It's been fascinating to watch the debate over cannabis law reform in New Zealand from Canada, especially the arguments based on how well or how poorly legal regulation has been playing out in my country. It's also interesting - and amusing - to read the sometimes apocalyptic or pollyannaish predictions about what will happen in New Zealand if voters endorse the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill (CLCB), with no regard for evidence from overseas.

It might have appeared out of the blue when Canada legalised cannabis almost two years ago, but we were finally following the unanimous recommendations of a non-partisan senate committee from 2002.

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SYDNEY, Australia - The question from the debate moderator in New Zealand was simple and to the point: "Jacinda Ardern, have you ever used cannabis?"

"Yes I did," said Ms. Ardern, the country's popular prime minister, "a long time ago."

The moderator paused, looking surprised. Then the audience applauded.

Ms. Ardern later declined to say whether she supported the legalization of marijuana, which New Zealanders will decide in a referendum with the national election on Oct. 17. But by that point in the debate on Wednesday, she had already won another smiley-face emoji from the global left, while reminding voters that she hadn't always been so earnest.

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Prof Joe Boden, of the University of Otago, provides a view from inside the expert panel on cannabis ahead of this year's cannabis referendum.

A year ago several New Zealand academics, me included, were invited to join the expert panel on cannabis by the Prime Minister's Chief Science Adviser, Prof Juliet Gerrard.

With the referendum on the legalisation of cannabis planned for this year, the Prime Minister had asked Prof Gerrard to assemble the panel in order to present research on cannabis, cannabis-related harm and cannabis law reform to New Zealanders in an accessible manner.

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Moves to make it easier for patients to get cannabis-based medication for pain relief or symptom control have been welcomed by Northland's medical marijuana campaigners.

However, some say the change doesn't go far enough or do anything to help patients to pay for medical cannabis.

Last week Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne announced that people who wanted to use non-pharmaceutical cannabis products, which are made from cannabis but with less rigorous standards than those applied to pharmaceuticals, no longer need to get approval from the Minister of Heath.

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Studies show older generation are more likely to drink too much and smoke marijuana.

Given more than half of US states allow medical marijuana use, some seniors may be turning to it to treat the ailments of old age.

Fewer teens are using drugs or alcohol than at any point in the past few decades.

Indeed, while anti-drug campaigns still encourage parents to talk to their teens about drugs before someone else does, two recent US studies suggest there's another high-risk population we should be worried about: our kids' grandparents.

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The outgoing boss of the New Zealand Police Association says a tour of cannabis-friendly countries was an eye-opener, but hasn't convinced him New Zealand should follow suit.

Greg O'Connor spent time travelling through Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and Colorado, in the United States, seeing firsthand the effects of both decriminalisation and legalisation of cannabis.

He says while it has not inspired him to change his stance, it has given him a much greater understanding of the issues.

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Nearly 30 years ago my then 40- year-old husband was diagnosed with cancer. Two years later and after several operations, the cancer returned and nothing more could be done. His life over, his last couple of years consisted of radiotherapy, operations and daily doses of morphine. We were told that even with the cancer he had, he would never have to be in pain, due to the morphine. What we weren't told was the side effects of the morphine - nightmares, hallucinations and not being able to eat. We ended up taking turns to sit with him during the night to talk him through the hallucinations. He tried halving the morphine dose but was then in a lot of pain.

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The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research - a group better known for its views on inflation targeting and GDP growth - says New Zealand should move "sooner rather than later" to legalise marijuana which would generate a net gain of $300 million to the government accounts.

Drawing on Treasury research which found that legalising could reap $150m in new government revenue and reduce spending on drug enforcement by around $180m, NZIER principal economist Peter Wilson concludes that legalisation, combined with heavy taxation, regulation and education would be a better way of reducing social harm from the drug.

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It's interesting being a criminal. I spent the past 30 years being a relatively model citizen. Then I got diagnosed with terminal cancer in multiple sites. I have turned into a criminal to survive, thrive and stay alive.

And indeed thanks to medical marijuana, I am surviving, I am thriving and I am alive to parent. I am alive to be with friends, to be political, to make plans, to get fit, to read, to continue learning, to love, to laugh and sometimes to cry.

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If a referendum was held on legalising cannabis for personal use, would you support it? You'd have to be off your scone. The New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) has been crowing about the results of its self-selecting poll, indicating broad public support for decriminalising cannabis for personal use. Rebecca Reider made history over the weekend by bringing the first legal raw cannabis flower into New Zealand, campaigners say.

The NZDF has steadily become a strident proponent for law reform, to the point that they now sound more like glorified pushers, campaigning for "the removal of criminal penalties for drug use, possession and social supply."

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Imagine a natural product with medicinal benefits that human beings have used for centuries. A product so popular that its sale has funded the activities of certain enterprises for generations. A product used by people young and old, well and unwell, rich and poor.

One would assume that the tax revenue from this product would be significant. That its popularity would demand responsible regulation to protect both the industry and consumers. That its widely reported pain-relieving qualities would be utilised to provide relief to sufferers of chronic pain. That gangs would be the last "businesses" we'd want to be responsible for its sale. It would seem like a no- brainer. Unless that product is cannabis. We've been waging war on drug users for close to 20 years, since the UN's General Assembly Special Session on Drug Control in 1998. The goal of that session was to eradicate illicit drug-use by 2008. It was a mission that failed spectacularly.

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My generation has a lot to answer for. Recreational drugs, for example or as former Wellington coroner Garry Evans preferred to call them, "wreckreational drugs".

Mine was the generation that rebelled against the values of its parents.

We were smug and spoilt, with plenty of time on our hands to reflect on how wrong our elders were about everything.

We rejected their dreary, conformist moral values.

"If it feels good, do it" became the catch-cry of a generation.

And it did feel good for a while. But then the casualties began to pile up.

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Both National and Labour have distanced themselves from a survey reported in the Herald that a majority of New Zealanders want the laws relating to cannabis to change.

The Prime Minister explained that supporting a change in our drug laws would send the wrong message to our youth.

Key is correct to be concerned.

Cannabis is increasing in potency.

It can cause psychosis in some people and be a gateway drug in some instances.

If a person becomes addicted, it has the capacity to diminish their life over the long term. Although cannabis does not cause as much damage as legal drugs like alcohol or tobacco or illegal drugs like methamphetamine, it still comes with clear risks.

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John Key's response to the survey showing 80 per cent of us want medical marijuana legalised and 64 per cent would like ordinary marijuana legalised or at least decriminalised was very interesting. While saying that "would send the wrong message to our young people", he added that he understood the police were already "turning a blind eye" in many cases. If this is true, it reveals a disturbing attitude to the law among both those who make these laws and those who enforce them. It may be time to remember the old saying, "Never make a law you can't enforce" for ignoring or defying one law tends to reduce respect for all.

Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.

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To use the term marijuana as in being legalised, is deceptive and dangerous. One's use of medicinal marijuana to relieve pain is fully justifiable. The smoking of marijuana as a weed sold on the street is not. The latter, even with small usage, kills brain cells, is linked to deaths on the road, long term damage to the lungs and it accentuates depression from those already suffering from it. Any literature being promoted by the press needs to make a very clear distinction between the two.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

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NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key says decriminalising cannabis would send the wrong message to young people.

A new poll shows almost 65% of New Zealanders want personal possession of cannabis decriminalised or made legal and only 16% believe use of cannabis for pain relief should be illegal.

Even among voters who support the more conservative ruling National party there is majority support for the law on personal possession to be reformed.

But Mr Key told radio station Newstalk ZB yesterday that he did not think changing the law would be a wise move.

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Almost 65 per cent of New Zealanders are in favour of legalising or decriminalising cannabis, according to a new survey.

The NZ Drug Foundation poll found 64 per cent of respondents think possessing a small amount of cannabis for personal use should be either legal (33 per cent) or decriminalised (31 per cent).

However, 34 per cent of the 15,000 Kiwis surveyed were in favour of possession of the class C drug remaining illegal.

NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said it was the first time such a strong majority had been in favour of reforming the drug laws relating to cannabis.

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Prime Minister John Key says decriminalising cannabis would send the wrong message to young people - and he isn't keen on holding a referendum on the issue.

A new poll shows almost 65 per cent of New Zealanders want personal possession of cannabis decriminalised or made legal.

Even more support letting people use cannabis for pain relief - only 16 per cent want that to be criminal.

Key said yesterday that in his view changing the law would send the wrong message to younger people.

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Now that it is blindingly obvious how harmful and expensive the prohibition of cannabis is, the new question is "Why?" Why are Nick Smith and Peter Dunne so determined to keep their heads buried deep in the sand on the realities of the cannabis issue? The recent Treasury information pried from government files by our astute local lawyer Sue Grey and the use of the OIA, supplies truckloads of valid observations as to the fiscal disaster The War on Drugs is creating, in addition to the acknowledged harm to society.

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Treasury ' Brainstorming' Paper Shows Government Up $ 500m With Legalisation

Long Bay High School principal Russell Brooke has urged parents not to smoke cannabis in front of their children.

The advocates of decriminalising cannabis now have an economic case to press. A Treasury official, in a document prepared for a brainstorming session, suggested the Government could save more than $ 500 million a year legalising the popular drug.

The report, intended for internal use but seemingly based on robust calculations, suggested tax from a legal cannabis industry could be worth $ 150m, with annual savings of $ 400m from lower policing costs.

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