I’m worried. I’m worried about what could happen in Education if non-medical cannabis is legalised. I feel as if we could be drifting towards something to the detriment of our young people; something that will be deeply regretted in future.

We need to think about this. While I see the range of views for and against legalisation in the lead up to the referendum, I’m struggling to see how legalisation would improve the lives of young people in New Zealand. I fear that it would make them worse.

As an educator, my focus is on judging change by how it will either help or hinder teenagers. Will legalisation help their learning, growth and achievement or not?

The Bill is promoted as ‘controlling’ the availability of cannabis in our communities, in our households. But as I see it, it is more likely to increase consumption not control it. I see it as putting more cannabis directly into the lives of our young people, at a critical and sometimes vulnerable time in their lives.

The harmful physical and psychological effects of cannabis are well documented in medical knowledge. Cannabis can and does cause harm. Its dangers are real and relevant. These dangers were summarised carefully by Dr Kate Baddock in the ODT on Saturday, on behalf of the New Zealand Medical Association. I encourage you to read her piece.

Once the green light is given to growing up to 4 plants per household, it will put more cannabis into more homes and in easy reach of our young. I doubt that setting up approved outlets for cannabis will impact the black market much. The ‘guy at the pub’ who’s sold it for years will simply make sure that his price is lower than the licensed premise price, and offer drugs that have higher THC too. Current cannabis supply will just be added to by the new Government supply and that from new growing in multiple households.

I think back over my 26 years in secondary education, while working as a teacher, coach, dean, and senior manager. I have worked with students who were cannabis users. Often we saw apathy, underachievement and reduction in academic performance. It was not that there were many classroom discipline issues associated with these students. They were usually docile, even when not under the influence. It was that they suffered delayed development compared to other learners; just when their brain needed to reset itself fundamentally to grow during adolescence. Some of the most obvious wasted potential I’ve seen over the years (due to getting wasted) was from cannabis users. There was a good reason why it was called ‘dope’ for so long; cannabis hardly makes for a sharp mind. Many New Zealand teachers have seen the damaging and limiting effects of cannabis on students.

From an Education point of view, it seems to me that legalisation driven by vague notions of ‘social justice’, ‘equity’ and ‘choice’ will ultimately just complicate and impede the lives and healthy development of our next generation, and add to the social problems that arrive in schools across New Zealand each day.

It can be tough being a teenager at the best of times in modern life. To make cannabis even more widespread will only add to this and it’s reckless to do so.

Nick McIvor