Cannabis Party Rejects Government's New Drug Policy

The New Zealand Government's new drug policy is out of step with international best practice and is not fit to be presented to the UN in 2016, the Cannabis Party says.

New Zealand's drug policy is a throw-back to racist 20th century hysteria that is completely at odds with the scientific evidence regarding drugs.

The policy deliberately ensures that the drugs which are legally accessible do the most harm to New Zealanders, while medicinally beneficial plants are banned.

The policy makes no distinction between low-risk substances like cannabis, high-risk hard drugs and alcohol.

It forces compulsory drug treatment on innocent cannabis and drug users, many of whom are likely to have no problems with addiction.

The policy fails to achieve its goal of harm minimisation because it continues to endorse prohibition, which is the leading cause of drug related harm.

The new policy fails to distinguish between social and commercial dealing and production, despite the Law Commission calling for tolerance of small scale supply.

It revives the Drug Harm Index, despite the fact that the Drug Harm Index proves that the Government's own policy creates 95% of drug related harm to society.

New Zealand's drug policy assumes that New Zealanders are not even capable of making their own free choices about drugs and must be forced to comply with misguided, totalitarian moralists who dictate how they should behave.

The Government's drug policy ignores the Law Commission's call to trial raw cannabis buds for medical purposes, instead they allow pharmaceutical monopolies to rip-off sick New Zealanders.

The Government has backed down on its promise to replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.

For any drug that is low-risk, limitation through education and supply management using licensing, would be much more effective.

The Cannabis Party wants cannabis to have its own Act and would vote against it being included in the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013, if elected to parliament.

Colorado recently made $NZ110 million in annual tax revenue from cannabis, much more than the $NZ62 million the state predicted. Much of this money goes to fund schools.

The New Zealand Government would be foolish to continue its head-in-the-sand approach to drug policy while ignoring the opportunities of a regulated, taxable cannabis marketplace.

ENDS

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