Why are we fooling around and aimlessly wasting our time by not getting our pakalolo industry up and running?

We took the first step of allowing patients to bring medicinal cannabis into our nation from New Zealand but everything has stalled because no pharmacy will carry pakalolo products for doctors to prescribe to patients locally.

The time is now for the Government to allow every household to grow at least two to four pakalolo plants for their own personal use. We need to take this action because not only is it warranted for the health, safety and protection of society but it will also be needed as preparation to get our pakalolo industry off to a good start.

Once we get used to growing our own pakalolo the next stage would be businesses that can be licensed for the pakalolo industry to create jobs and increase consumer spending in our economy.

The costs associated with enforcing drug laws also goes down if recreational and or medicinal pakalolo cultivation is legalised.

We cannot afford to waste any more time, we can get a pakalolo industry to grow exponentially in the next few years, bringing more people back home by creating jobs and generating more tax revenue that will get redistributed to programs that will be of benefit to our community.

Any amount of money that is spent on pakalolo rather than alcohol is beneficial to our cultural health. Pakalolo is not a gateway drug, it can be used as an exit drug for anyone on the island who needs to get off any soulless white drug.

We need to get rid of all the black market pakalolo that is coming from New Zealand that is laced with pesticides, heavy metals or even other drugs. The pakalolo in the Cook Islands is all grown organically, it is free of pesticides, heavy metals and other drugs.

Steve Boggs.