Tanczos Nandor: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Tanczos Nandor: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:610;Page:7905] 
5.  
NANDOR TANCZOS (Green) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: Does he agree that “diverting minor cannabis offenders into compulsory health assessment for first possession and use offences rather than a criminal conviction” as recommended by the Health Committee would help achieve the objective of the Youth Offending Strategy to “prevent and reduce offending and reoffending by children and young people”; if not why not? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 Currently the police exercise a discretion regarding the possession or use of small amounts of cannabis whether to charge an offender to issue a warning or to use diversion as a response. With regard to youth offending Government policy contemplates a wide range of options including drug education and counselling treatment and the use of sanctions where appropriate. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: Does the Minister agree that from a youth justice perspective legislation such as that controlling cannabis ought to be “focused on preventing young people from using cannabis and protecting them from the harms associated with this controlled drug” as stated in the Health Committee’s report on cannabis? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: One of the roles of legislation is to discourage and deter negative behaviour and generally that is done by way of sanctions. As the Health Committee has acknowledged it is often better to prevent a form of behaviour than to react afterwards. Therefore education about the negative effects of cannabis use especially on young people would need to be a key part of the answer. 
Tim Barnett 
: Will the Government be changing the legal status of cannabis as a result of the Health Committee’s report? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: No in line with the confidence and supply agreement between Labour the Progressives and United Future the Government will not be contemplating any change in the legal status of cannabis. 
Craig McNair 
: Does he agree that the use of the word “minor” in the context of cannabis offending has effect at law; if so where is the word defined? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The police make a judgment as to whether an offence is sufficiently minor. Instead of charging a person with an offence they may recommend diversion or simply issue a warning. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is he concerned about the implications for the youth offending strategy of the practice highlighted by the Health Committee of schools being quicker to suspend students for cannabis use than for violence and does he think that suspending young people from school to languish around home or at a mate’s place will have the effect of reducing cannabis use or increasing it? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: It may well increase it. Crime statistics show that most crime committed by young people who ought to be at school is in fact committed by those who are not in school. If a kid is thrown out of school and that young person is then not under any supervision to me that produces a greater likelihood of that young person offending in that way. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree that it is quite possible to set up successful diversionary programmes without changing the legal status of cannabis? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Yes that is quite possible. Obviously the recommendations of the Health Committee will be taken seriously by the Government and its agencies. The police will seriously consider the recommendations made in regard to the use of diversion and whether drug education programmes ought to be part of that. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Has the Minister received reports directly from the police or via his colleague the Minister of Police expressing police gratitude for the fact that there is to be no change in the legal status of cannabis given the significant problems that young people are already facing with drugs in the wider community? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I have not received any such reports and I have not talked to my colleague the Minister of Police to see whether he has received such reports. The member would need to talk to him directly. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: Can the Minister tell the House what the implications for the youth offending strategy will be as a result of the comments made by the Health Committee that cannabis prohibition is not effective in limiting use that it makes targeting education and treatment more difficult and that it exposes cannabis users to hard drugs? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Prohibition can cause some problems such as those the member has indicated. That was set out in the submissions rather than in a decision by the committee. However the suggestion that removing the prohibition of cannabis would diminish its use is a long way from being proved; I would think that to the contrary the removal of prohibition and the lowering of the price would almost certainly lead to greater use of cannabis.