Dear Editor: Genesis: In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

On the second day of creation, God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant bears seed, (pakalolo).God saw how good it was. God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.

Humans have used Pakalolo for at least 12, 00 years.

The first documented case of its use dates back to 2800 BC

Up until the early 20th century, pakalolo was legal. What happened? Why pakalolo was made illegal? The short answer is racism.

At the turn of the 20th century, cannabis-as it was commonly known in the US-was legal in the US. With the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, however, many Mexicans began moving to the US, and they brought their tradition of smoking marijuana, that is where the word marijuana came from, the Mexicans. Amid a growing fear of Mexican immigrants, hysterical claims about the drug began to circulate, such as allegations that it caused a "lust for blood". In addition, the term cannabis was largely replaced by the word marijuana, which was done to promote the foreignness of the drug and stoke xenophobia.

(Xenophobia: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners).

The Americans made the Mexicans out to be "racially inferior" to them and mounted a campaign linking the Mexicans use of marijuana with violence,crime and other socially deviant behaviour.

The time has come in this nation to stand up as Christians to recognise that God made pakalolo for us to enjoy because he said he found it very good and it's also time to put an end to the phony hysteria that the racist Americans created around the use of pakalolo,let's fear God and put an end to the anti-God stigmintation of pakalolo.

I propose the following for the decriminalisation of pakalolo:

And when I say decriminalise pakalolo,I mean,no arrest,prison time,or criminal record,and,most offenses are treated like a minor traffic violation.

Ending Cook Islands Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2025.

• Eliminate marijuana as a controlled substance under the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004.
• Eliminate marijuana from all provisions setting-forth penalties  regarding marijuana under the 2004 Act.
• Prohibit all importation and exportation of marijuana,everyone who contravenes this provision commits an offense against the Act and is liable on conviction to a fine up to $1,000, excepting the provisions set forth in the Narcotics Amendment Regulations 2024 for importation.
• Every person commits an offense and is liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding $50 for possessing any amount of marijuana.
• Every person commits an offense and is liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding $50 for cultivating any amount of marijuana.
• Every person commits an offense and is liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding $50 who supplies or sells marijuana.
• Every person who commits an offense and is liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 and not less than $1,000 who sells or supplies to any minor.

Steve Boggs