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NZ's high cannabis arrest rate makes sobering reading
NZ's high cannabis arrest rate makes sobering reading on Support, Don't Punish day
To mark global "Support, Don't Punish" day today, NORML has collated figures for cannabis apprehensions since 1994, or half the four decades the Misuse of Drugs Act has been in force.
Support, Don't Punish day aims to focus attention on the harmful aspects of criminal drug laws while calling for more support for those drug users who actually need it.
"Current policy heavily emphasises punishment," says Chris Fowlie, spokesperson for NORML, who notes that more than 10,000 people will be prosecuted by police for cannabis this year.
"The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 was
passed forty years ago. It’s obvious this law has failed
miserably. Use rates remain among the highest in the world,
despite draconian search powers, heavily punitive sanctions,
one of the highest arrest rates in the world and even the
involvement of our military," said Mr Fowlie.
"The
figures for cannabis arrests that we uncovered make for sobering
reading!"
• Over 449,000 people were arrested for
drugs in that 20-year period, or eleven per cent of all
recorded crime
• 85% of all drug arrests are for
cannabis, contrary to Government assurances they concentrate
on serious crime
• 87% of all cannabis arrests are
for personal amounts, contrary to Police assurances they
don’t arrest pot smokers
• That’s an average of
18,000 cannabis arrests per year, or fifty per day, every
single day. Another every 29 minutes!
• Counting
just people arrested for small personal cannabis gives an
average of 15,800 per year or 43 people arrested every
single day (one every 33 minutes).
What makes this even worse, says Mr Fowlie, is that the Ministry of Health's own research says that 40% of cannabis users are medical.(http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/cannabis-use-2012-13-new-zealand-health-survey)
Medical users in particular deserve support and compassion, not punishment and intolerance, said Mr Fowlie.
More
information is at The Daily Blog, Chris Fowlie – One of
many: Punished and not supported
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/06/25/guest-blog-chris-fowlie-one-of-many-punished-and-not-supported/
ENDS
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