NORML Meeting - Parliament - Today (Tuesday 8 May) - 1pm
Today at 1pm, representatives of NORML will holding a meeting at Parliament.
NORML will deliver a letter to The Speaker calling for and end to the War on Drugs.
This "War on Drugs" is in reality a war on the 400,000 adult New Zealanders who, every year, choose to use a plant
(cannabis) for its psychoactive properties despite the legal prohibition of its use in New Zealand.
Prohibition contributes to NZ having the highest arrest rate in the world for cannabis offences, and also one of the
highest incarceration rates in the world.
On Armistice Day 2010, NORML came to Parliament calling for an end to this war, and the start of an era of peace and
justice, where all drug use, including alcohol and tobacco, is treated as a health issue not a crime. We have repeated
this call every month at Parliament to the Ministers of Justice and Health, since February this year.
Several thousand submissions to this effect were made to the Law Commission during its 4-year review of the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1975, and whose report is due to be made public shortly. Our hope is that Parliament will use the Law
Commission report and well-researched material to take NZ forward to a just and effective drug policy, based on evidence
rather than prejudice.
ENDS