A professor of psychology and public health is joining a call to review the laws relating to cannabis.
Auckland's deputy mayor, Penny Hulse, has urged the city's council and the Government to discuss the idea of legalising the drug.
The dean of health and environmental sciences at the Auckland University of Technology, Max Abbott, says natural cannabis is safer than its synthetic versions and the adverse effects are minor compared with tobacco and alcohol.
Professor Abbott says he believes rather than reducing cannabis use, the existing law has had the opposite effect.
In addition it criminalises tens of thousands of young people, and one could argue that the consequences of being convicted and being processed by the criminal justice system is probably far more damaging than anything the drug itself does."
