Dunne: Nandor sinks to new pro-cannabis low

Nandor Tanczos's call yesterday for police to ease up on cannabis law enforcement and concentrate on the drug P was a new height in hypocrisy and a new low in unprincipled opportunism, United Future leader Peter Dunne said today.

"Are there no depths to which he will not stoop to promote his pro-cannabis obsession?" Mr Dunne asked.

"He's suddenly concerned about P? Where was his concern, and that of his Green colleagues, when they alone bock-voted to oppose P being reclassified as a Class A drug earlier this year?" Mr Dunne asked.

"Rarely does one see this level of hypocrisy, but it is particularly disturbing that Mr Tanczos chooses to play these games when lives and families are being destroyed.

"It is simply disgraceful," he said.

Mr Tanczos's cynical argument also completely ignores the fact that it is beyond dispute that cannabis is a 'gateway' to harder drugs such as P.

"If Mr Tanczos says let's put more money into fighting P, I'm with him, but when he uses the cost argument to simply take the heat off the crime of his choice, then he's playing scumbag politics with a real cost in human lives," Mr Dunne said.

"The Government needs to put in place a coherent strategy that incorporates law enforcement, health and education, and it needs to start doing as United Future has been pushing for, and direct a focussed effort against the gangs that are 90 percent of the P and methamphetamine supply in this country."