THE HIGH COST OF PROHIBITON

THE statement by the chairman of Sweden's National Association for a Drug
Free Society, Ove Rosengren, that strict prohibition there has been
"effective" in cutting cannabis use (The Post, Nov 8) fails to indicate at
what cost this has happened.

In monetary terms alone, the Swedish Hassela programme for compulsory drug
treatment costs more than $NZ100,000 a person a year.

With more than 50 New Zealanders arrested daily for cannabis, this system
of "coercive care" would set taxpayers back at least $1.5 billion annually.
Furthermore, Swedish police now have the power to force people to undertake
blood or urine tests for drugs on the flimsiest of pretexts. Documented
cases include Swedes taken in for nothing more than smiling too much in
public and dancing too energetically at a club.

Drug use figures in Sweden rose immediately after funding for
"zero-tolerance" programmes was cut back.

The conclusion is that a system of prohibition which realises and maintains
lowered cannabis use costs an absolute fortune and cannot be let up for a
moment.

STEPHEN McINTYRE
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party