Prohibition may actually act to drive families apart as parents react adversely to the illicit habits of their children. It also breeds disrespect for the law amongst young people. Then by treating marijuana use as illegal, we label the estimated one million New Zealanders who have used it as criminals. Prohibition actually causes harms by involving otherwise law-abiding citizens who are marijuana smokers in the criminal scene. In 1993 there were 23,236 reported cannabis offences, up from 19,324 in 1992.
Offenders are predominantly young and male.
Youthful indiscretion resulting in a criminal conviction may restrict employment and travel opportunities for the rest of a person s life. The costs of enforcing prohibition are high. The costs to the police come on top of that. It is hard to defend spending on that scale enforcing a law which has little effect in deterring current and future users of marijuana. The interim report of the Prime Minister s Crime Prevention Action Group acknowledged that strict punitive measures against individual marijuana users are costly and counter-productive.