November 19, 2018
Health and justice experts call for drug war end
Māori health advocacy group Hāpai Te Hauora is backing a call for the Government to double its investment in drug harm reduction.
The Health Not Handcuffs Coalition, which includes a range of public health and justice advocates. has launched a petition calling for a $150 million increase in Budget 2019.
Hāpai Māori public health general manager Janell Dymus-Kurei says no one is winning the war on drugs and criminalising drug use has caused irreparable harm, especially to whānau Māori.
She says drug use needs to be seen as a health issue.
Health Not Handcuffs says the continued criminalisation of cannabis is fuelling the synthetic cannabinoid crisis which has killed 50 people over the past 18 months.
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