YOUNG FOLK SAY NO TO CANNABIS LEGISLATION

Young people voted no to cannabis legislation at Youth Parliament yesterday.

Tensions ran high as the cannabis (partial decriminalisation for personal
use) mock bill was voted down 69-47.

Though the youth select committee into the bill had advised youth MPs to
abstain from voting, only three chose to.

The most passionate speech came from West Auckland youth MP Vanessa Mulu,
who was given a standing ovation.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out if you give them an inch, they'll
take a mile," she said in opposition to the bill.

"Just because other countries do, it doesn't mean we've got to jump into the
lake with the rest of these lemmings and do it too."

Also opposed was Inglewood youth MP Tamsyn Kuklinski, who saw
decriminalisation as the stepping stone to heavier drug usage.

But Serena Mosley, from Whangarei, said the present system was not working.
"No matter what the law is, people will continue to experiment with drugs
and that's a fact."

Steven Macaulay, from Oxford, said people would not change their cannabis
usage because of legal changes.

"If marijuana was personally decriminalised, youth would not have to get
involved in crime."

On the Right, Christopher Bishop, from Lower Hutt, saw the bill as
increasing personal freedom.

Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harre said it was clear from the debate that
young people had taken a balanced view. "I think that young people looked
very carefully at the health issues ... I think there was less focus on
issues rights." She hoped that any drug reform inquiry would take into
account the views expressed in select committees and the debate.

Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos said he was disappointed but not surprised at
the outcome the bill. "It was a really unsatisfactory piece of legislation,"
he said. "Some youth spoke favourably in favour of quite progressive law
reform [so] it's not clear whether they we're voting against law reform or
voting against instant fines."

If the bill had been passed, it would have meant that having up to five
grams of cannabis for personal and private use would not be a criminal
offence. Instead, offenders would be punished with a system of infringement
notices and fines, which would be paid into a drug education fund. It would
still be an offence to smoke cannabis in public.