Source: The Evening Post ( Wellington, New Zealand) 
Author: David Hadorn
Contact:  
Website: http://www.evpost.co.nz/ 
Pubdate: June 8, 1998
Note: Our newshawk and author writes: This is the same editorial that
appeared in the Otago Daily Times last week, although with a better title
and fortunately without the misprint of cannabis "production" rather than
"prohibition". Unfortunately, they mis-spelled my name in the byline
("Hadhorn").  This is the version of the article that I would like people
to consider writing LTEs in response to.  The Post is probably more widely
read by pols and other movers/shakers than any other paper....

[Two strikingly green cannabis leaves appear on the top front page of the
paper as a teaser, along with "OPINION Why dope should be legalised - p.
5." The large-type lead-in to the article itself said "Evidence missing
Making criminals of cannabis users does nothing to solve the problem".  The
middle of the article has a large-type insert saying "The question at issue
is: does it make sense to treat two of these drugs as legal and one as
illegal? The answer, we believe, is no." Also, a picture of a couple of
people smoking a doobie is accompanied by "Smokers - Cannabis can be
harmful to troubled teenagers, but making them criminals does not help the
situation."]

TIME TO TAKE THE LEAD IN RATIONAL CANNABIS CONTROL

Two months have passed since the Drug Policy Forum Trust, a group of
physicians and other professionals, recommended that cannabis be accepted
as part of contemporary New Zealand culture and treated like tobacco and
alcohol, through a system of regulation and taxation. Adopting this
approach to cannabis control would:

B7 Dismantle the lucrative cannabis black market; B7 Improve the
effectiveness of drug education and treatment programmes; B7 Save a
tremendous amount of money.

The response to our report has been generally positive 96 many New
Zealanders, it seems, are ready for a change.

Others have raised objections, of which the following are the most common:
B7 Cannabis is harmful, so it should remain illegal (to protect the
children). B7 We already have enough trouble with alcohol and tobacco; we
do not need a third (legal) drug. B7 Removing criminal penalties from
cannabis would cause an increase in drug-related problems.

None of these arguments is supported by available evidence.

Yes, cannabis can be harmful, especially to troubled teenagers, whose
compulsive overuse of cannabis can cause a variety of problems.  But making
criminals of these kids does nothing to help the situation, and indeed
makes matters worse.

It's worth reinforcing this point.  We do not deny that cannabis causes
harm.  But dozens of scientific studies have shown that prohibition
policies magnify the harms of cannabis.  What we are saying, then, is
"here's how to minimise the harm".  When prohibition advocates reply, "but
cannabis is harmful", they simply aren't listening.

Regarding the "two drugs are quite enough" argument, isn't it obvious that
we already have all three drugs? Cannabis is ubiquitous and, indeed, has
long been an established part of New Zealand society. The question at issue
is: does it make sense to treat two of these drugs as legal and one as
illegal? The answer, we believe, is "no".

Finally, the claim that a regulated cannabis market would increase
drug-related problems, such as addiction or harmful public health impacts,
is completely unsupported by overseas experience.  Wherever cannabis laws
have been liberalised, as in The Netherlands and several states in
Australia and the US, neither drug use nor drug-related harms have
increased.  In The Netherlands, for example, the rate of both cannabis and
hard drug use by teenagers is among the lowest in Europe 96 and much lower
than in the prohibitionist United States.

Unfortunately, those who make claims such as these are very seldom (if
ever) required to support those claims with actual evidence.  Were they
required to do so, the lack of a solid scientific foundation for cannabis
prohibition would become readily apparent.

Cannabis prohibition is an even more serious problem when viewed from a
global perspective.  Entire governments in Latin America and elsewhere have
been subverted and corrupted by the hundreds of billions of dollars pumped
into the international criminal underground by the war on drugs, most of
which is focused on cannabis.  Meanwhile, drugs of all kinds are cheaper
and more available than ever.

Leadership on international drug policy is badly needed.  Given its
reputation for pragmatism, and its tradition of serving as a social
laboratory, New Zealand could potentially provide such leadership.

A rare and important opportunity to move in this direction will occur this
week in New York, when the United Nations General Assembly convenes a
special session on drugs.  Although the UN organisers are attempting to
restrict the focus of this session to "how to fight the drug war more
effectively," a strong groundswell is building to expand the discussion to
include potential alternative approaches to drug policy.

New Zealand might be part of this vital rearguard action.  Our delegate to
the UN special session is Tuariki John Delamere, Associate Minister of
Health and the Customs Minister.

Mr Delamere has in the past spoken out in favour of cannabis law reform.
If he is able to speak his conscience in New York, New Zealand might very
well put a cat among the pigeons.

Concurrent with the UN special session, dozens of major public events will
be held around the world to marshal support for more compassionate and
effective drug control policies.

In New Zealand, such events will be held in Auckland, Wellington,
Christchurch, and Dunedin. By attending these events, the people of New
Zealand can "send a message" to the our politicians and to the
international community.  As such, these events are analogous to the
anti-nuclear, anti-Vietnam War, and anti-apartheid protests held in years
gone by.

New Zealand society is almost certainly matured to the point that we are
quite capable of managing a regulated cannabis market.

Moreover, by leading both by example and exhortation we can help the world
find its way out of the blind alley of cannabis prohibition.

The upcoming UN special session and surrounding activities will bear close
watching. 
- ---
Checked-by: Richard Lake