Why Does It Take So Long For Our Government To Move On Important Social Issues?

Kiwi Party
Press Release
June 17, 2011
"Are we going to see another long drawn out process before the Government begins to face up to the issues surrounding the widespread availability and use of Kronic and other synthetic cannabinoids", askes Simonne Dyer deputy leader of the Kiwi Party? "Their snail's pace handling of the disastrous effects of alcohol abuse in our country does not fill me with confidence that this particular drug issue will be dealt with in a meaningful way in the near future", continued Dyer.

"It took Western Australia just four to five weeks from being notified by the medical profession of the dangers involved in the use of Kronic to totally banning its availability for sale. Today Peter Dunne, Associate Health Minister, in a change of heart from his previous stance, stated that in a few weeks the government would make synthetic cannabinoids available for purchase only to those over eighteen years and then next year move on the Law Commission's recommendation to make firms have to prove a synthetic drug was safe before it could be sold.

"Marijuana is an illegal substance so surely a synthetic drug manufactured to duplicate the effects of marijuana should be quickly made illegal as well. Our medical professionals are telling us of the dangers in using these substances as shown in the young people turning up in hospital emergency departments, but then they are also giving us a clear picture of the numbers of injured drunken patients also turning up in increasing numbers in our hospital emergency departments and the intolerable situations the doctors and nurses continue to face in dealing with these people.

"New Zealand has a very high rate of alcohol and drug abuse and it's long past time the government took real steps to deal with these issues", concluded Dyer.

Ends

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