Tuesday, 29 June, 2004

UF MPs: Tanczos gets pedantic while teens die

United Future MPs Judy Turner and Marc Alexander today debunked Nandor Tanczos's 'only users can comment' approach to drug issues as the cannabis body count continues to rise.

Taking the matter up in Parliament today, they told the House that all three suicide cases that came before the Coroner's Court in Tauranga last month involved cannabis use, and that the coroner believed that virtually all 13 suicides he had dealt with this year had involved the drug.

"So when Mr Tanczos comes out with trite little lines saying people who use drugs simply do not trust advice from "do-gooders who have only ever experienced abstinence", then as usual, he is missing the point," they said.

"This approach fails to honestly and openly address the drugs tragedy being played out in young lives all over New Zealand," Mrs Turner said.

"The Green MP continues to run the most irresponsible and damaging social agenda of any politician in New Zealand."

"He long ago ceased to be an advocate for a cause," Mr Alexander said.

"Mr Tanczos is nothing more than an apologist for drug use, and he clearly considers wrecked lives and ruined futures to be acceptable collateral damage as long as he and his mates can light up," they said.

ENDS

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