Pubdate: Mon, 14 Feb 2011
Source: Press, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2011 Fairfax New Zealand Limited
Contact:  http://www.press.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/349
Author: Stephen McIntyre
Note: Stephen McIntyre is the president of the National Organisation 
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML NZ).
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?251 (Cannabis - New Zealand)

DRUG PROHIBITION NOT SOLVING ANYTHING

Illegal drugs make gangs bigger, richer and stronger, and overseas 
evidence shows that increasing law enforcement only inflates the 
situation, argues STEPHEN McINTYRE. He says drug prohibition is at 
the root of the problem, and drugs should be regulated instead.

Police claims they have "smashed" attempts by Australian motorcycle 
gang the Rebels to set up shop and trade methamphetamine in New 
Zealand invoke memories of George W Bush years ago announcing 
"mission accomplished" in Iraq.

The war on drugs - like the Iraq conflict - continues to drag on, 
seemingly into perpetuity.

New Zealand police admit that, at best, they only ever intercept 
between 10 and 20 per cent of all drugs trafficked in the country, so 
this latest round of busts won't change a thing.

Speaking on Radio New Zealand several weeks ago, Canterbury 
University gang researcher Jarrod Gilbert said there was probably 
little authorities could now do to stop the Rebels group expanding here.

Gangs that gain power through violence and drug trafficking love 
prohibition because it's good for business and helps make them powerful.

Pragmatically, the fastest way to reduce a gang's ability to do this 
is by ending the laws that allow it to happen.

Prohibition works like steroids on organised crime groups, making for 
a potentially lethal combination that New Zealand doesn't need. Last 
year, the International Center for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) 
found that, contrary to expectation, drug prohibition contributes to 
drug- market violence and higher rates of gun violence.

The report Effects of Drug Law Enforcement on Drug-Related Violence 
concluded that: "From an evidence-based public policy perspective and 
based on several decades of available data, the existing evidence 
strongly suggests that drug-law enforcement contributes to gun 
violence and high homicide rates and that increasingly sophisticated 
methods of disrupting organisations involved in drug distribution 
could unintentionally increase violence.

"Since drug prohibition has not achieved its stated goal of reducing 
drug supply, alternative models for drug control might need to be 
considered if drug-related violence is to be meaningfully reduced."

If the Rebels are involved in making and trafficking of illegal 
drugs, then it's no surprise they see our country as ripe for the 
picking: 400,000 adult Kiwis are current users of cannabis. In 
addition, New Zealand has the highest teenage drug use in the world - 
one result of our criminalisation policy that prohibits but does not prevent.

As any alcohol marketing executive well knows, the teenage market is 
the ripest of them all; so if the Rebels consider our country a great 
business opportunity, then all thanks to prohibition.

Were our Government serious about keeping overseas organised crime 
out, it would regulate and control drugs rather than make them illegal.

The alternative - maintaining the prohibition status quo - is truly 
worrying. According to the ICSDP: "Research has shown that by 
removing key players from the lucrative illegal drug market, drug law 
enforcement may have the perverse effect of creating significant 
financial incentives for other individuals to fill this vacuum by 
entering the market."

New Zealand's drug markets are not new; they are well- established. 
Gilbert warned that rival gangs could be drawn into turf wars as the 
Rebels take their share of what's already here.

Police Minister Judith Collins should look at Mexico for a terrible 
example of turf warfare over drugs. Last year, there were 12,000 
deaths there related to turf wars and government attacks on traffickers.

Recently, the former President of Mexico, Vincente Fox, called for 
the legalisation and regulation of the cannabis market, as an 
alternative to the appalling carnage in his country.

New Zealand's national drug policy rests on "three pillars" of harm 
minimisation: demand reduction, supply control, and problem limitation.

Given our high drug-use rates, demand reduction clearly isn't 
working. Police put their focus on reducing supply, but admit the 
drugs seized are only a fraction of what is produced.

Their attempts remain a perpetual game of cat and mouse, demanding 
greater time and resources, which must be pulled away from other crime.

In stark contrast, overseas experience demonstrates that policies 
that reverse prohibition are effective in reducing demand for drugs - 
particularly among young people.

In Portugal, where it hasn't been a crime to possess small amounts of 
any drug for personal use since 2001, drug use has declined 25 per 
cent among 13 to 15-year-olds, and 22 per cent among 16 to 18-year-olds.

In New Zealand between 1998 and 2001, the number of 15 to 
17-year-olds who admitted using cannabis 10 or more times a month 
increased 300 per cent.

A year ago, Prime Minister John Key told Paul Holmes: "I don't think 
you can eradicate drugs from your community . . . any politician who 
tells you they can do that is either being dishonest or a bit deluded."

Key is absolutely right, and the Government needs to understand that 
a regulated, adults-only, taxable market for cannabis and other 
low-risk drugs is the safest alternative for our future. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom