Source: Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand) Section: Lead Editorial Contact: Website: http://www.evpost.co.nz/ Pubdate: Saturday, 4 April 1998 TWO DRUGS ARE QUITE ENOUGH The great dope debate smoulders on. This week’s report on marijuana law reforms by a group of New Zealand doctors and professionals has stirred the embers again in what’s become a long-running argument about whether it’s time this country addressed the issue of marijuana law reform. A report by an organisation calling itself the Drug Policy Forum Trust and recommending the Government regulate and tax cannabis was immediately dismissed by Associate Health Minister Roger Sowry, who said the paper failed to acknowledge the harmful effects of cannabis use. In the report, forum director Dr David Hadorn says New Zealand is one of the few countries not to review its drug laws in recent years, while attitudes toward cannabis were shifting worldwide. In Australia, he said, police had conceded laws weren’t working and the British House of Lords was launching an inquiry into the case for decriminalising cannabis. Meanwhile, California last year went a step further by introducing the controversial and virtually unenforceable Proposition 215, a law that enables doctors to prescribe marijuana use to ease the symptoms of a variety of illnesses including Aids, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. While there is mixed evidence about the effects of marijuana on people’s health, Mr Sowry is right to resist the decriminalisation lobby. Two legal drugs already do much damage in New Zealand communities, and Dr Hadorn is missing the point when he says the health effects of cannabis are no worse than those of alcohol or tobacco. New Zealand doesn’t need another. But the report is spot on when it makes the point that current laws haven’t reduced harmful drug use, whereas experience with tobacco use and drink-driving rates show social sanctions can work. The argument for a review of New Zealand drug laws is timely. Police don’t seem to be able to cope with the sheer volume of cannabis already available. In 1995-96, they seized more than 268,000 plants. Last year, faced with a $1.7 million cut in their drugs and anti-social offences budget, they recovered just over 98,000. Whatever the reason for the sharp decline, it’s clear police aren’t busting to make drug busts the way they used to. New Zealand’s courts system is already clogged with people on minor possession charges, while limited resources mean police are unable to make meaningful inroads into the hardened criminal element that grows, supplies and deals in drugs. Despite the Government’s understandable reluctance to decriminalise marijuana, there have been signs of political movement in the way the Government treats small-scale recreational drug users. Last year, Justice Minister Doug Graham raised the idea of instant fines, and Police Minister Jack elder suggested that people with minor drug convictions could have their record wiped after a suitable time. In its report, the trust estimated half of those aged 15-50 had tried marijuana. That’s a lot of smokers. If police arrested them all today, the courts would suddenly be faced with the unappetising prospect of turning about one million otherwise law-abiding Kiwis into instant criminals. Obviously, that’s neither practical nor realistic. If the Government is serious about stamping out widespread cannabis use it makes more sense to get tougher at the base of the dope mountain – by hitting the growers and suppliers – rather than ineffectually chipping away at the tip.