Prime Minister Mark Brown has not ruled out a referendum on the country’s cannabis laws at this year’s election, which has encouraged some drug law advocates.

Brown told the Cook Islands News on Friday that a referendum proposal had “been spoken about”.

“It’s a topical issue, not just here, but in other countries. New Zealand had their referendum back in their 2020 election,” he said.

“If we were going to have a referendum, it’s really just to gauge what the public opinion is on the use of cannabis for personal use.

“It would be very general, and it would be asking the public the question whether we should review our cannabis laws.

“We haven’t had anybody come to us to push this topic specifically, but it’s certainly a topic of interest.”

After hearing about Brown’s comments, Rarotonga medicinal marijuana advocate Steven Boggs said “it is now clear that the Cook Islands government is interested in reforming the laws on cannabis”.

“And this strong indication for proposed reforms is very likely to be the first transitional step to legally regulate cannabis markets in our future,” Boggs said.

“Cannabis law reform is taking place worldwide. Governments no longer feel trapped by either history or convention into continuing cannabis prohibition, and as legal regulation is more widely established, we are learning more about how to get it right.

“As the mainstream debate moves from if to how we regulate cannabis, we can get this done effectively and fairly.”

Boggs said people’s motivation for legalising cannabis is the economic and health benefits that come from regulated availability of marijuana.

“Right now, the government’s policy on cannabis is inappropriate, ineffective and completely out of date,” he said.

“Banning marijuana in the Cook Islands has failed to reduce its use and is hypocritical of the government to allow the sale of alcohol and tobacco and not cannabis.”

Boggs suggested approving medical marijuana treatment alone by a ballot initiative would set a great precedent for public health.

“A decisive change in the laws on cannabis must be made, any war against the drug has been irreversibly lost,” he said.

“Legalising marijuana will add millions of dollars to the economy, create thousands of jobs, free up scarce police resources and stop the unjust marijuana enforcement of our people.

“Increased tax revenues, job growth, and investment are powerful incentives to push for cannabis legalisation.”

In 2020, a referendum on cannabis took place in conjunction with the New Zealand general election.

It asked “Do you support the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill?” – 51.17 per cent voted against the referendum question, and 48.83 per cent voted in favour of the question, 1 per cent spoiled their ballot.

New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said part of the problem with the New Zealand referendum was the fact the question was “too specific”.

“The Government had put forward this comprehensive piece of legislation, but it got lost in the weeds when it came to the actual referendum vote,” Helm said.

“I think the question was a big strategic error, it would have been better to have had a question asking about decriminalisation or even asking whether a more health-based reform to cannabis laws were required.”

Helm said the organisation’s research shows that many people who voted no were actually in favour of some form of drug law reform.

“I think it’s inevitable that in New Zealand we will see some reform on the laws if not in this electoral term, then almost certainly the next,” Helm said.

“There’s been a growing move towards legalisation and decriminalisation of cannabis worldwide, from Malta to Mexico to Scandinavian countries, you have seen a move away from the war on drugs approach.”

Helm said while it was important that countries such as the Cook Islands had “their own bespoke laws” around drug policy, there was a lot of good work done by organisations such as the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

She said these organisations offer assistance and researched-based suggestions when it came to drug law reforms.

“There are some great guides out there which can help while also ensuring the law reform remains autonomous,” Helm said.

“But it’s up to the people of the Cook Islands to make the changes.”