Ministers responsible for drug-house death: MildGreens.
MildGreens say the murder of a 15 yr. old youth (apparently) running a tinny house shows Society needs to observe that
the death was created not simply because of 'drug use', but by the use of defective prohibition based drug policy.
Prohibition causes a societal predilection to law breaking. With the black market and hypocritical double standards
(c.f. alcohol and tobacco), there is no evidence of ‘supply reduction’ or ‘demand reduction’ to be seen in the policy
outcome (15% population usage).
“Problem: people don't respect the law” say the Mild Greens.
“It's just like the alcohol era”, said advocate Kevin O’Connell. “Are the politicians stupid?”
Black market violence is an unintended consequence of cannabis prohibition and criminalisation policy. That is NOT Harm
Minimisation in the community, say the Mild Greens. “Criminalisation is not justified for the popular herb”. On the
contrary it is bloody well dangerous.
“On the balance of evidence that prohibition has poor efficacy and instead creates crime, the death of the 15 year old
is most likely a prohibition (high stakes) related death.”
“Drug free development is better than grievance” says Minister Jim Anderton reflecting on the case today.
But ministers, in their naive deviancy amplifying ‘just say no’ philosophy, are accountable for this death, and many
others, Say the Mild Greens.
“Prohibition is a destructive social formula which causes people to behave badly.” Surely NZ democracy can take a tip
from the civilized Dutch Coffee houses and come up with a much better formula. (without the need for the state to
initiate force and pay all those police’)
“How about enabling free choice through a harm reduction model, as requested by the majority of submitters to the
2000-2003 Parliamentary Cannabis Inquiry?”, say the Mild Greens “and in line with the principles which underpin NZ's
National Drug Policy (NDP)”.
And how about a proper equitable resolution of the Law Review Labour promised 4 years ago…
According to the Government sources the NDP is set to engage in a full review beginning in late 2003 with an anticipated
completion of 2004. Government has also recently signaled that the legal status and classification of cannabis is also
being considered by the statutory ‘independent’ Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs [EACD} "in the near future".
With all due respect, the deceased youth was a social end product and his early entry into criminality was a product of
this incentivising (and disproportionately racist) “harm production” regime, say the Mild Greens. Flick the Switch,
Change the Law.