EDUCATION SPOKESMAN OPPOSES ANY CHANGE TO MARIJUANA LAWS

National education spokesman Nick Smith is a man on a mission.

The former National Party minister has been in the region visiting schools
as part of his nation-wide campaign against decriminalising the marijuana
laws.

On Wednesday, Dr Smith visited Highlands Intermediate in New Plymouth and
yesterday he met the principals of Inglewood, Stratford and Hawera High
Schools.

Dr Smith told The Daily News that the resolve in the community to fight any
proposed law change was noticeably hardening.

"I've visited 20 schools to date and the response has been very positive. No
one wants us to turn into a country of losers, but that's what any move to
change the current laws would do.

"And make no mistake, there are very powerful forces in favour of
decriminalising marijuana, from the Prime Minister down.

"The proposals are both dopy and dangerous. Our objective is to galvanise
every community in New Zealand and stop it in its tracks."

The National opposition is promoting a nationwide petition in partnership
with the School Trustees Association.

Inglewood High school principal Lyn Bublitz is an executive member of the
Secondary Schools Principal Association which had also thrown its weight
behind the move to retain the status quo on the drug laws.

"Marijuana use is a problem every secondary school in Taranaki, in the
country, has faced. I'm pleased to get the opportunity to have Dr Smith at
the school," he said.

"It is freely available. That's the reality. There are problems all schools
face. How to protect our students? How to assist the kids who do have
problems?

"While there are those who advocate occasional use, saying it has no effect
on them, so therefore it doesn't affect others.

"But it does have an effect on some school-age kids. It plays games with
their minds, destroys their ambitions.

"A teenager without ambition is just a shell."

Dr Smith says he is becoming increasingly confident any attempt to change
the law could struggle to get a majority in Parliament.

"In February it was a lost cause. There were overwhelming numbers in
parliament for a change, now I think it hangs in the balance."