Pubdate: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) Copyright: 2000 New Zealand Herald Contact: PO Box 32, Auckland, New Zealand Fax: (09) 373-6421 Website: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ Forum: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/forums/ Author: Brandon Hutchison Note: Headline supplied by newshawk NAME REVELATION WAS WRONG The treatment by Judge Harvey of the now non-anonymous billionaire is similar in effect to that meted out to the numerous first offenders granted diversion - no conviction, no name published and a donation to a worthy cause. Only the scale of donation was different. Peter Lewis was rightly not convicted because the cannabis was for personal medical use, as laws in the United States have rightly allowed. It was just that his name was suppressed, as it should be for all those found innocent. Name suppression or not, this process was still visible and thus the public's right to know was not compromised. The newspaper crusade seeking to reveal this man's name was driven by ghoulish prurience, nothing to with anyone's right to know. It is rich for newspapers to claim moral high ground in this case while on other matters deliberately distorting or stifling debate or withholding information. The drug policy debate is a case in point. Dame Sian Elias, the Chief Justice, is plainly wrong when she says that Judge Harvey's decision was "plainly wrong" and her decision suggests that justice is confused even at the highest levels. Brandon Hutchison Christchurch - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst