The New Zealand Law Society have produced a great summary of the Cannabis Legislation and Control Bill 2020.   One of the interesting points they have highlighted is that one of the goals of the Cannabis Regulatory Authority is to get New Zealander’s to ultimate smoke less cannabis rather than more over time. 

Other goals are

1. promotes the well-being of New Zealanders; and
2. reduces the multiple harms associated with cannabis use; and
3. reduces the overall use of cannabis over time.

So, perhaps counter intuitively, a Yes vote will actually help to reduce cannabis consumption in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research have determined Cannabis could raise $490 million in taxes per year.

A new tax on cannabis, on top of GST, will drive the increase in revenue.

“To achieve the full $490 million per year in tax revenue, our modelling assumes that legal cannabis will need to displace the illegal market entirely” said Peter Wilson.

“It may take some time to achieve that, but if legal cannabis is safe and the price is reasonable, findings from countries who have legalised cannabis tell us that people will make the switch.”

A report has been released by Economists Sense Partners outlining just how beneficial legalisation of Cannabis could be for the economy.

“Should New Zealanders give legal marijuana a green tick a whole new weed economy will emerge. The US state of Colorado, which has a similar population to New Zealand and has had legal cannabis since 2012, received $199 million in revenue in 2017 from cannabis sales of $1.3 billion.“

“The industry also created more than 18,000 new full-time jobs in 2015 and generated $2.4b in economic activity.“

You can read the full report to find out more.  Estimating the impact of drug policy options – Moving from a criminal to a health-based approach