POLICE

THE POLICE'S refusal to arrest cannabis smokers at the Dunedin J-Day
rally because dealing with them would have been a "considerable drain
on resources" ( ODT , 6.5.03) highlights the arbitrary nature of the
police's whole approach to cannabis "crime". Arresting 20 fish for
smoking pot in a police station is like shooting fish in a barrel. If
that alone is enough to drain Dunedin's police resources and enough to
deter action, then how on earth can our national force solve any major
crimes when it has to deal with arresting 60 people on the street and
in their homes each and every day? Surely, now a precedent has been
set and cannabis smokers only have to light up in large enough groups
to avoid attracting police attention?

Laurence Brown-O'Sullivan

Christchurch