'GROW YOUR OWN' PLEA

WELLINGTON -- Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos appealed in Parliament for
people over 18 to be allowed to grow and possess cannabis for their
own use.

"New Zealand needs to get over its obsession with cannabis and get
over the snigger factor which makes rational debate on this issue so
difficult," Mr Tanczos said yesterday.

"We have the highest recorded arrest rate for cannabis in the world,
police spend tens of millions of dollars arresting people for it, and,
despite what they say, 85 per cent of these are for simple personal
possession."

Mr Tanczos, a Rastafarian who has previously said he smokes cannabis
for religious reasons, told the House people did not get involved in
cannabis law reform because they wanted to smoke it. "Everyone in this
country who wants to smoke cannabis already does so," he said.

"The illegal market is effectively subsidised by prohibition, the tens
of millions of dollars spent on policing prohibition go to ensure huge
profits for organised crime."

He asked how young people were expected to respect the law when they
were subjected to random searches on the streets.

"At the same time, some members of this House have a reputation for
excessive alcohol consumption," Mr Tanczos said. "In my short time in
this House I've seen people in this House drunk - drunk in charge of a
country."