CANNABIS USE 'HIGHER HERE THAN IN JAMAICA'

CANNABIS use was higher in New Zealand than in Jamaica, the world's
"cannabis capital", a parliamentary inquiry into control of the drug heard
yesterday.

Arguments for and against decriminalisation dominated submissions to the
multi-party health committee on the first day of hearings.

The inquiry will look at ways to minimise the harm caused by cannabis, and
to make recommendations on its future legal status.

Witnesses as varied as Rastafarian Green MP Nandor Tanczos and teetotal
grandmother Ngaire Pryde, of Khandallah, spoke against continued prohibition.

Green Party research adviser Roland Sapsford told the committee that
despite prohibition, cannabis use in New Zealand was twice the recorded
rate in Jamaica -- proof prohibition did not work, he said.

Studies had shown that 52 per cent of New Zealanders aged between 15 and 45
had used cannabis.

Mrs Pryde, a 72-year-old former schoolteacher, said prohibition exposed
adolescents to a climate of fear, which should be avoided.

Opponents, including the Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools
and drug and alcohol support group WellTrust, argued against decriminalisation.

WellTrust clinical manager Darrell Hinga said young people were already
escaping prosecution for drug offences. None of his clients had ever been
prosecuted because police were not pursuing them, he said.

Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools chief executive Patrick
Lynch said cannabis robbed students of ambition and capacity to learn.

The Pharmaceutical Society, which represents pharmacists, supported laws
that would allow therapeutic use of cannabis. Research was showing cannabis
had convincing medical benefits, particularly in preventing nausea during
cancer therapies, treating glaucoma, pain relief and easing muscle spasms,
chemical toxicology lecturer Nerida Smith said.

"At the moment we could certainly tell people about the therapeutic uses of
cannabis but we certainly can't recommend it because we wouldn't be able to
recommend a supplier."

National health spokesman Roger Sowry branded the hearing a sham yesterday,
saying Labour had agreed to it as part of the price of keeping Green Party
support for the Government. But Labour MP Steve Chadwick denied any such deal.

The committee is expected to finish hearing submissions by July and report
back before Christmas. More submissions will be heard next Wednesday.