From: aldis@peg.pegasus.oz.au
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:46 EST
Subject: NSW MPs call for MJ decriminalisat
Nf-ID: #N:peg:225100141:000:3091
Nf-From: peg.pegasus.oz.au!aldis    Aug 14 15:46:00 1992


This article has been reproduced for distribution on this network
with the kind permission of Australian Associated Press. 
Reproduction in any other form is subject to normal copyright
requirements. 

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DECRIMINALISE MARIJUANA SAY MPS

SYDNEY, Aug 11 AAP _ Two New South Wales MPs have called for the
decriminalisation of personal marijuana use in a bid to unclog the
state's justice system.

Ann Symonds, deputy chair of parliament's social issues
committee, today released a personal report calling for the
adoption of South Australian laws under which possession or use of
marijuana weighing less than 25 grams attracts an on-the-spot fine.

"You just can't keep filling up the courts and the jails with
people because they're using marijuana," Mrs Symonds told
reporters.

"We are campaigning against the smoking of tobacco by education
and health programs and we are not jailing people for smoking
tobacco.

"The hypocrisy has to end."

Police Minister Ted Pickering has rejected previous calls to
legalise marijuana use, but Mrs Symonds said he had "missed the
point".

"I am not in the business of promoting illegal drugs," she said.

"Everything I am proposing in this report is simply related to
the fact that we must deal with the drug differently in order to
minimise the harm that it is producing in the community, and that
harm largely arises from the criminal status of the drug.

"If you can redirect money that is now being used in the
interdiction process and the prohibition process to education and
health policies, then surely we will be as effective in that way as
we are with tobacco and alcohol."

Democrat MLC Richard Jones said the current law turned otherwise
law-abiding young people into criminals.

"While this government takes an ultra-soft line against its
friends marketing killer drugs, it takes an illogical and
hypocritical line towards marijuana, which is far less harmful than
tobacco," he said.

Mrs Symonds said she released her personal report out of
frustration at the government's refusal to continue a reference to
the social issues committee on illicit drug use.

The reference lapsed with the change of government and Mrs
Symonds said hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money
had been wasted because it was not reinstated.

But social issues committee chair Marlene Goldsmith denied the
money had been wasted or that the committee was avoiding the issue
of illicit drugs use.

The committee had handed down two reports, Medically Acquired
HIV and Juvenile Justice in NSW, since the illicit drugs inquiry
began, she said.

AAP tma/mjm/lp
11-08 1745

                         * * * * *

Australian Associated Press (AAP) is a news wire service specialising
in the provision of general news articles for print, radio and 
television media.  Address: GPO Box 3888, SYDNEY  2001, AUSTRALIA.  
Phone: +61 2 236 8800.  Fax: +61 2 236 8839.


Disclaimer:  I am not an employee or associate of Australian Associated 
Press.  I just think they provide a reasonable news service.

Aldis Ozols
Sydney, Australia
Newsgroups: alt.drugs