The Wire with Joel

US President Biden announced last Friday he would be pardoning thousands of cannabis possession charges, signalling a change of course in drug policy from the home of the War on Drugs, and a path towards decriminalisation of cannabis in the States. 

Cannabis has been completely banned in Aotearoa since 1961 after the signing of the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a treaty pushed heavily by the US. Between 1980 and 2022, over 120,000 people have been convicted of cannabis use or possession. In the wake of Biden’s announcement, the New Zealand Drug Foundation has renewed calls for reform and launched a petition calling on the government to decriminalise cannabis and pardon possession charges.

Spike Keith spoke to New Zealand Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm about the effects of cannabis criminalisation here, and what decriminalisation would look like.

Announcements that government finances are in a healthier state than expected have renewed calls from National and ACT to implement tax cuts.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Wednesday that books are better thanks to higher taxes and lower spending on Covid-19 support. 

A large reason why the government has received more income from taxes is due to revitalisations in the economy seeing more income gained from the goods and services tax.

Regardless, the opposition parties have stated that high taxes are a major contributor to New Zealand's ongoing cost of living crisis. 

These calls came days after the United Kingdom had been put through economic turmoil after prime minister Liz Truss called for tax cuts for the rich, seeing the pound reach a record low value against the dollar. 

This, alongside other factors, has caused Labour and Green to call the concept of tax cuts absurd. 

Liam had a chat to Green Party finance spokesperson Julie Anne Genter and ACT Party Leader/finance spokesperson David Seymour about their opinions on cutting back taxes, but first they spoke to University of Canterbury economics and taxation professor Adrian Sawyer to help frame the conversation. 

The tide of the war in Ukraine has turned and Russia forces are currently on the retreat across the Eastern part of Ukraine.

During the recent ceremonies announcing the illegal annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Vladimir Putin promised to defend these areas “by any means necessary” 

Many analysts think that may include nuclear weapons.

David spoke to Waikato University Professor Alexander Gillespie about whether Putin is serious and what would happen if he does use them.

Welcome to the Thursday Wire! 

This week on the show Stella speaks to geopolitical analyst from The Democracy Project, Geoffrey Miller, about Aotearoa’s formal response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine. We’ve got our regular segment with Andrew Little brought to us by Tuva’a. Stella speaks to Annie West, a doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland about her research on Kākāpō gut microbiomes. Stella also speaks to Cate Macinnis-Ng  about her co authorship of a new study showing that termites may play a pivotal role in climate change. Finally, News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins speaks to Auckland Transport Metro Services Manager Derek Koper about filling bus driver shortages in preparation for Auckland's rail network rebuild.