Top NZ Police lie to Public about Cannabis

During the 2008-09 National Cannabis operation, NZ Police seized 140,000 cannabis plants and arrested 1100 people. Detective Senior Sergeant Scott McGill from Police National Headquarters said in the media that $379 million worth of social harm had been prevented by the operation, according to the NZ Drug Harm Index.

"The Drug Harm Index which was created by Berl economist Ganesh Nana, is a load of nonsense. The Index is based on flawed assumptions which massively inflate the supposed social harm of drugs. The money spent by Police on cannabis operations, is the very same money they claim to have saved in social harm by seizing cannabis," says ALCP spokesperson Julian Crawford.

"Nana most significant mistake was to include the cost of law enforcement in the social harm caused by drugs. This caused New Zealand's top police to mislead the public. According to Berl's logic, the more money spent enforcing cannabis laws, the more social harm is associated with each kg of cannabis and the more harm the Police can claim to have prevented by seizing cannabis," says Crawford

"The true social harm measured by the Drug harm index is the harm caused by prohibition laws. Nana is relying on the flawed assumption that cannabis prohibition is essential. In reality prohibition is the most costly policy option available for regulating cannabis. Under ALCP policy, $500 million in taxpayers money would be saved each year by ending cannabis prohibition. Furthermore the drug harm index for cannabis would be slashed by removing enforcement expenses," says Crawford

"Berl economists are only capable of understanding social harm in terms of a dollar value. They assume that drugs like cannabis must do harm to users while, in reality, the scientific literature now validates the medical benefit of using cannabis. Nana's team also assume that cannabis users harm society, when in reality, society is doing social harm to cannabis users, by enforcing prohibition laws upon them," says Crawford

"By careful manipulation of statistics, Berl economists have created a crafty tool for Police, to justify their oppression of cannabis and other drug users. The sad reality is that however much social harm has supposedly been prevented by Police at least that much money has been spent to achieve it. Any economist must agree that the Social Harm Cost that was prevented and the Drug Law Enforcement Cost, that it was derived from, must cancel each other out. Thus the net gain to New Zealand from the Policing of Drug Laws is a big fat zero dollars," says Crawford

ENDS

© Scoop Media