Dear Editor, I’m going to make this really simple.

New Zealand, Australia and the USA all passed their Farm Bill Acts in 2018 authorising the production of hemp and removed hemp seeds from their Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) schedule of Controlled Substances. They removed hemp, defined as cannabis sativa, CBD “cannabidiol” and THC “tetrahydrocannabinol”. These are the most common cannabinoids found in cannabis sativa, the likes of which CBD products are being sold everywhere on Rarotonga.

The reason they passed these Farm Bills in the above mentioned nations was to make it clear and in a detailed manner, leaving no reason for confusion and doubt that the former illicit drug, THC, “tetrahydrocannabinol”, was now legal in all CBD products, again, the likes of which are now being sold in Rarotonga.

No Farm Bill or legislation of any kind was passed in the Cook Islands to make THC, “tetrahydrocannabinol” legal in the Cook Islands. But don’t take my word for it.

In the Cook Islands Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004, it is an offense for any preparation, an example being all CBD products now being sold in Rarotonga, shall be deemed to have been produced by subjecting cannabis plant material to some kind of processing that contains any THC, tetrahydrocannabinol.

The laws on cannabis possession makes no distinction to the percentage of THC that is an offense under the Act. If you possess any THC, either in a CBD product or a marijuana joint, it is equally offensive under the law and is punishable up to 15 years in prison.

Therefore, anyone charged or convicted for any cannabis possession since November 2020, when CBD products were first sold in the Cook Islands, has had their rights as an individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law violated under the Constitution of the Cook Islands, because nobody has been charged with possession of a CBD product in the Cook Islands. The laws on possession of any THC product have not been applied evenly.

This letter writer first alerted the authorities of this very breach of the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004 in this paper on 10-11-2021.

The authorities in the Cook Islands tell us the law is the law. But in reality, they are saying the law is the law when it applies to us but the law is not the law when it applies to them.

As the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands it is time for Mark Brown to restore law and order in the biosecurity division of Customs, the Police and Crown Law. You have a lot of options you can take, you can declare the laws on cannabis unconstitutional, you can declare the laws on cannabis have been broken or you could declare a moratorium on the cannabis laws until they are rewritten in order to come in line with the 21st century, like they have done in New Zealand and Australia.

To do nothing would be unconscionable.

Sincerely

Steve Boggs.