Media release: Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party
17 July 2009

Prisons filled because of cannabis law

"The gateway to - and bread and butter of - our justice system is the dysfunctional black market status for cannabis". New Zealand has a disgracefully high imprisonment rate, second only to the USA and closing rapidly. "Criminalisation chickens have come home to roost", says ALCP president Kevin O’Connell.

"It is unhelpful that media and mainstream commentators seem unable to link the debate about prisons and crime and victims, with the unresolved debate going back over a quarter century on an appropriate and workable legal status for cannabis." Missing from the range of strategies suggested by everyone, including Chief Justice Sian Elias, is the glaringly obvious decriminalisation of marijuana use.

There is no evidence that cannabis prohibition works, or protects anyone in the community. The black market is thriving, the criminality gateway is wide open, and prisons are bulging at the seams.

"Take the heat off the cannabis scene by deglamorising the plant. Restore a credible rule of law, and personal responsibility so that adults are treated like adults. Make cannabis a restricted R18 substance under existing provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act.."

The ALCP say voters are increasingly aware that they are being hoodwinked. If we really want to take the pressure off prisons and victims - and taxpayers - NZ desperately needs to decriminalise and regulate.

ENDS

© Scoop Media