Why raids are not OK
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Operation Lime - the nationwide police swoop on hydroponic-growing supply shops - was a big step backwards in drug reform and, given the timing of the raids, there is concern over the level of political motivation behind them.
Police say they spent two years in undercover work amassing evidence, but it is curious how they decided to bust 35 stores in the same week as J-Day, which is the local cannabis culture's biggest and most highly visible day of the year.
The raids also happened during the final week in which the general public got to make submissions for the Law Commission's Misuse of Drugs Act report. By a further quirk of apparent synchronicity, they also happened in the week in which the Law Commission's report suggesting a major tightening up of alcohol regulation was tabled in Parliament.
Police claim that the operation has broken the back of New Zealand's illegal cannabis industry, but that's stretching credibility a bit.
Thirty-five years of prohibition under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 has played a prime role in the development of what has since become a large, sophisticated and lucrative black market controlled by gangs.
The black market is simply far too entrenched and resilient to be knocked back by raids on some grow shops; and besides, the small number of weapons and other drugs found in the nationwide bust suggest that the growing operations uncovered were, individually, quite small and not gang-affiliated.
Those hardest hit - besides the staff of Switched on Gardener, et al, their spouses and their children - will be the average Kiwi smoker with a small wardrobe garden going because he or she prefers not to be involved in a black market associated with potentially dangerous people.
A lot of these grow-your- own-at-home types are medical cannabis users - some of the most vulnerable members of society who are intent on making their lives safer by staying away from tinny shops.
The Law Commission refers to such level of involvement in cannabis growing as social supply and draws a distinction between this and commercial or large-scale supply. That's significant because in the paper Regulating and Controlling Drugs, one of the Commissioner's recommendations calls for an end to the criminalisation of people who grow for themselves and a few friends.
Evidence now suggests that police crackdowns aimed at stopping trade in illegal drugs actually have the opposite effect to that intended.
A World Health Organisation study established that countries with get-tough policies, notably the United States and New Zealand, now lead the rest of the world in rates of cannabis use.
This year, an international review by the Canada-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) of 20 years of research into drug enforcement found that the imprisonment of dealers and criminal bosses actually leads to greater drug-related violence.
Vacuums in the black market are rapidly filled by competitors eager to fight each other for the newly vacated territory.
The ICSDP meta-analysis of 15 separate reports on the relationship between violence and drug enforcement found that 87 per cent of studies reported that police seizures and arrests led directly to increased violence.
The policy of prohibition rests on the assumption that law-enforcement efforts to reduce the availability of drugs by increasing prices and decreasing supplies also have the effect of reducing violence.
But this is a myth. Not only has prohibition been found to be ineffective with regard to supply, the ICSDP study shows how significant a role it plays in the causation of violence.
As for price, prohibition drives the street value of drugs up astronomically, creating lucrative markets and allowing gangs to become stronger, more organised and able to expand into both the production and distribution of P.
Evidence now suggests that any disruption of drug markets through drug-law enforcement has the perverse effect of creating more financial opportunities for organised crime groups.
Despite an ever-expanding budget, police have failed to stop the availability and use of illegal drugs in New Zealand. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that our elected leaders learn to accept the folly of this path and introduce a policy of controlled legalisation instead.
Why we continue allowing organised criminal gangs to decide where, when, to whom and at what price illegal drugs get sold in New Zealand is a question worthy of deep consideration.
Wouldn't it be wiser to legalise and regulate all drugs by introducing a sliding scale of controls, ranging from membership of Dutch coffee- shop-style premises for the sale of cannabis, to licensed pharmacies selling stronger drugs on prescription?
It appears we have a government in denial of the negative impact of a prohibition-based drugs culture. What other local industry worth many millions (if not billions) of dollars each year is left in the hands of organised criminals rather than being taxed and properly controlled?
* Stephen McIntyre is the Auckland spokesman for National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml NZ).
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Cannibis should be legalised IMMEDIATELY, take it out of the hands of criminal gangs!
Alcohol does FAR more damage than weed, and yet its legal??????
Clint #99 - good call. To those few who seem to think that re-legalizing Cannabis use will bring forth "paranoid, dull-witted dopers & increased numbers of schizophrenics stumbling down the street." - I cant take that comment seriously because we already have an estimated 400,000 regular Cannabis users in NZ, so presumably these people are already out on our streets, the majority of whom seem to go about their daily routines without causing any harm to others. These same people pay taxes, are loving parents, productive workers and want to continue along those lines without having to deal with the hypocrisy and organised misinformation - some may call mischevious meddling - that is the current situation in The Land Of The Long White Cloud. If the financial affairs of the hardcore of anti-cannabis campaigners/groups were thoroughly investigated would we find vested interests (Hospitality industry, Tobacco industry, Pharmaceutical industry etc) that stand to lose profits from a re-legalised Cannabis industry pulling the strings? In my opinion - yes.
Gravey #106
Sorry Gravey but you can't have it both ways. You claim that marijuana is illegal and that's that. Yet you seem to accept that the law banning homosexual contact an example of a stupid laws that citizens have every right to ignore. You find differences but there are also similarities - they are both "victimless crimes".
As for facing the consequences, bring it on. I would welcome the Police being stripped of their discretion to prosecute under this law so we can see what happens when the courts are clogged up with everyone actually caught breaking this law.
I have a vested interest as this law make me a criminal. On that basis I have every right to engage in this debate and you utterly fail to convince me otherwise.
In fact, this law is the only thing that makes me a criminal. I have a job, pay my taxes, don't steal, fight, or break any other law. That is the case with the vast majority of piot users.
"Will legalising marijuana act as a precendent for legalising other drugs?" There are already plenty of legal drugs. It's a matter of where you draw the line and I say alcohol is a more harmful drug than pot so pot should be moved to the same side of that line.
"No they haven't" Now you are being deliberately obtuse. The marijuana laws are responsible for making a weed worth lots of money. People kill for that money...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3292462/Killer-protests-innocence-on-way-to-cells
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/295164
There have also been incidents of police falling out of helicopters looking for the stuff and that has to be one of the most tragic ways to lose a member of the police force. Noone has died from marijuana poinsoning or overdosed on the stuff because it is not humanly possible.
You do seem to be going out of your way to make this more complicated than it need be. It's quite simple really. Treat it the same as alcohol. Legal to use. Legal to grow your own. Restricted commercial availability. Heavy duties on what is purchased commercially. Heavy penalties for selling without paying the duty.
Let's do it.
I'd rather be a stoner than an alcoholic!
@Gravey: Law enforcement officers have alot of leeway in how they treat cannabis so these raids don't even seem to be a good example of the Nuremburg defence. But then, I'm not a legal, medical or social expert, just your average Joe, so I have no part in the discussion...
But even I can see some simple reasons decriminalising cannabis would be a good idea and anyone with google can drum up a ton of info in ten seconds flat. eg http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3381
"The primary element to the discussion on cannabis is a public health and public safety one. As I said, the public acceptability of legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco is on the wane."
These are the two best things you said. I'm not so sure about the booze part of your assertion though, sure we're all sick of the damage it does and the dollars it costs us but, as the Nats well recognise, it's still very much a part of our culture and a political no go zone for centrist parties.
"The arguments for de-criminalising cannabis are not in the least helped by the level of argument expressed here." This also a reasonable comment, but then you have to remember that any issue has advocates who aren't as loquacious as some and really, I think many of the comments here are much more astute than, for example, what passes as a reasoned arguement at my local pub or in a televised political debate.
@Rex: Watery meat sauce. LOL. Never heard that before. May I suggest you add a little cornflour if your gravy is watery. Or some Creme of Chicken soup works well.
It isn't mis-spelled. My handle means something else altogether.
My point in this is simple. The current law is quite clear, and people who whine about how they are hard done by and how their families will suffer because they got caught don't get any sympathy from me. Like I said, they know they were doing something illegal. They need to face up to the consequences.
Your reference to homosexual law reform is easily answered. I always was a supporter of the law reform. However, that is not my point. My point is that if someone does something illegal and gets caught, they have to face the consequences. As distasteful as it may be, doing something illegal places you at the mercy of those responsible for enforcing the law.
The homosexual law reform is slightly different. You don't have dealers in gay. It's not a commodity. Nor is it a drug.
Whether the law is just or valid is another point altogether. And as I have been saying, people with a vested interest really shouldn't get involved in the decision-making process. Their input is naturally tainted. This applies equally to any vehement anti-marijuana campaigners.
Debate on whether something currently illegal should be legalised is a significant issue, one that requires debate by social policy and public law specialists. Not by people with a simplistic "let's just make it legal and maybe regulate and tax it" argument.
I can see arguments for legalising marijuana. But I can also see pitfalls. I find fault with the argument that making it legal will mean that the gangs won't control it anymore. Gangs and the criminal underworld also run legitimate businesses. If they have already cornered the market, making it legal will probably just allow them to come out from the dark.
Once you open the debate on legalising one drug, you risk it being extended to others. How far do you take it? Will legalising marijuana act as a precendent for legalising other drugs? It far more complicated than most people seem to be making out.
"Please rebut this: The marijuana laws have killed more people than marijuana itself." Really simple. "No they haven't". Give me evidence to support your argument, and I will then consider a proper rebuttal.
I do apologise for calling you a prat, but I really do feel it was a prattish thing to say.
For what it's worth, I do think the law around marijuana should be at least relaxed. Exactly how it should be done, and how far, I don't know. I do know there are people in this country who are specialised in this area who ought to have the primary input into the decision.
Brilliant article. This is how it should be.
I agree rex, People do not realise the seriousness of this debate. Uneducated anti cannabis people do not realise that there are people who like smoking cannabis and do not drink, these people do not like going to gang houses to buy pot, so they grow there own. Then they get caught and put through the horrible court system and ultimately jail. They are seen as criminals, when in fact the reason they were growing there own cannabis in the first place was so they did not have to associate with criminals.
Alan #87 wrote: "I am sorry but just because it it legal and monitored doesn't mean it isn't going to end up in the hands of kids. Have you driven around South Auckland lately where almost every kid over the age of 12 is either drinking or smoking cigarettes, two regulated industries."
I agree.
When dangerous drugs are legally available AND THEN ACTIVELY PUSHED TO PEOPLE in the form of open displays, sponsorships and public advertising, we should expect to see glaring examples of misuse like this.
Drugs (whether medicinal or recreational) never need be pushed on people. Drugs sell themselves.
A realistic and sensible national drug policy wouldn't distinguish between legal and illegal substances because of the inherent folly in doing so. In a pragmatic approach, drugs would be categorised individually by their level of usefullness balanced against their capacity for harm.
No drug - alcohol, cannabis, prozac, panadeine, cigarettes - should be publicly advertised or promoted. Cigarettes most certainly should not be on open display or should be confined to adults-only Tobacconist shops.
In Holland, where cannabis has been sold to adults-only in coffee-shops for 35 years now, it is illegal to advertise or display canabis outside the shop. Shops must also conform to a policy of R-18 entry and no public nuisance; breaches resulting in a shop losing its shop's operating license.
With the Law Commission's review of the Miususe of Drugs Act currently underway, New Zealand faces the rare opportunity of starting afresh, with an entirely modern approach to drug policy.
History continues to prove the abject failure of criminalising ordinary people for using drugs. We can regulate and control all drugs (including alcohol and tobacco)in a far more sucessful manner than this.
Public submissions to the Law Commission now close May 14th. To have your say go to: http://talklaw.co.nz/talkdrugs
http://talklaw.co.nz/talkdrugs
(i.e. alcohol publicly - on TV, in magazines, on billboards, at sports matches, etc, or tobacco - right in front of you at the counter on open display in dairies, gas stations and supermarkets), then
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the idea that i can buy cigs and beer from most corner stores these days and yet to get a 1 joint, i'd have to go to some seedy dealer which could get me arrested.
It's backwards.