August 16, 2016
Maori cannabis toll unacceptable
Green MP Marama Davidson says a change to New Zealand’s drug laws would be sensible and progressive.
A Drug Foundation Survey has found almost two third of New Zealanders think possession of cannabis for personal use should be either legal or decriminalised, and four out of five think it should be legal for pain relief.
Prime Minister John Key says decriminalisation sends the wrong message to young people and people are unlikely to get prosecuted for small recreational use.
Ms Davidson says that’s not the experience of Maori people.
"I think it’s unacceptable that so many Maori are in oprison for possession. There needs to be a far better way of both reducing our incarceration as well as working in with the law, so the Greens have long stood for decriminalisation," she says.
Davidson says, indigenous peoples around the world have long used herbal substances like cannabis for pain relief or for ceremonies.
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