Pubdate: Mon, 23 Sep 2013
Source: Press, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2013 Fairfax New Zealand Limited
Contact:  http://www.press.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/349

DECRIMINALISE CANNABIS AND STOP WASTING POLICE TIME - EX-OFFICER

A former senior New Zealand detective serving prison time in the Cook 
Islands for cannabis offences says the drug should be decriminalised 
because police are wasting money and resources chasing social users.

Former Detective Inspector Mark Franklin admitted during an interview 
with Fairfax Media at Arorangi Prison in Rarotonga that he had used 
cannabis throughout his police career to relieve stress.

He continued to use the drug in Rarotonga after he was diagnosed with 
cancer, as it was the only thing that helped with nausea.

Although Franklin said he did not condone young people using 
cannabis, he believed that adults should be free to make their own 
choice. He claimed that many New Zealand police officers felt the 
same way, and that they had better things to be investigating.

Franklin was arrested in 2011 after a sting operation caught him 
providing "tinnies" to an undercover police officer. Franklin said he 
was "pestered" by the officer until he finally relented and sourced 
some cannabis for him.

The Cook Islands has much harsher sentences for cannabis than New 
Zealand, and Franklin received a year's jail after pleading guilty.

"I look at the effects of alcohol and cigarette smoking  the damage 
caused by those two things far outweighs issues around cannabis," 
Franklin said.

"Certainly the suggestion of kids being involved is off the radar 
completely, but I think if you are a mature adult then you should be 
able to make a decision as to what you do, whether it's alcohol or 
tobacco, your sexuality, your religion.

"There's been a battle against cannabis ever since the 60s and you've 
got to ask yourself, is it really working? It's a health issue and to 
me it should be dealt with as one."

Franklin said New Zealand and Cook Islands police had spent a huge 
amount of time, money and resources on the operation that caught him 
and 12 others, when most of the offenders were social users.

Cook Islands Police Commissioner Maara Tetava said he did not want to 
comment on Franklin's claims while his sentence was under appeal.

"That investigation was a joint investigation between ourselves and 
the New Zealand police . . . and the results speak for themselves, 
I'll say no more."

Franklin's lawyer, Tony Manarangi, was damning of the police 
operation and said Cook Islands drug laws were decades behind the times.

"It's madness. People shouldn't go to jail for being pestered by an 
undercover cop and cracking under the pressure."

Former senior police officer Harry Quinn, who helped establish the 
organised crime unit in New Zealand, said adult cannabis users should 
receive cautions and warnings in a "three strikes" system.

"While I was in charge of the organised crime unit, they had to get 
signed permission from me to run an operation against cannabis users 
because there are far more important things for them to be doing."

Fairfax NZ
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