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Players rewarded with drugs says policeman
May 4, 1998
WHANGAREI, NEW ZEALAND - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : Regional rugby players are being rewarded with bags of marijuana for success on the field, a policeman said Friday.
Kaitaia policeman Gordon Gunn said marijuana was being used as ``player of the day'' awards, and was also raffled in bars to raise cash for sports clubs in the Northland area. The area is New Zealand's prime growing region for the illicit drug.
Gunn said one young player, arrested with several marijuana cigarettes in his pocket, admitted they were a prize for playing well.
Studies have shown as many as one in three Northlanders use marijuana, or take part in growing and distributing it. The area has high unemployment levels, especially among its Maori population.
Local sports clubs strongly denied the police claims, while local legislator Dover Samuels, called for Gunn to be reprimanded for the claims.
Samuels said he had not seen or heard anything to suggest there was any basis for Gunn's comments, and he is to complain formally to the police minister.
Gunn had cast a slur on all sports clubs in the Far North and that could not be tolerated, said Samuels.
Gunn has not prosecuted anyone in relation to his claims.
He said while he knew drugs were being used as rewards and for money-raising, there was not always sufficient evidence to lay charges against those involved.
[Copyright 1998, Associated Press]
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