Nandor to police: stop poisoning pot users
Green MP Nandor Tanczos said today that police were making a mockery of their duty to protect the public by poisoning
outdoor-grown cannabis, which was still then available for distribution on the black market.
Reports today suggest that some cannabis users have fallen ill to the poisoned pot - normally painted blue - after
unscrupulous distributors either repainted it green or made it into cannabis oil and then sold it on to unsuspecting
users.
Nandor, the Green Party’s spokesperson for Drug Policy, demanded that the police reveal what substance it sprays
cannabis plots with in order to study the health risks of the chemicals they use.
“The police have consistently refused to tell the public what’s in the spray,” said Nandor. “It’s not just the poison
itself, which is probably glysophate, but the other additives and compounds that are added to make it stick.
“Have the police done any research to see the effect of these chemicals when smoked?” he asked. “It would be ridiculous
to be poisoning cannabis users in order to ‘protect’ their health.
“But it is not enough for the police to say that it has nothing to do with them if people still sell it. The law is
apparently to protect people’s health and the stated aim of New Zealand’s drug policy is harm minimisation. How can it
be right to put their health at risk to achieve that aim?
“I have been concerned about this issue since the spray program began. Over the years I have heard a number of stories
that sprayed cannabis was still being sold, or made into cannabis oil, by some unscrupulous dealers.
“I have also heard stories of people suffering headaches, throat damage and coughing blood. There needs to be proper
research, but we can’t achieve this until police come clean on the chemicals it uses.
“The real solution is cannabis law reform. Allow adults over 18 to use cannabis and grow it for themselves,” Nandor
said.
“Then those adults who choose to smoke cannabis can be confident that they have an organic supply.
“Until cannabis prohibition ends, the cannabis supply will be contaminated by unscrupulous people who don’t care about
inflicting harm on others in the interests of making money,” he said.