Good Dad jailed under Helen Clark's family values policy
The Mild Greens are disgusted that a Christchurch District Court Judge has sentenced a solo father to eight months jail
for possession of several ounces of low grade cannabis, presumed to be for supply.
Although described in his probation report as "not a bad man, and well thought of in his job as a butcher", Stephen
William Leach is being jailed because, according to crown prosecutor Stuart Poore, deterrence is the over-riding
principle in the case and a custodial sentence is needed.
Under "family values" criminalisation policy, bullying discrimination continues in the NZ community against people who
would no longer be criminals if Parliament would only finish its 2yr 3mth(.....) cannabis law review, and account for
the vast injustices and unintended consequences of prohibition.
Harm Minimisation, purported Government National drug policy, has still yet to acknowledge, measure and mitigate the
harms and costs of criminalisation, despite Ministry of Health concern and recommended scrutiny (cost-benefit analysis)
now dating back at least 7 years.
While law and order, drugs, youth alienation and crime etc, masquerade as issues of concern for politicians, it is rare
to find an MP or journalist who can see the connections between criminalisation and criminality (and between injustice
and alienation). Even the Green Party seem to strangely avoid this glaring aspect of the holistic analysis.
New Zealanders may be appalled at perceived human rights abuses around the world, in Palestine, Zimbabwe, China and
Chechnya, but Kiwis are largely silent about the drug user apartheid which is the bread and butter of our own
(in)justice system - and at the heart of division and dysfunction in our community.
Courts, Prisons, Police, Lawyers, Social Services, Probation and Judiciary etc are beneficiaries of the unwarranted
criminalisation of all illicit drug users, but cannabis users in particular. With this arbitrarily outlawed demograph
comprising 16% of the surveyed population, an inexhaustible supply of court fodder is provided, directly comprising some
20,000 victims per year.
But while administrators of community abuse should be held accountable for massive fraud and grievous sociological harm,
instead they are propping up the prejudice and protecting each other's taxpayer grift. Parliament administers the bad
law - the Justice system enforces it - while the legacy of criminalisation ensures that bad outcomes feed the community
concern/prejudice that mandates the hypocritical status quo.
And MP's are elected again and again thanks to their "get tough/family values" rhetoric - while truly decent community
leaders (are there any??) are intimidated into letting it happen, as long as it's someone else's family who goes to jail
- or goes off the rails and commits some incomprehensible crime.
Prohibition has all but extinguished the flame of social justice in NZ.
Recently the Law and Order Select Committee accused the Mild Greens of abusing politicians because they have not linked
prohibition to NZ's law and order problems (boy racers being "those people" in that instance). Yet Parliament continues
to overlook the glaring anomaly of "double standards" surrounding cannabis as highlighted by the Health Select Committee
Inquiry into the mental health effects of cannabis 1998.
Let's put this in context: A parliamentary committee unanimously finds that existing policy is "BAD". Four years on,
even with select committee member Annette King now as Minister of Health, "BAD" policy is still the order of the day,
and perhaps one billion dollars has been directly misappropriated into "BAD" policy during this time, presumably as a
best practice health intervention. How sick is that?
How on earth is it that Judges like Stephen Erber, and crown prosecutors such as Stuart Poore are unaware that the
Health Select Committee in 1998/99 all but exonerated cannabis, and TWICE recommended review of the appropriateness of
existing policy, and reconsideration of the legal status?
Why have these beneficiaries of apartheid not been restrained? Not one public servant is prepared to blow the whistle on
this "systemic corruption" it seems.
"Fix what's broken, repeal the illegitimate cannabis law", say the Mild Greens, echoing the sentiment of virtually all
submitters to the Health Select Committee during its cannabis hearings up and down the country in 2001.
But, without so much as a debate, let alone a conscience vote (or select committee report), Helen Clark's Labour party
have allowed the corrupt systemic criminalisation practices to continue.
Despite the "Christian" United Future coalition support deal to block cannabis reform, there is nothing Christian about
the obscene reality of criminalisation policy. Jesus would turn in his tomb if he knew that self-declared Christians
were abusing their brothers in his name - and over God's good seed bearing herb of all things.
While granting 3 weeks leave to apply for *home detention, Judge Stephen Erber stated to the defendant "It will do you
no harm at all to serve some term of actual jail" - however (not withstanding the criminal duress), the Mild Greens ask
what damage will be done to the family if this man goes to jail, and what will be the real cost to individuals and the
community?
What precautions, for example, are being taken to ensure that the defendant's son is not prejudiced by the absence of
his Dad? Will he slip into the now familiar "at risk youth" category as an unintended consequence of the overriding
principle of deterrence?
It's sending a strong message which is important after all… If taking a tough stance on marijuana saves just one kid
then it will all have been worth it…
Welcome to NZ, God's last bastion of truth, freedom, tolerance, justice, robust harm minimisation policy, and wholesome,
decent, family values - and more jails.
*Source: Christchurch PRESS 26th Oct 2002