 | Elections: Political Spat Over New Drug Controls |
 Revealing their promises of "stable government" to be a farce, the Otago Daily Times reports that United Future threatened to bring down the Government unless they agreed to their latest demand to make de-regulating drugs more difficult than toughening up.
Green MP Nandor Tanczos said the last-minute change stemmed from United Future's fear that "expert advice might find cannabis to be safe."
United Future are busy proclaiming themselves as the party who "locked in" the legal status of cannabis, but the reality is that law reform was always going to require a full amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act, as simply shifting cannabis to the new Class D would not change all the other laws and regulations governing cannabis.
Cannabis is shaping up, yet again, to be a major election issue. Make sure YOU vote only for candidates and parties who support ending cannabis prohibition! [click here for our election guide]
United Future Forces Change To Bill
Otago Daily Times Tuesday 24 May 2005
Wellington: It will be more difficult to decriminalise cannabis under a
change United Future has forced into a Bill regulating party pills.
The health select committee yesterday reported back the Misuse of Drugs
Amendment Bill (No 3), originally put forward by Progressive leader Jim
Anderton, which amends drug-related legislation.
The committee agreed low-risk substances people use to get high, such as
benzylpiperazine (BZP), a main ingredient of some party pills that act like
amphetamines and ecstasy, should be listed under a new restricted
substances category.
However, to ensure cannabis could not be downgraded to a restricted
substance, United Future warned the Government it would withdraw its
support on confidence issues, which Labour requires to govern, unless the
law was changed to make it more difficult to relax a drug's status.
The result was that, under the Bill, a drug's status can be upgraded by an
order in council (which can be made when the executive, often a
subcommittee of Cabinet, meets) but any proposal to lower a drug's status
must go to Parliament.
"United Future will not have dangerous drugs freed up by the swipe of a
ministerial pen at any time just to suit a minority," United Future MP Judy
Turner said.
Greens MP Nandor Tanczos is unhappy with the change and said it stemmed
from a fear expert advice might find cannabis to be safe.
Mr Tanczos said the change was made at the last minute, was an "entirely
new, significant amendment to primary legislation", and was "an abuse of
the parliamentary process". The worst aspect was that United Future had
threatened to bring the Government down if it did not get its way.
Act New Zealand also questioned the move and said full parliamentary
processes, including public submissions, should be required for increasing
or decreasing drug regulation.
If the Bill is passed, substances such as BZP would be listed in a new
schedule, which could be amended, and could be subject to restrictions and
requirements relating to advertising, distribution, manufacturing, sale and
supply.
The committee also recommended sales be restricted to people aged over 18.
The Bill also lowers the quantity of methamphetamine that qualifies as
being for supply to 5g, creates new offences of importing and exporting
precursor substances, and creates powers of search and seizure without
warrant for precursor substances.
Act questioned whether those changes would result in high costs for
manufacturers and importers, while the Greens were concerned about human
rights implications of stronger search provisions.
By: Maggie Tait
Copyright: 2005 Allied Press Limited
Contact: odt.editor@alliedpress.co.nz
Website: www.odt.co.nz
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