No, but decriminalise drugs that offer medicinal benefits such as marijuana

Alcohol is more harmful than cannabis. People are gonna use it regardless, and legalising it may help with the economy

Human quality of life, the freedom of choice for treatment of medical conditions. Legalisation would provide tax income. Alcohol is a worse (legal) drug.

Well them being illegal hasn't worked. Ever since highschool there has always been drugs easily available, even in work places and from bosses.
Most people who do drugs don't end up on the streets, the worst of the worst are the only ones that are visible.

What does sending someone to prison for getting high even achieve? Especially seeing as you can keep getting drugs and prison easily.

Many countries around the world have proven the benefits of legalising Marijuana. It's the benefits far out weigh the negative and states and countries such as Canada, California etc have displayed this.

We have seen results in Portugal who had a major addiction problem until they decriminalised drugs. Drug abuse went down and more funding was given to rehabilitation. There is a working case study to back this up.

I agree that drugs that offer proven medical benefits should be decriminalised if not legalised but also drug use is not the problem, the problem is the addiction which not all people get addicted to drugs after trying it.

Treating those that have an addiction to drugs as criminals is unfair since there are so many addictions that can ruin your life just as much if not worse, such as gambling, sugar drinks, vaping/ smoking, alcohol & screen time. All of these have the capability of damaging the mind/ body in one way or another and aren't looked at as illegal but have dedicated support networks to help overcome this.

Education is the best tool to help prevent drug abuse and hiding it away/ making it illegal makes the rebellious even more curious.

I support the decriminalization of drugs like marijuana. They are natural substances that people use to promote relaxation, manage pain, and cope with various health issues. Compared to cigarettes and alcohol, which have known health risks, marijuana can offer benefits with fewer adverse effects. Decriminalization can redirect resources toward addressing more significant drug issues and focus on harm reduction rather than punitive measures.

I think these issues are complicated and can never be summarised so simply as a two line question. I think all possession/use should be decriminalised and we should be moving away from a punitive justice system towards a supportive, rehabilitative and educative society that can allow some access to drugs such as alcohol and marijuana but with regulations/restrictions. This would of course require increased education around their use, particularly amongst youth and increased mental health resourcing.

Decriminalization of Marijuana takes away the tabu of the drug, it is a drug less harmful than NZs biggest killing drug alcohol. I have lived in The Netherlands for 18 years and have seen the benefits of the decriminalization of marijuana and its crazy to see that this is still a debate in our country. How many of us can say they know someone who has acted violently, killed, raped, become aggressive when drinking alcohol? Now can you say the same about someone you know who has acted violently, killed, raped, become aggressive after smoking a joint of Marijuana?

Treat all drugs as a health issue, rather than a legal issue. Offset court, police and other resources with health based resources. It’s proven to work in other countries.

Drugs are like tools, and like tools, can be misused. All drugs have medicinal benefit. Ritalin is a derivative of meth and is currently legal, heroin is an opiate just like codeine that is legal. It is hypocritical to allow some but not others. Regardless of this, I believe that misuse of drugs should treated as a health issue, not a criminal offence. Pushing drug use and sales underground through making drug’s illegal puts profits in the hands of gangs, means the government cannot collect taxes from the sale and reduces our ability to properly regulate the sale.

It is beneficial to the community as it will be provided by a medical agency for medical use only and will provide people with a safer way of using it instead of retorting to drug use of the street to get the relief needed

Anti drug policy have shown all over they do not work
Improved Social systems which offer drug addiction help has proven to decrease use and addiction
Marijauna, MDMA, LSD and psilocybin have low harm rates and huge benefits that can have a positive impact on society and reduce alcohol, violence, dangerous drug use, criminal activity and youth offenders

All drugs should be decriminalized so too allow better use of resources towards proper education. Offer people help rather than stigmatizing them with the law

All drug laws cause significant social harm to users, and to society as a whole through enforcement costs. They also clearly don’t actually stop drugs from being sold or consumed, so there is no upside to criminalising them.

All drugs should be decriminalized so too allow better use of resources towards proper education. Offer people help rather than stigmatizing them with the law

There appears to be some medicinal benefits to marijuana use, so lets study them, out of the shadow of criminalisation. But let's not stop there, as new research shows psychodelics can play a positive role in some circumstances. Let's not close ourselves off to opportunities because of old-fashioned biases.

Surely, with scientific advances, we are able to provide adequate medicinal benefits other than the use of marijuana.

That's silly – alcohol is a drug; coffee is a drug; paracetamol is a drug. All drugs should be decriminalised, not a select portion based on potential medicinal benefits.

War on drugs does not work. Legalise everything, pump all money into education and places to do drugs safely.

Because some people need certain drugs and going to the shop becomes an ordeal because of the silly revenue collecting road laws ,getting pulled over for no reason and then subjected to a crushing test like a common criminal is way out of line

No brainer weed should be the only one legalised obviously. Why would you legalise the other drugs (meth, cocaine, heroine etc) that have no health benefits and that cause harm to families, communities and the integrity of NZ

All drugs should be decriminalised and drug use should be looked at as a health issue not a criminal issue.

A counterargument to the position of decriminalizing drugs with medicinal benefits, such as marijuana, is based on the need for a controlled regulatory framework. Here's an opposing viewpoint:

1. **Potential for Abuse**: While some drugs, like marijuana, may indeed have medicinal benefits, decriminalizing them without proper regulation could lead to misuse and abuse. Without safeguards in place, there is a risk that these substances could end up in the wrong hands or be used recreationally, potentially undermining their medical efficacy.

2. **Consistency in Regulation**: Opponents of this…  Read more position argue that it's essential to maintain consistency in drug regulation. If some drugs are decriminalized solely for medicinal purposes, it could create confusion and difficulties in enforcement. A more comprehensive approach to drug policy that evaluates each substance individually may be necessary.

I don’t care about possible medical benefits, they may be positive or negative. Let people do things they want to do to have fun when if managed properly by the individual can be harmless.

Criminalisation reduces the ability of addicts to seek treatment and increases their contact with illegal drug dealers.

Making personal drug use illegal criminalizes behaviour which should not be criminalized, and which the state has no right to interfere with.

Decriminalise possession of small quantities of all drugs. Impose a fine or attend drug support programme option. Invest in rehab services.

Even after defining "medical benefits" more precisely, this argument still views drugs through the lens of a criminal issue not

All drugs offer health benefits to some degree. We should just be legalising everything, or at least decriminalising for personal use. Locking up addicts is a waste of resources and makes them worse.

Drug abuse is a form of mental health issues. Decriminalising all drugs allows for the mental health aspect to be looked into and allows them to actually recover and rehabilitate rather than be put into prison where it could be made worse.

Not acknowledging these issues and throwing people in prison is how it got so bad in the first place.

Just about all drugs have medicinal benefits, the only difference is the side effects. See how morphine, fentanyl, cocaine, etc. have historic and current use in the medical field.

Who decides what does and what doesn't have medicinal benefit? Heroin is not too different from the opioides that we rely on for treating pain.