Pubdate: Sat, 23 Jul 2011
Source: Rotorua Daily Post (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2011 Rotorua Daily Post.
Contact: http://www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz/feedback/letters-to-the-editor/
Website: http://www.rotoruadailypost.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2785
Author: Kim Gillespie
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

UPPING THE ANTE FOR DRUG DEALERS

There's probably something ironic about being sentenced to home 
detention when your home has been confiscated.

That's what has happened to a Rotorua man, who with his former 
partner was sentenced yesterday on cannabis charges.

The pair forfeited their home to the Crown - a Rotorua first - after 
it was used to cultivate enough cannabis to make up to $102,000.

Police say it should serve as a warning to others who deal in drugs.

It's certainly a serious penalty for a crime that didn't seem to 
warrant a jail sentence - the Hamurana home is valued at between 
$270,000 and $305,000 - and could well serve as the deterrent the 
authorities want it to be.

Certainly the threat of prison and being kept away from family and 
friends doesn't seem to be enough of a deterrent itself for the 
thousands of criminals getting caught and making their way through 
the justice system.

Losing one's freedom may seem a risk worth taking, but throwing in 
the possibility of losing what is for many their greatest possession 
may just convince a few that a life in drugs just isn't worth it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom