COMMITTEE REVIEW OF CANNABIS LAW LIKELY

WELLINGTON -- Health Minister Annette King plans to recommend that
Parliament's multi-party health committee carries out a review of cannabis
laws.

Mrs King said the committee could bring a multi-party approach to any
changes.

The review was not top of her list of priorities and, given the committee's
workload, may not be running before Christmas.

She said a proposal floated over the weekend by National leader Jenny
Shipley for more lenient treatment of people caught with cannabis could be
put before the review.

Mrs Shipley proposed on Saturday that first and second offenders could be
sent to a "drug court" and offered diversion if they were prepared to
undergo treatment and commit to giving up the drug.

The third time they were caught they should face a criminal conviction, she
told the National Party's northern regional conference.

She made the proposal despite attacking Labour's plans to review cannabis
laws and saying she opposed decriminalisation because it would make cannabis
more available and socially acceptable. "In the end we must decide whether
moving the boundary, muddling the message and increasing the number of New
Zealanders who use cannabis will add to our over-all well-being or simply
create greater problems," she said.

Mrs King said Mrs Shipley had wrongly claimed Labour favoured
decriminalisation of cannabis when it had only committed to reviewing the
law, but she welcomed Mrs Shipley being prepared to engage in debate about
the laws.

"When you know that a policy isn't working you've got to look at ways to
make them work," she said.

She said a 1998 review by the health committee came to the view "that the
law as it is now is an ass" and recommended it be reviewed.

"Well over 50 per cent of our young people smoke marijuana before they are
20 ... What do we need to do to make sure they know what they are doing, to
talk openly about the dangers and risks?"

She said MPs from most parties, including National, favoured some form of
decriminalisation of cannabis. Police had also argued for decriminalisation.