With a referendum on legalising cannabis on the way, a debate has been sparked over how New Zealand can reduce the harm caused by drugs.
Kiwis on the justice and health frontlines were in Wellington yesterday to listen to experts share their experiences, including Eric Costen of Health Canada.
Four months ago Canada made the personal use of marijuana legal, arguing that the move could restrict access for children and take the profit away from criminals.
"One in three Canadians who are 20-24 use cannabis, one in five... are teenagers," he said.
Mr Costen told the conference that while it still very early days, data collected by the Canadian Government suggests issues people had been most concerned about pre-legalisation – like a spike in drugged driving, unintended ingestion incidents and overconsumption – had not come to pass.
"All of those things that people were deeply worried about, they have not yet manifested themselves."
Twenty-years-ago, in the grips of a heroin epidemic, Portugal decriminalised all drugs. It has seen problematic drug use halve.
Joao Goulao of the Portugal Drugs Institute said it is not a solution often thought of, however police and law enforcement were in favour of the change.
Ross Bell of the Drug Foundation said the lesson to be learnt from Portugal is "yes, they decriminalised drug use, but at the same time they put a whole lot of resources into treatment and prevention".
Chloe Swarbrick of the Green Party said the "best outcome we can possibly get is to treat this as a health issue instead of a criminal one, really it's up to the politicians to get out of the way".
National have been voicing their concerns, with leader Simon Bridges saying that "in terms of Māoridom, decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs" beginning with cannabis "will be bad".
However prohibition has not been beneficial for Māori, with a Cabinet paper on the cannabis referendum released to 1 NEWS showed Māori were nearly four times more likely to be prosecuted by police than non-Māori for cannabis offences.
Tania Sawicki Mead of JustSpeak said it was "absolutely outrageous".
"Drug law reform is such a crucial issue if you want to understand the mass incarceration of Māori".
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