 | NORML News: Pot Spots |
 Three short New Zealand cannabis news stories from Norml News Autumn 2004
Cannabis 'least serious crime': survey Over half of those surveyed for a study assessing attitudes to crime rated possession of cannabis as being the least serious crime. 1500 people aged 18 or over were questioned by the Ministry of Justice for their Attitudes to Crime and Punishment survey, published in January. Brash 'agnostic' about cannabis laws National Party leader Don Brash says he is in an "agnostic phase" about cannabis law reform and the National Party is "unresolved". "I haven't yet got to the point of forming a view," Dr Brash told Auckland University student magazine Craccum. "I'm quite torn on it, on the one hand I feel uncomfortable that people who are low level users of cannabis can get busted by the police, can have criminal convictions on their record that stay in their careers for a long time. On the other hand I'm conscious of the fact that for at least some of us, that cannabis doesn't do good things to your brain." A parliamentary inquiry into the mental health effects of cannabis found in 1999 that "the dangers from cannabis have been overstated." Despite being noncommittal, Dr Brash's position is better than his predecessors, who promised to block vote against any proposed law change. Dr Brash is positioning National closer to the centre where polls show widespread support for law reform, so he's leaving his options open. National has no official policy statement on cannabis, so now would be an opportune time to lobby their MPs. Cigarettes, beer sales down New Zealanders are increasingly turning away from the drugs used by their parents and are using more of virtually everything else. Cigarette sales were down 16 per cent last year, or only 592 fags for every man, woman and child. That's down 60 percent on the early 1980's, and no one had to be arrested to achieve that. A stockpile of 795 tonnes is available for consumption. Beer sales are also dropping, with consumption now down to only 78 litres per person or 4 cans per week. Meanwhile, cannabis, caffeine and speed continue to rise in popularity. Cannabis use has become "normalised" with over 70% of people trying it by the age of 21. The 1998 New Zealand National Drug Survey suggested the total quantity of cannabis purchased from the black market was almost 15 million joints. Other estimates of the value of the cannabis industry vary from $140 million to $900 million a year for Northland alone.
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