MP VOWS TO KEEP SMOKING CANNABIS

Rastafarian Nandor Tanczos says he will keep smoking pot as an MP -
and he has the backing of the Greens leadership to flout the law.

The 33-year-old Aucklander told the Herald yesterday that smoking
cannabis was part of his religious culture and he was not about to
give it up.

He said he used cannabis less than once a week and that there was no
way he was going to be conducting parliamentary business after a
smoke. He does not drink alcohol.

The Greens co-leaders, Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald, do not have
a problem with one of their MPs defying the law.

"Good on him, quite frankly," Mr Donald said. "The law is an ass, and
the sooner we change it the better. Clearly he is a responsible person
who uses cannabis less frequently than most people drink alcohol."

Jeanette Fitzsimons said she considered Mr Tanczos a responsible
person, saying he was simply flouting a law that tens of thousands, if
not hundreds of thousands, ignored. "I don't have a problem with the
occasional breaking of this particular law."

She was confident a review of the cannabis laws announced by the
Minister of Health, Annette King, would lead to acceptance of the
Greens' policy of legalising cannabis for personal use.

Mr Tanczos said that, for Rastafarians, smoking cannabis was a
spiritual continuation of references in the Bible to the use of the
drug.

Asked how, as an MP, he could justify breaking the law, Mr Tanczos
said: "As far as I understand, people are guaranteed the right of
religious practice by the Human Rights Convention and the Bill of
Rights. I'm of the opinion I'm not breaking the law."

A police spokeswoman said the possession and use of cannabis were
illegal, and anyone who chose to flout the law risked being
prosecuted.