Let’s Talk About Drugs

EDITORIAL | ISSUE FOUR/20 | RONGOĀ / DRUGS

Written by Tashi Donnelly she/her | @tashi_rd | Editor

Nau mai haere mai, welcome to the rongoā/drugs issue of Debate. Although the word ‘drug’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body’, we tend to associate it more with recreational use than with medical use. But before we get into it, I want to take this opportunity to outline New Zealand’s laws on illegal drugs. Not because I want to scare you, but because it is important to be fully informed if you ever decide to try these substances.

Here in Aotearoa, our drug laws are defined by the ‘Misuse of Drugs Act 1975’, which categorises illegal drugs into three risk levels:

Class A: very high risk of harm

• Covers drugs such as heroin, LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), cocaine, DMT, and methamphetamine (P) 

• Penalties for Supply/Dealing: Life imprisonment.

• Penalties for Possession: Often up to 1 year imprisonment and/or fines, depending on circumstances.

Class B: high risk

• Covers drugs such as morphine, opium, amphetamines (speed), methadone, fentanyl, ritalin, and some barbiturates

• Penalties for Supply/Dealing: Up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

• Penalties for Possession: Up to 6 months’ imprisonment, and/or a fine of up to $1,000

Class C: moderate risk

• Covers drugs such as cannabis, nitrous oxide (nos, nangs), diazepam (Valium), codeine, and some weaker stimulants and sedatives

• Penalties for Supply/Dealing: Up to 8 years’ imprisonment on indictment (jury trial). Summary conviction (judge alone) can carry lower penalties (up to 1 year jail and/or fines).

• Penalties for Possession: Up to 3 months’ imprisonment (with previous convictions) or a fine of up to $500.

This categorisation doesn’t necessarily follow a strict medical-based or harm-reduction framework. The process is partially scientific, but it’s also policy-driven and political. In practice, decisions are guided by advice from bodies like the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD), which considers multiple criteria: risk of harm, rates of addiction and dependence, social harm, usage statistics, therapeutic value, and international context. It’s interesting that despite the risks to public health and safety, alcohol is a fully legal and mostly societally accepted drug.

I believe that possession for personal use should be decriminalised. I wish with all my heart that New Zealand would follow in the footsteps of countries like Portugal, where decriminalisation of drugs like cannabis, cocaine, and heroin has resulted in huge declines in overdose deaths, lower rates of HIV and hepatitis, and most importantly, more people accessing treatment. Drugs and addiction shouldn’t be a legal problem; they should be a public health one.

Drugs won’t be going anywhere, no matter how strict the laws get. Homo sapiens and many other animal species have been altering their perception with substances for thousands of years. Reindeer eat mushrooms to get high, dolphins enjoy the narcotic effect of pufferfish toxins, and our own native kererū get drunk off fermented berries in the summertime. Humans have been crafting alcoholic beverages since the Stone Age. We are creatures who enjoy altered states, and I think that’s important to remember before we judge substances and the people who take them. 

The problem is, drugs aren’t a moral issue. You’re not a bad person if you use them, and you’re not a good person if you don’t. Rarely in life will you come across problems that fit neatly in those categories. It’s important to investigate our assumptions about these substances and not allow ourselves to be caught up in old-fashioned, puritanical judgments of users. 

In this magazine, you’ll read about the good and the bad: personal reflections on alcohol addiction, the integration of rongoā māori with psychedelic-assisted therapy, why cocaine is for losers, drug-related movie recommendations, and so much more. So, whether you’re inhaling it, drinking it, ingesting it, dissolving it under your tongue, slapping it on your skin, snorting it, or popping it up your bum, drugs are a marvellous, dangerous, and profoundly important feature of our lives. The amount of propaganda surrounding substances is astronomical. The number of human lives saved with the intervention of drugs is incalculable. Recreational drug use has been documented throughout human history, not to mention in many animal species. So buckle yourself in (and please don’t drive) because we’re taking talking about drugs.