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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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New Zealand: Further clampdown mooted on drug paraphernalia sales
Radio New Zealand
Thursday 17 Aug 2006 The government is to clamp down further on the sale of drug paraphernalia used for smoking cannabis and methampethamine. It follows an admission that the current law preventing the sale and importation of bongs and pipes is not working. A Radio New Zealand political reporter says many retailers and importers have found loopholes in the law and continued to sell drug utensils. Parliament enacted a law in 2003 with the specific goal of stopping the importation and sale of utensils used for smoking illegal drugs. New law needed However, the Minister Responsible for Drug Policy, Jim Anderton, says a new law is now needed. For example, he says the Courts have ruled under the current law that it is not actually illegal to display a pipe or bong. Mr Anderton says this means a shopkeeper actually has to be caught in the act of a sale, to be charged. Mr Anderton says some retailers have also been able to keep importing pipes and bongs by splitting them and selling them as individual items which can be reassembled. He says this also will be outlawed. However, Chris Fowley a spokesman for NORML, a group opposed to cannabis prohibition, says Mr Anderton is misguided and the law change smacks of the Government wanting to look tough on drugs. He says you cannot have a ban on pipes because it is impossible to define what they are. Ban on pipes seen as having little effect The Drug Foundation says it seems sensible to close the loopholes. However, Ross Bell from the foundation says banning pipes does little to stop people using cannabis and methampethamine. The new laws are likely to be drafted soon for inclusion in an omnibus bill that will go before Parliament later this year. However, Mr Anderton says a technicality of Parliament means that all parties must agree to the legislation before it can be included in the bill. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200608171409/1286cb0d
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