For immediate release: Just Released from Jail - Dakta Green’s Stony Road to Mt Albert.

The ALCP are asking Police for an explanation after its candidate in the Mt Albert by-election was arrested for the third time in one week.

The candidate, Dakta Green, is a prominent cannabis law reform activist who has engaged in hundreds of acts of civil disobedience - around New Zealand - without incident. Only since featuring on BBC news late last month has he become a target of the Police.

The ALCP believes that the Police are persecuting Dakta Green as a result of his political views. The Police took the step of banning him from the Auckland CBD on the day he was to officially launch his by-election campaign at JDay in Albert Park. JDay is an international day of protest against cannabis prohibition. For proceeding to launch his campaign as planned, he was kept in the cells over the weekend.

At this point in the campaign, Dakta Green has as much right as any other candidate to be considered a potential replacement for Helen Clark as the MP for Mt Albert. How can he canvas this electorate if Police continue to arrest him for these minor, alleged offences?

The ALCP believes that people should not be arrested for their political beliefs in New Zealand.

The ALCP is calling for the NZ Government to cease any further state interference in this political campaign, end all cannabis arrests, release all cannabis political prisoners, and stop wasting the billions of taxpayer dollars that we need, in this recession economy, to maintain our standards of health and education and our opportunities for economic and social development.

ENDS

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