by Jonathan Hill, Scoop Media, 30 June 1999
Green Party Co-leader Rod Donald's request to the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party to stand aside and endorse the Greens at the election has been rejected by ALCP Leader Michael Appleby.
Speaking as a guest at the ALCP national conference in
Wellington last weekend Donald said the Green Party had a
progressive and well thought out cannabis policy which was
focussed on harm minimisation.
As the Greens held a much better chance of making it to
Parliament the ALCP should step aside and encourage their
voters to instead vote Green, he said.
However Appleby said today while his party might be prepared
to stand aside in one or two seats, the ALCP would continue
to contest the election, particularly for the party vote.
"If the ALCP want to see cannabis decriminalised then it is
clearly not in their best interests to contest this
election," said Mr Donald. "In the last Colmar Brunton Poll
the ALCP received zero per cent and are extremely
unlikely to make it to Parliament.
"We were hoping that anybody who wants to see cannabis
decriminalised in a sensible and responsible fashion would
recognise that the Greens are much more likely to be
represented in Parliament and would give us their vote."
Appleby said although his party was polling poorly this was
because a lot of party supporters did not have telephones
and could not be surveyed. He predicted the ALCP would take
support from the range of political parties and would
probably hold the balance of power after the election.
Rod Donald said voters should be wary of the ALCP as the
party has no policy bases other than legalising cannabis and
could potentially support a right-wing government. "With the
Green Party at least people will be in no doubt how we will
vote in the house," he said.
Appleby admits that his party has no policies other than
those pertaining to cannabis. He said this approach is
necessary as supporters of the ALCP come from all the other
political parties and consensus on other policy would be
extremely difficult.
"Once in Parliament we will basically support any party that
promises to change the law relating to cannabis," he said.
Rod Donald said the Green Party favoured the legalisation of
possession and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis for
the personal use of adults. He stressed it would still be
against the law for children to use, possess or grow the
drug. The Smokefree Environment Act would apply to cannabis
and it would remain a crime to drive or operate machinery
after using the drug.
| 
