believe that a country of so few people could have such a high proportion “passing through London and keep to catch up for a drink if you’re around”.

The problem is finding places to take them, with home, work, and the places I’ve already been to easily ticked off in a half-day.

Twice now I have led visiting New Zealand friends through inner-city back streets, feigning easy authority as though I’d deemed residential Marylebone a must-see for their 48 hours in one of the world’s great cities.

“John Lennon lived there for three months while recording the White Album,” I say, pointing at the blue ‘historical site’ plaque, heavily implying that that alone should justify the 45-minute Tube journey.

We usually end up at Pret. I’ve still not found anything in London that impresses New Zealanders more than Pret, not even the house where John Lennon lived for three months while recording the White Album. If the plan for Julia’s visit had been left up to me, we’d be at Pret right now.

But she has more than one New Zealand friend in London. As Niki plans to return to New Zealand one day, her time here seems finite, so she has made an effort to explore the city. I don’t plan to return to New Zealand so will end up there after years in London, never having been to the V&A.

The question that echoes in every NZ expat’s ears: ‘Will you go back?’

Niki decided a daily itinerary for Julia’s stay with an elaborate system of Post-It notes. I have been to more new places in the last week with the two of them than I have in the previous six months. This expansion of my world has made me feel like anything is possible, so I have worn a headscarf to the market.

“I like your headscarf,” says Julia, mildly surprised, when I join her and Niki. They have just been in Notting Hill, where Alexa Chung passed them on the street. Julia, known to feel an affinity with Alexa Chung, is in high spirits. “It was a sign,” she says decisively.

Niki and I immediately agree. We are in tacit agreement that we want Julia to move to London, and an Alexa Chung sighting is a major coup. I wonder how much Niki paid her.

It certainly sounds as if Niki has pulled out all the stops in the past 24 hours, from Julia’s retelling: the historic old-man’s pub where the party ramped up after closing; on to the 24-hour club, where there was no sexual harassment; then watching the sun come up from a bridge over the Thames.

I’m impressed. I would live in Niki’s London. People like Pret’s healthy fast food at affordable prices but they don’t move across oceans for it.

Julia is leaving London tomorrow, so this is our last chance to sell her on what could be her new life. Like most structures described as “pop-up”, the market is eye-wateringly expensive. We wander aimlessly, demonstrating the nice things you can buy, the cool people who come here, not buying anything, not talking to any of them.

We come across a stand for Tuatara beer and nudge each other, delighted to have come across so explicit a reminder of how far we’ve come. All three of us look hard at the young woman behind the counter because one of us must know her.

Niki does, from school. Julia and I hang back as they talk for a while then Niki rejoins us. She is put out. The woman, only months into her London move, had flung herself over the counter: “Does it get any easier?”

I look at Niki askance. Julia must not know that London can be anything other than iconic nights and organic celebrity sightings. But Niki is preoccupied. The young woman hadn’t remembered her. “I taught her theatre sports,” she grumbles.

I try to remember where the nearest Pret is. To close the deal.