Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2003 Contact: http://www.stuff.co.nz/otago Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925 Author: NZPA Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.) PARLIAMENT REJECTS HEMP BILL Wellington: A bid by Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos to legalise industrial hemp was doomed to failure yesterday, after a select committee recommended Parliament not support his member's Bill. Industrial hemp would have been removed from the Misuse of Drugs Act under the Misuse of Drugs (Industrial Hemp) Amendment Bill, sponsored by the Green MP. Mr Tanczos, a Rastafarian who smokes marijuana for religious reasons, had intended to make clear industrial hemp was not a drug, but a useful cash crop. He faced allegations his proposal was a "Trojan horse" to permit the legalisation of marijuana by stealth. In a report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the primary production committee recommended by majority that the legislation not pass. The committee spent just four hours 44 minutes considering the Bill, which was referred to it more than two years ago It did not even consider public submissions on the Bill. The Green Party opposed the decision that the Bill not proceed. Parliament will now undoubtedly accept the committee's recommendation, and kill off the Bill. Mr Tanczos would not be able to put it back in the member's ballot in this parliamentary term. He said he was disappointed the Government had chosen not to use his Bill as an "obvious" basis for industry regulations. "The Government has heavily borrowed the intentions of my member's Bill, which they had stalled for two years, and sacrificed it in order to take the credit." Chairman David Carter said the committee initially opted to defer consideration when Health Minister Annette King in 2001 agreed to a two-year industrial hemp trial. That trial was to end this month, but the committee had been told it had been extended for another year.