GOFF CALLS FOR NEW PENALTY FOR CANNABIS SMOKING STUDENTS

Justice Minister Phil Goff says the Government is concerned with the number
of students suspended from schools for cannabis use and wants schools to
find different ways of dealing with the problem.

Mr Goff, in charge of the Government Youth Offending Strategy, said the
Government understood and supported schools' desire to take a hard line on
drugs.

However, there was clear evidence that youth who were not in school,
whether because of suspension or truancy, were more likely to commit crimes
- - and to abuse the drug more frequently.

Parliament's health select committee last week recommended the Ministry of
Education conduct research into school stand-downs, suspensions and
expulsions as a result of cannabis incidents. It said the ministry should
examine how schools and students could respond to the issue "in a way that
preserves educational opportunities".

The committee was concerned that the number of school suspensions for
cannabis offences exceeded stand-downs for all other offences.

A Post-Primary Teachers Association report released last year found that
drug-related suspensions amounted to a third of all suspensions and more
than half of those involved Maori students.

The Government is now considering the report's recommendations. In response
to questions in Parliament yesterday Mr Goff outlined his support for the
recommendation.

"What the crime statistics show is that most crime committed by young
people who ought to be at school in fact aren't in school. If you throw the
kid out of school that young person then isn't under any supervision. That
produces a greater risk of that young person offending in that way."