An estimated 400,000 Kiwis smoke cannabis despite it being illegal. With the Act Party calling for it to be decriminalised, Carly Gibbs looks at the debate for and against marijuana.

After taking a drag, holding it and exhaling, grey smoke builds and weaves its way into the lungs, and a feeling of relaxation takes over.

For Tom Moss, a cannabis smoker, a feeling of creativity also sets in.

From his blue and white bus, Moss creates art when he's stoned.

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Schools follow 'strict guidelines'

The dog was great but when it's not available we can't use it, but we can revert back to pretty strict guidelines.

A ban on police dogs searching schools for drugs will not affect Southland - because the searches aren't carried out here.

Since the retirement of the last Invercargill-based drug dog 18 months ago, no school visits have been done.

Searches, with consent from schools, were common practice for more than a decade across Southland.

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The responses from John Key and Simon Bridges to Don Brash's comments on decriminalising cannabis have certainly been emotive.

John Key: "There's no place for drugs in our society. We've got to stand up and say we don't want drugs."

I would note that the Prime Minister likes wine and has personally blocked any moves to restrict access to it, or put the price up.

Mr Bridges has also revealed himself a prohibitionist - at least as far as cannabis goes.

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Mark Twain is reputed to have said: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." With respect to the legislation on cannabis, history is coming eerily close to outright repetition.

In the United States, an attempt was made early last century to curb alcohol consumption by prohibiting its production, sale and distribution. The effect was a massive upsurge in organised crime and violence, with little effect on consumption. After more than a decade of this stupidity, Prohibition was discontinued.

One would like to think that our politicians had read some history, but it appears most have not. We are making the same mistake with cannabis.

Martin Hanson

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King's College went into "lockdown" this week with sniffer dogs searching the school boarding houses.

A concerned parent, of two boys at the school, told the Herald on Sunday parents raised concerns at a meeting on Tuesday night.

"Out of that came the decision to have the school go into lockdown mode on Wednesday morning. Dogs were sent in to search every inch of the school. Parents had no notification," said the parent, who asked not to be named.

"Parents are paying enormous fees and you cannot get anything out of the school - you have to rely on your children for information," she said.

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It's worth doing as a step to ensure our school remains drug free and a safe place for kids to come to - Rector Ken McLeod,

Lindisfarne CollegeAt least one Hawke's Bay school will continue to do random drug sniffer dog searches, despite a national police decision to halt the practice.

Rector at Lindisfarne College Ken McLeod said the searches were an effective deterrent for drugs, and a private company with sniffer dogs was employed regularly at the decile 10 integrated school.

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Manawatu schools will continue to use sniffer dogs despite a move by police to stop random drug-dog searches in schools.

After changes to the Education Ministry's search and seizure of drugs and weapons guidelines in August, police have been legally advised to stop carrying out random sniffer-dog drug searches in schools.

A police spokeswoman said the advice from lawyers was that a "generalised search for the purposes of gathering evidence for prosecution is unlawful", which meant unless police had sufficient evidence to gain a search warrant from the courts they would not take sniffer-dogs into schools for random searches.

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When Don Brash seized the leadership of Act, it was expected to be the prelude to a return to the party's founding principles. A raft of policies emphasising individual freedom, personal responsibility, lower taxes and limited government spending was anticipated. Indeed, as much is needed if Act is to have a chance of winning back many disillusioned voters and returning anything like its current crop of five MPs at the general election. Nothing like this has happened, however. Instead, there has been a policy initiative from Dr Brash that smacks more of opportunism than principle.

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Act leader Don Brash wants the use of cannabis decriminalised, saying too much valuable police time is taken up enforcing a law that is flouted by about 400,000 people a year.

"I'm haunted by the thought that all that police time and all those police resources could be better deployed in actually keeping us safe from real criminals intent on harming us," he said in Pakuranga yesterday.

But instead, the law made criminals of 400,000 New Zealanders who were harming no one except arguably themselves "which is their prerogative in a free society".

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Act leader Don Brash is calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis.

He says prohibition of the drug hasn't worked, and policing it costs millions of tax payer dollars and clogs up the court system.

He's told TVNZ's Q&A programme there are other ways to restrict the use of marijuana.

"It's estimated thousands of New Zealanders use cannabis on a fairly regular basis, 6,000 are prosecuted every year, a $100million of tax payers money is spent to police this law," says My Brash.

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Addiction treatment services are raising the alarm about a proposal to penalise welfare beneficiaries who refuse to undergo drug tests or addiction treatment.

The proposal, by the Government's Welfare Working Group led by economist Paula Rebstock, aims to tackle drug and alcohol addictions as one of the main barriers keeping many beneficiaries out of paid work.

Thousands of young people, in particular, are being shut of of jobs because they are failing - or avoiding - drug tests.

But the NZ Drug Foundation says the proposal to chop people's benefits if they don't undergo drug tests or treatment is "driven by ideology" and "not supported by the scientific evidence".

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The Drug Foundation is disappointed the Government has rejected calls to carry out medicinal cannabis trials but says the door remains open for pharmaceutical companies to run their own tests.

The Government yesterday released its response to the Law Commission's May report on drug laws which contained 144 recommendations.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said the Government agreed the 1975 Misuse of Drugs Act needed to be rewritten and that task would be undertaken by the incoming government because it was important the issues were not rushed.

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Cannabis law reformers are touring the country spreading their message and will be in Northland for four days next month.

The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party started its nationwide Cannabis Truth Roadshow in Levin yesterday and will visit most towns and cities across the country in the lead up to the November 26 general election.

The roadshow, which is also being promoted by National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and GreenCross Medicinal Cannabis Support Group, will visit Matthews Ave, Kaitaia on October 6; Marsden Rd, Paihia on October 7 and Quayside, Whangarei on October 8. The roadshow may also hold a seminar on medicinal marijuana use in Whangarei on October 9 if there is enough interest.

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Vulnerable areas in Dunedin will be the focus of the newly formed Proactive Policing Teams, which attracted nationwide interest for their work on synthetic cannabis products.

Yesterday, Southern District Superintendent Bob Burns praised the work of the teams, formed following restructuring and a move towards preventive police work.

"It is a way of changing how we think about crime.

"Instead of thinking about individual instances that need to be investigated, it is about starting to look at the crime and asking why it occurred in the first place."

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"Negative publicity" about ketamine meant a trial of the drug on depressed cancer sufferers stopped recruiting participants for more than a month, Dunedin Hospital medical oncologist Dr David Perez says.

"It was halted for new participants because of the negative publicity around the drug at the time, not because of any doubts about the study itself," Dr Perez, a trial co-investigator, said.

So far, only one person is taking part.

The trial, which fully resumed last week, is testing ketamine's effectiveness in relieving depression in people with advanced cancer.

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A pregnant woman who set up drug deals from a hospital maternity ward has been charged by police as part of a week-long blitz on drug houses in the Waikato.

Police raided 17 properties in the crackdown on drug-dealing houses and the organised crime groups who run them.

Children were found at some of the houses raided by police and three referrals have been made to Child, Youth and Family.

Police made 12 arrests during the raids, including the pregnant woman whom they allege had been making drug deals while in hospital for ante-natal treatment.

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The law forcing retailers to take synthetic cannabis off the shelves has come into force, but at least one Invercargill retailer was still selling it to customers yesterday.

A Southland Times reporter was able to buy a small bag of Purple Haze for $20 from Invercargill shop Impuls'd yesterday - two days after retailers were meant to have pulled synthetic cannabis products from their shelves.

The Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill, which came into effect on Wednesday, has taken Kronic and other synthetic cannabis products off the market for 12 months while the Government works on its detailed response to the Law Commission's recent report into the drug.

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Fingerprints found in a cannabis growing operation were not enough to convict a man accused of cultivating cannabis.

A jury found William Arthur Davidson, 28, not guilty on the charge in the Palmerston North Court yesterday.

Aaron Campbell previously admitted to growing the crop, after a police search which found 407 plants in a Linton house last year.

A shotgun was also discovered at the Hewitts Rd address during the drugs operation between April and August 2010.

Judge Les Atkins said defence lawyer Jacinda Younger argued that Davidson's fingerprints were left at the address after he helped Campbell move some items to the address.

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The countdown to any general election often elicits behaviour one wouldn't usually expect from those wanting us to entrust them with running the country. But in the world of politics, sometimes it is a case of anything goes in a vain attempt to raise their public profile.

It can be a tough balancing act between trying to gain a foothold by earning some "street cred" and looking like a fool and losing credibility as a serious candidate.

So, what to make then of Peter Dunne's admission he smoked cannabis?

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Kronic and other synthetic cannabis will be pulled from New Zealand shelves within weeks - but manufacturers claim the move to ban their products is short-sighted and will be futile.

Urgent legislation going before Parliament today will allow all 43 current synthetic cannabis products to be classed as "temporary controlled drugs" and withdrawn from sale.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne will have the power to place products in the category, which would ban them for 12 months.

During that time, a product would be assessed by a committee - appointed by Mr Dunne - which would judge whether it was safe to be sold.

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