CANNABIS

IF CANNABIS ABUSE is such a serious problem in New Zealand, I wonder why
National MP Nick Smith continues to publicly criticise the current
Government's intention to deal with the problem adequately. The high rate
of cannabis use among New Zealand's adults and schoolchildren is proof that
prohibition doesn't prevent people from smoking pot. As well as failing to
curtail cannabis use, prohibition increases the harms caused by cannabis by
preventing adequate education and treatment. Even ardent anti-cannabis
campaigner Jim Anderton accepts this fact.

It should be recognised that the attempts by the National Party to block
cannabis law reform are pure political manipulation. The 1998 Health
Committee Report into the mental health effects of cannabis, chaired by
National's Brian Neeson, highlighted the serious harms of prohibition and
recommended a well overdue legislative overhaul to minimise the human
rights violations of prohibition and minimise the harm incurred through
cannabis abuse. But, of course, it would be naive to expect honesty or
common sense from politicians, wouldn't it?

Duncan Eddy

Ravensbourne

[Abridged. - Ed.]