Drug Law Reform
All drugs can cause harm. Inconsistent legislation only causes more. The Green’s Drug Law Reform policy would see one law covering all psychoactive drugs. Each drug would be treated differently depending on its level of harm. The drug problem would be tackled on two fronts: reducing drug abuse and reducing the size of the drug market. Drug treatment also features in the plan. For example, the first response to underage use of any drug should be some basic drug education and assessment, and if there is a drug problem, proper treatment. At the moment the law is silent and so some young people get a slap on the hand, others get expelled from school, while others get a criminal conviction.
If you want to be kept up to date on drug issues email Metiria's office.
Got a question about our policy?
Frequently Asked Questions:
Cannabis Law Reform FAQ
Medical Use FAQ
Cannabis Infringement Bill FAQ
What's New
Norman challenges Key to save lives
The Green Party today called on John Key to allow his National MPs a conscience vote on whether the blood alcohol content (BAC) of drivers should be lowered.
Tobacco Products Amendment Bill - Kevin Hague's first reading speech
"Health status reflects a couple of things. It reflects the level of empowerment of a particular community and it reflects the kind of environment that surrounds that community. Health promotion says that if we want to make a difference we need to empower communities, especially those that are the most deprived, and we need to create environments that facilitate better health outcomes. We do that through community development, we do it through creating healthy public policy, such as this bill, and we do it through personal skills and re-orienting health services. I look forward to that being included in our comprehensive approach."
Tobacco Products Amendment Bill - Kevin Hague's second speech
"Although we vote for this measure tonight, the Green Party seeks a comprehensive suite of measures that are focused not only on tobacco control but ones that address those risk environments: racism, poverty, and marginalisation of every sort."
Law Commission public meetings on Controlling and Regulating Drugs
Where: St John't Hall Cnr Dixon & Willis St
In February of this year, the Law Commission released an issues paper on the Review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 called Controlling and Regulating Drugs.
The conclusions of the review are very similar to what the Green Party has been promoting for years - rational drug policy based on harm minimisation.
NORML is organising this public meeting. It is an opportunity for you to learn more from the people who wrote the issues paper and to feedback to them any issues you think should be included in the final report.
Law Commission public meetings on Controlling and Regulating Drugs
Where: SUB meeting room 2, Vic Uni Kelburn
In February of this year, the Law Commission released an issues paper on the Review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 called Controlling and Regulating Drugs.
The conclusions of the review are very similar to what the Green Party has been promoting for years - rational drug policy based on harm minimisation.
NORML is organising this public meeting. It is an opportunity for you to learn more from the people who wrote the issues paper and to feedback to them any issues you think should be included in the final report.
Drug Law Reform Links
Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation - this recently launched (merged) US organisation seeks to broaden the debate on drugs and drug policy. Includes an extensive collection of full-text drug and drug policy-related materials, searchable by topic.
Green Cross - the NZ Medical Marijuana Users Group have an impressive site to assist ill New Zealanders gain knowledge regarding the medicinal use of cannabis. With information, personal stories, and research on a wide range of conditions, and guidelines on how to apply to the Government for a medical cannabis permit.
NORML NZ - National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Activist tips and the latest NZ drugs and drug law reform news with their excellent free quarterly magazine, (now with a print run of 30,000) called NORML News.
MAP NZ News - A good Web source of NZ drugs and drug law reform news, You can display the NZ news on the MAP site as headlines only or with brief descriptions and search it in a variety of ways. Through NORML NZ you can get involved in the global MAP project which seeks to gather all the published drugs and drug law reform news through a network of Newshawks and then distribute them to encourage newspaper letters page writing.
Suggest or comment on a link. Email: webmaster@greens.org.nz
