UC Connect Panel: Dope or Nope? UC experts discuss the Cannabis referendum

UC Connect panel: Dope or nope? UC experts discuss the Cannabis referendum

In this year’s Aotearoa New Zealand General Election, the people will also vote in a referendum on whether the recreational use of cannabis should become legal.

The referendum question is based on the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which has been developed to help give voters an idea of how the law might work. The Bill sets out the regulation regime that would legalise the production, possession and uses of cannabis for those aged 20 years and older. The proposed law will ban items designed to appeal to young people, set a four-year prison term for selling to under-20-year-olds and allow cannabis ‘cafes’ to open.

In an upcoming UC Connect panel discussion on the evening of Wednesday 9 September, experts from a range of disciplines will discuss the Cannabis legislation and control referendum, one of two due to take place in the 2020 election.

The UC Connect panel on the Cannabis law referendum will include:

– Professor Neil Boister to discuss the legal obligations connected to legalising cannabis.

– Dr Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs on the health impacts connected to legalising cannabis.

– Dr Rachael Dixon on education issues connected to legalising cannabis.

– Dr Jarrod Gilbert on the impact on those previously criminalised for a cannabis if it’s decriminalised.

The host/moderator will be Professor Alex Tan, Head of UC Political Science and International Relations.

Dr Jarrod Gilbert, Sociology, UCArts & Criminal Justice, UC Business and Law