Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005 Allied Press Limited
Contact:  http://www.odt.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925
Author: Chris Trotter
Note: Chris Trotter is editor of the New Zealand Political Review.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

BILL A TOKEN GESTURE

"WELL, I suppose it's better than nothing, but it's nowhere near as radical 
as I was expecting." Such was the initial reaction of my friend from the 
foggy world of cannabis law reform when given the details of Nandor 
Tanczos's private member's Bill.

Presented as a "solution to the prohibition crisis", Nandor's Bill falls 
well short of the full legalisation of cannabis that many of his supporters 
were anticipating. What it does do is reduce the penalty for cultivating, 
possessing and using small quantities of cannabis from criminal conviction, 
fine and/or imprisonment (along with the record that entails) to the 
imposition of an instant $100 fine, much like a speeding ticket.

Intended to decriminalise rather than legalise cannabis, the Bill's 
principal effect would be to release cannabis users from the extremely 
serious consequences of their criminal convictions.

"Most New Zealanders recognise that a criminal record for the personal use 
of cannabis is a disproportionate punishment," says Nandor, "but many still 
want to retain a message that cannabis use is to be discouraged, 
particularly by young people. This Bill meets both of those objectives." 
Fair enough. But what puzzles my foggy friend and me is why any form of 
legal sanction should be imposed at all.

As an intoxicant, cannabis is considerably less harmful than either alcohol 
or tobacco. It is also a highly effective analgesic, one of only a handful 
of substances which actually work to ease the chronic pain of arthritis, MS 
and cancer sufferers.

"I remember the first time I got high on marijuana," mused my foggy friend. 
"My senses came alive. The whole world seemed, oh, I don't know, more 
tactile somehow, and more exquisitely rendered than it ever had before. I 
guess you could say that I experienced a sensory epiphany. And when the 
effect finally wore off, I knew that everything the straight world had told 
me about the drug was a lie."

And that of course is the problem. When the powers-that-be try to frighten 
young people out of experimenting with cannabis, they are doing them no 
favours. After all, the best statistical evidence suggests that close to 
half of the New Zealand population under 60 has, at the very least, tried 
the drug and lived to tell the tale. More than that, they have thrived, and 
today occupy positions of considerable influence and responsibility.

By overstating the potential for harm in cannabis use, antidrug campaigners 
run the risk of convincing young people that the potential for harm in 
cocaine, heroin and crystal methamphetamine is being similarly overstated. 
And the only outcome that criminalising cannabis can absolutely guarantee 
is that young people will be forced to associate with the very individuals 
who traffic in cocaine, heroin and crystal meth: criminals.

Would the world really come to an end if, alongside the tomato plants and 
runner beans in the backyard vegetable gardens of the nation, a handful of 
cannabis sativa plants lifted their resinous faces to the sun? Would 
society really be so much worse off if, instead of unwinding over a bottle 
of wine or a packet of cigarettes, New Zealand's mums and dads chose to 
suck in the water-chilled smoke of a hookah pipe, or to idly nibble their 
way through a hash cookie? And, if the pain in grandma's arthritic joints 
is eased more effectively by the THC in cannabis than it is by her 
prescription-only Cox2-inhibitors, why turn her into a criminal for 
imbibing the timehonoured herbal remedy?

We are told that we must wage a "war on drugs" (usually by the same sort of 
people who insist that we wage a "war on terrorism"), but what we are never 
told is what victory in their "war" would look like.

Well, let me give you a hint. It is a world in which parents make enemies 
out of their own children. It is a society in which some of the brightest 
and most creative minds of their generation are denied responsible 
employment and the right to travel abroad. It is a landscape studded with 
razorwire and cinder-block penitentiaries, where those too poor or too 
black to afford a good lawyer can languish for years at a time. It is a 
world in which hypocrisy waxes fat while honesty grows thin.

So, thanks Nandor, for striking out boldly towards some kind of sanity on 
this issue. And good on you for allowing the powerful currents of the 
"mainstream" to carry the Green waka forward. Just don't forget your 
ultimate destination, OK?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth