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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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NZ; OPED: Cannabis Policy Hauled Over Coals.
ccguide Friday 16 May 2003 Pubdate: Fri, 09 May 2003 Source: Southland Times (New Zealand) Copyright: 2003, Southland Times Company Ltd. Contact: Website: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1041 Author: Duncan Eddy CANNABIS POLICY HAULED OVER COALS While changes to cannabis laws are being implemented around the world, last year New Zealand's 47th government was founded on the basis of a 'no cannabis law reform' agreement. Dunedin law reform advocate Duncan Eddy, formerly of Invercargill, explains why he thinks New Zealand's current cannabis policy is a destructive farce. Cannabis prohibition hasn't prevented a large rise in the rate of cannabis use in this country over the past two decades. From 1990 to 1999, under an ardently prohibitionist National Government, the number of New Zealanders who would admit to smoking cannabis rose by 20%. Despite annual cannabis enforcement costs of over 20 million dollars, the New Zealand Police have been unable to stop a significant increase in pot smoking. Over 50% of New Zealanders will now admit to having tried pot. Research shows that New Zealand has the highest cannabis usage and cannabis arrest rate in the world. Prohibition clearly doesn't stop us from smoking cannabis, and it hampers efforts to administer effective harm reduction programs. A UMR insight survey carried out in August 2000 that found that 60% of New Zealanders supported a change in the current cannabis laws. Yet the support for the minority Labour government was based a pro prohibition agreement with Peter Dunnes United Future Party. This is a desperate last-ditch attempt on Dunnes part to prolong the existence of an unworkable, unpopular law that is long overdue for the scrap heap. The law is flawed, and has serious negative consequences in real peoples lives. Law change is inevitable, but for every day that the focus remains on arresting and punishing people, drug education and treatment will be obstructed and under funded, and good people's quality of life will be diminished by an unjust criminalisation. Our laws potentially criminalise half of New Zealand's population, merely for using cannabis, which according to a number of unlikely sources, including the National Government instigated 1998 Health Committee Enquiry, is far less damaging to New Zealand's people and society than alcohol or tobacco. This law creates far more harm than it prevents. Our parliamentarians should think of those who continue to suffer whilst they tip toe around the issue of introducing realistic cannabis policy. Internationally, cannabis law reform is on the increase. Countries including Belgium, Britain, Germany and Spain have rejected prohibition in pursuit of policies that support workable harm reduction approaches. The liberal Dutch have coupled a de facto cannabis legalisation with realistic education policies and the pay offs have been significant. Figures quoted in the December 1995 British Medical Journal shows a drop in cannabis use amongst Dutch 17-18 year olds from 13 percent in 1976 to 6 percent in 1985, following that country's change of approach. The most contentious topic in the cannabis debate is the issue of schoolchildren using cannabis. I believe that the interests of the school principals and the interests of the cannabis law reform supporter can both be achieved by a well thought out law change. Whilst cannabis remains in the underground, parents, schoolteachers, and youth workers cannot properly assess, understand or deal with cannabis use in teenagers. The criminal outlaw element of cannabis attracts at risk youth. Yet another reason to 'normalise' cannabis, putting it on a par with alcohol and tobacco, and removing its anti social glamour content. Cannabis abuse is a health issue and a community issue. It is best dealt with through education, youth workers, and the health sector. Under the current legislation, the response to cannabis abuse is focused on the ineffective and unjust attempts to enforce the prohibition. The police, courts and prisons get the lions share of the funding, so the community lacks the resources necessary to work through the issues related to cannabis abuse in any meaningful sense. The Mental Health Commission claims to need an estimated $48 million dollar funding increase to provide for the demand being placed on our country's drug and alcohol treatment services. It is a sad irony that the government spends about that much every year on police, courts and prisons enforcing the prohibition. The amount of money wasted on enforcing the drug laws is more than twice that spent on health care, and three times that spent on education. This approach to drug abuse is clearly wrong. Education should be the priority. Treatment should be second option. Criminalisation shouldn't even come into the picture at all. The prohibition is punishing adults and it isn't saving kids. Meanwhile, New Zealand Police admit that they are under increasing pressure, and the crime rate has increased. During 2002, 21,034 cannabis offences were recorded. Over the same period, the murder rate went up 31%, sex attacks were up 17% and robberies increased 11%. Serious crime is a serious matter, and I suggest the police should stop wasting their limited time and resources busting pot smokers. Society, community and family have an important role to play in providing our youth with good examples and safety networks. But with their capabilities to respond effectively to the reality of cannabis use in New Zealand severely limited by the prohibition, these 'protective associations' have failed to equip many young New Zealanders with the tools to minimise the harm related to cannabis use. The amount of regular users who experience problems with cannabis is reckoned to be about 10%. This suggests a far lower rate of cannabis abuse amongst adults than alcohol or tobacco abuse. Most people who do use cannabis do so moderately and responsibly, at least most of the time anyway! The state should not be tainting the people's quality of life via punishment and criminalisation. Considering that cannabis, after alcohol and tobacco, appears to be the third most popular drug of choice in this country, cannabis prohibition is clearly ineffective and unjust. But you don't have to approve of cannabis use to accept that the cannabis legislation should be reformed. Cannabis prohibition is unworkable and stands in the way of effective community based responses to the issues raised by drug use and abuse. The subject of Duncan Eddy's honours dissertation was an examination of the role and proper form of drug policy in a liberal society. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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