New Zealand Poised To Legalize Marriage Equality

MP Louisa Wall

This week, the New Zealand Parliament had its second vote — the most crucial of three — and approved marriage equality with a vote of 77 to 40. Typically the third vote is just a formality, suggesting the country is about to become the 12th on the planet to allow the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The first vote took place back in August, when equality advanced with a slightly wider margin of 80-40.

The bill’s sponsor, Labour MP Louisa Wall, implored the lawmakers to stand against the prejudice that LGBT people experience, and even quoted hip-hop artist Macklemore:

WALL: The agony and hardship that so many who bravely made submissions have had to face is unreasonable. But what’s totally unacceptable, is the state perpetuating that agony and hardship by not issuing marriage licences to loving, consenting and eligible non-heterosexual couples. [...]

“And I can’t change/ Even if I tried/ Even if I wanted to/ I can’t change…” I hope the House will give a message to all young people. You don’t have to change. You can be who you are and we, as a society, will value who you are.

Prime Minister John Key has promised his support for marriage equality and even participated in a mock gay wedding this past December. In addition, the youth wings of all eight political parties support the freedom to marry.

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Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul Join Bipartisan Bill To Legalize Hemp

While most Republican members of Congress have been lukewarm at best to the prospect of legalizing marijuana, senators introduced a bipartisan measure this week to legalize industrial hemp. Riding on the passage of recent Kentucky Senate bills to ease hemp growing, the state’s Republican senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, joined Oregon Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden in introducing a bill to legalize production of the strain of cannabis used in the production of goods.

Hemp is a plant in the cannabis family with significantly lower levels of the psychoactive component, THC, than most varieties that are smoked or consumed. It is used to make textiles, paper, paints, clothing, plastics, cosmetics, foodstuffs, insulation, animal feed and other products, according to NORML. Hemp is nonetheless lumped in with all other cannabis products, which are classified as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive of the five schedules designated for those substances considered dangerous with no currently accepted medical value.

The bill, which would would remove hemp from the controlled substances list and define it as a non-drug so long as it contains less than 0.3 percent THC, is a small demonstration of fading hysteria over anything “cannabis” that emerged in the era of “Reefer Madness.” It also raises questions, however, about federal support for legalizing at least those strains of medical cannabis that have very low levels of THC, as well as those chemical compounds extracted from marijuana that are low in THC.

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Will Hawaii Be The Next State To Legalize Marijuana?

In the wake of laws in Washington and Colorado to legalize small amounts of marijuana and regulate it like alcohol, a new poll shows that 57 percent of Hawaiians favor a similar law. This is a 20 percent jump from the last time a poll was conducted in 2005. A whopping 69 percent think jail time for marijuana is inappropriate, and 78 percent support a medical marijuana dispensary system to bolster the state’s medical marijuana law. Arrests for mere possession of marijuana have increased 50 percent since 2004, and disproportionately affect people of native Hawaiian descent.

An accompanying study on the budgetary implications of passing such a law found that decriminalizing marijuana would save state and county governments $5 million per year, and that legalizing and regulating the industry would save another $5 million, in addition to generating $4 million to $20 million in new revenue. Of course, Hawaii would probably not be alone in taking up a measure to legalize marijuana. Oregon and California have already held referenda on the question, and drug policy advocates are eyeing a number of other states where political will has strengthened since November, several of which have already decriminalized possession.

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