Taxpayer's will get "added value" by electing Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party number three, Kevin O'Connell to Parliament- he will not be accepting the full salary.

With cannabis legalised in the New Parliament, the representative workload will immediately drop away by over half, says the candidate.

Crime costs will fall, tourism will skyrocket, and hemp will bring billions into the "green" economy. The ALCP has the quick fix "socio-economic-ecological solution", and is the only Party bringing deliverable positive change and prosperity to NZ- simply by flicking the switch.

Mr O'Connell argues the there will be no longer a constant need for legislation to solve anomalous problems and poverty created by total prohibiton of cannabis, and the non-availability of creation's most beneficial horticultural resource.

"Prohibition is the problem, not the solution", say the Legalise Cannabis Party.

"They've been propping up the legislative process with flawed legislation", says Mr O'Connell, a policy analyst who has contributed to submissions on around 10 bills on behalf of the ALCP during this election term. "In each case, I had a field day- the problem invariably would be resolved if we stepped outside the prohibition 'world-view'." This can be verified by examining the logic recorded at http://www.alcp.org.nz .

"The gravy trains perpetuated by prohibition, explain why reform is so fiercely resisted", said the candidate, who has been successfully campaigning around Christchurch and is the realistic contender for Mike Moore's former prohibitionist stomping ground of Waimakariri.

In many cases, the ALCP say the obvious solution is decriminalisation, not tougher controls, to plug the holes created by "mankind's perversion of natural law".

For example, the proposed gun control legislation, home invasion, crimes publications, SIS amendments, truth in sentencing, alcohol and liquor advisory amendments, tattoo parental consent, and the "anti-gang" legislation of 1997, would all be unnecessary, if crime, black markets, and alienation from rule of law, were tackled by legalising, with jobs created instead.

"We need a law that parallels the social context", said Mr O'Connell.

What is shameful, is that MP's "bloody-well know it"- particularly those on the Justice & Law Reform Select Committee, and Ministers of the Crown, responsible for the bulk of the anomalous efforts. While intrusive police powers have been increased, crime and alcohol and drug abuse are also increasing- "a predictible outcome of not viewing the system holistically" said Mr O'Connell, who has systems analysis training and extensive "unfettered" experience with policy analysis for the ALCP.

Police Minister, Clem Simich, is on the record as saying "in my view and the view of most experts, prohibition itself caused greater use" (debate on Misuse of Drugs Paraphrenalia Bill, July 30, 1997). Mr O'Connell says it is negligent of MPs not to have fully handled this issue, challenging Mrs Shipley's dishonest prohibition justifications. Political safety is a disease which has rendered MPs largely as "overpaid, self-serving moral cowards".

With legal cannabis (age 18+ only), and consceintious MP's from the ALCP in the House, the stress levels will drop for MPs and the population alike.

On this basis, Mr O'Connell has confirmed his pledge to only accept half the Parliamentary salary, when elected, and challenges all other Parliamentary contenders to match his offer. It is believed that West Coast teacher and ALCP candidate, Jeanette Saxby is in agreement with Mr O'Connell's stand.

A confirmed social-ecologist, Mr O'Connell will contribute the other half, some $40,000 per annum for his duration in the House, to an ongoing environmental scholarship fund for half a dozen post graduate research positions "in the areas where work is most needed."

After dealing to criminalisation, our ecology is the major problem area facing NZ- "We want to see R&D in the areas of hemp replacement industries, sustainable energy, zero-waste and holistic environmental management", says Mr O'Connell.

Progress in these areas, and every other area of social and economic management, will be enabled by allowing cannabis-hemp for industrial, medicinal, spiritual and recreational uses.

"I am sick of the rich getting richer at the expense of the common people, and am a concientious objector to criminalisation, representative corruption, and higher salaries", said the candidate.

"We are turning the money that is being spent on failure, into programmes for success"- say the Cannabis Party, who promote drug education, not incarceration. The hidden benefits of ticking the leaf twice on Saturday, are becoming increasingly apparent.

"Come on team, VOTE HARD!", say the ALCP.

K.P. O'Connell, #3 list & Waimakariri candidate, ph (03) 389 4065 wk (03) 366 8288

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

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