Cannabis law reformer, Kevin O'Connell, says that the big problems of waste disposal will be dramatically alleviated by
re-introducing biodegradable hemp resources for packaging, building materials, paper, textiles, and many other uses.
Residents of Malvern, west of Christchurch, are anxiously awaiting a landfill decision, which is likely to have far a
reaching negative impact on their lives.
"Much of what goes into landfills just doesn't need to be there"- said Mr O'Connell, who is standing for the Aotearoa
Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP). "It is utterly senseless that our consumption orientated system produces massive waste,
when we could viably and sustainably recycle biodegradable plastic from the cannabis-hemp plant".
"Would the Canterbury Regional Council care to quantify or even investigate just how much plastic made from
petrochemicals will go into the proposed landfill? - Our system is illogical, unsustainable, and we've completely lost
our harmony with our environment", he said.
Mr O'Connell ran last year in the Christchurch local body elections, and his theme was a restoration in the order of
nature and community, simply by changing the anomalous, ineffective and costly cannabis laws. "The system is blinkered
because of "anti-dope" hysteria, and a taboo surrounding drug-related issues that seriously undermines our elected
representation", he said.
Even the Green party, champions of organic sustainability, have not been heard to seriously advocate hemp, despite this
being one of their policy platforms.
The social and environmental cost of the "prohibition perversion" is immeasurable, said Mr O'Connell, and we have to
stop the insanity of political denial which is driving it.
Mr O'Connell argues that the social parallel of the landfill, is the building of prisons to cater for those who are
wasted by our criminalisation system. The land would be far more beautiful with healthy fields of humankind's one time
primary agricultural resource, "and effective education, not incarceration."
"That is why I ran for Mayor last year, and that is why I am determined to make a difference this time in the new
Parliament." Mr O'Connell is number #3 on the ALCP list, and will contest an electorate in the Christchurch area.
Parliament's Health select committee has twice recommended reviewing the appropriateness of existing law on cannabis,
which it found was "ineffective".