GREENS DIVIDED OVER STANCE ON CANNABIS

Division has erupted in the Green Party over its stance on cannabis after
widespread concern that party voters shunned it because they believed it
was pro-cannabis.

Green MP Ian Ewan-Street has annoyed co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons and
justice spokesman Nandor Tanczos by calling for a change in the promotion
of the party's cannabis policy.

Mr Ewan-Street said middle New Zealand voters had told him during the
election campaign the policy had put them off voting for the party.

While he claimed not to want to change the policy itself, he wanted the
party to put less emphasis on decriminalising cannabis and to focus on drug
education instead.

He suggested the party might be more open-minded about decriminalisation.

While it was probably the right path to take, he wondered whether the party
should present it as a possibility, rather than a definite path.

Ms Fitzsimons said there was concern within the party that it had lost
election votes because of perceptions about its drug stance, and it was
debating how to tackle this.

"But the feeling is the message that people are reacting to is not actually
the message the Greens put out at all, it's the message our political
opponents put out about us," she said.

United Future and New Zealand First had widely misrepresented the policy.

"If there was a mistake during the campaign it is that we did not sell our
policy at all. I think what we need to change is that we need to sell it. I
don't believe the message is wrong."

Drug education highlighting the hazards of cannabis use was a key part of
the party's cannabis policy, she said.

Once people understood the party wanted to target drug pushers and reduce
children's access to the drug, but saw little sense in spending money
penalising adults who had the occasional joint, their views changed.

Mr Ewan-Street's views on decriminalisation were "his personal views that
he has not shared with caucus", and sounded like a call for a policy change
that should be debated internally and not through the media, Ms Fitzsimons
said.

Mr Tanczos labelled his colleagues' views on decriminalisation "idle musings".

There was widespread support for the cannabis policy in the party and it
would be dishonest to downplay its position on decriminalisation.

The Greens had not promoted the party's views on cannabis reform during the
election because "people were concerned that we might be seen to be pushing
the cannabis policy all the time", he said.

But in the wake of the "blatant lies" spread by other parties, it had
become clear this was a tactical error.

The Greens did have to work harder to sell the policy, Mr Tanczos said.

Yesterday he confirmed he would lodge a private members bill to
decriminalise possession of cannabis for those over 18 years.