 | NORML News: From the Snake Pit |
 DreaD in the House
 It's been a good few months for the movement. A number of well informed and highly credible international experts have toured Aotearoa, debunking myths and bringing some rationality to the scene writes Nandor Tanczos in NORML News Winter 2004.
First we had Clifford Thornton, a community activist from the USA, talkingabout the economics of prohibition. He also talked about how the policing of druglaws is racist in its application. Some good media coverage meant that thepublic got to hear another voice on the issue. Nice one everyone involved.
Then we had LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - with officers and judges from the USA and the UK touring the Rotary clubs arguing for legalising all drugs. It is interesting that in the UK it has been top level police officers who have largely driven drug law reform. It is a shame that political cowardice has meant that the UK ended with a Claytons decriminalisation - the law reform you have when you are not having law reform.
More recently visits from Canadian and Dutch experts on medical use of cannabis has coincided with renewed media interest in that issue, and good coverage of elderly New Zealanders facing criminal convictions and fines simply for using a medicine.
The experience of the Compassion Clubs in British Columbia is interesting. Operating in a kind of legal grey zone, they are protected from Canadian federal authorities by provincial and local government support. With a client base of around 7000, they offer a full range of holistic therapies. It is interesting that the use of acupuncture, massage, yoga, nutrition and other services has led to a reduction in the amount of cannabis used by many clients.
Britain also a kind of grey zone for cannabis. Persistent pressure for the legalisation of cannabis and other illegal drugs by senior police led to the Home Secretary David Blunkett preempting real change by announcing cannabis would be reclassified.
The idea came from Brixton, where the local police commander had directed officers not to arrest for cannabis. Blunkett took a successful strategy and severely blew it. Cannabis wasmade a class B drug in Britain in the 1970's, when Parliament rejected the original proposal to make it class A. Instead they introduced a third class. Cannabis was made class B and all the drugs originally destined for class B went into new class C.
Blunkett's plan to make cannabis class C would have made it non-arrestable. Some police wanted to keep the powers of arrest so Blunkett reclassified cannabis but gave class C the power of arrest, and then created a new sub class of C into which he put all the drugs that has previously made up class C drugs.
The end result is most people are totally confused about what the legal status actually is. I visited Brixton police station in May and found it was covered in posters saying "You can still arrest for cannabis". Showing a fine sense of irony, they also has beercoasters with the same message for the police canteen (pictured).
In fact the main change has been attitudinal rather than legal. Police now get hassled by their colleagues if they waste their time on cannabis.
The most interesting thing at Brixton was their stop and search procedures. In Aotearoa we actually do not know how many people are stopped and searched by the police each year because most searches are not required to be reported. In London, every time police search someone they have to fill out a detailed form saying who they searched, the grounds and circumstances in detail and what action they took. The officer takes the top copy for a report, and gives the booklet to the searched person. That person walks away with exactly what the officer wrote, plus information about what rights the police have to search, how far they can go, and how to make a complaint if unhappy with their treatment.
Nandor
P.S. I'm still grinding away to get the Justice Committee to have a look at the cannabis laws, as recommended by the health committee's recent report. Watch this space.
WORKiNG TO MAKE THiS JUiCY BUD LEGAL!
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