THE SMOKING GUN

PARLIAMENT has not made much sense this week. On Tuesday, it sat in
"extraordinary urgency" to impose a further punitive tax on tobacco in
order to encourage more citizens to give up the smoking habit (and,
incidentally, raise a great deal more revenue). Yet this same
Parliament is the most likely to decriminalise cannabis use and thus
encourage the smoking of one more un-needed drug in the community.

The Minister of Health, Annette King - she who wants to ban smoking
even in bars and restaurants - has said the Government plans a review
of cannabis laws, with any change subject to a conscience vote of MPs.
Last weekend, people openly smoked cannabis in public places while the
police turned a blind eye, a case of the guardians of the law making
an ass of the law. And Green MP Nandor Tanczos advised teenagers they
should not consider using cannabis until they were at least 18 years
old. His preferred policy is that those 18 years and over should have
the right to grow five cannabis plants each a year and carry an ounce
in public for their own use, without penalty.

That is all very well, but it did not stop the many hundreds of
people, mainly young, who openly smoked cannabis at the "protests"
organised by the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws around the country.

Nor, common-sense suggests, will many 18-years-olds (should they be
permitted by Parliament) actually take the trouble or be in a position
to grow their own; they will continue to buy it from dealers.

The trade will continue even should its use be legalised, for it is
naive to assume the criminal organisations growing and selling illegal
drugs will not continue to thrive in a decriminalised
environment.

Mr Tanczos suggests cannabis use should be illegal for
drivers.

The evidence is growing that marijuana has a negative effect on
driving performance, both individually and in combination with alcohol.

Only the very innocent suppose drivers will not continue to attempt to
drive having consumed one or both drugs and thus load one more danger
on to the community.

A study here last year showed more than one in five drivers who died
on the roads in a two-year period had been smoking cannabis in the
hours before they crashed.

Secondary school principals have spoken out against the
decriminalisation of cannabis and we hope the Minister of Education,
Trevor Mallard - who reportedly supports partial decriminalisation -
was listening.

The principals said cannabis use left children red-eyed and drowsy,
with slurred speech, an inability to concentrate and little interest
in learning.

Such a state, we suggest, might please the more blinkered civil
liberty zealots but it is one hardly likely to advance the future of
the nation.

Coroners, who have first-hand experience in dealing with inquests in
drug cases, have warned politicians to reconsider pressure to
decriminalise the drug. Women's refuges are opposed to
decriminalisation and report that cannabis use is a major factor in
domestic violence as well as contributing to partners' total
unwellness and their mental state.

But are our MPs, who on Tuesday night claim they were trying to reduce
consumption of one harmful substance, listening to the catalogue of
marijuana's ills, or in their confusion over drugs policy are they
likely to take the soft option?

Education, drug testing, treatment, leadership and sensible law
enforcement will help eliminate illegal drug use in this country. Drug
abuse can be turned around in a relatively short time through
collective efforts and determination.

Addicted individuals, especially the young and Maori, need to be
helped, not defeated. They must be held accountable for their actions
and offered treatment to help change destructive behaviour.

Cutting drug-use rates will require a sustained effort to change
individual and social attitudes. Parliament cannot rely on the police
to arrest our way out of our problem. If we as a community treat the
drug problem as a local epidemic needing treatment, which it is, then
strict law enforcement combined with humane and intelligent policy
will soon provide the answer.