Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:15867] 
1. MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: Can he confirm that it is the Government’s policy not to change the legal status of cannabis; if so is he confident that other policies implemented by his ministerial colleagues are consistent with this commitment? 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 The Government has no plans to change the current legal status of cannabis. Ministers act in accordance with this commitment. 
Marc Alexander 
: Does the Minister agree that teaching children how to use drugs safely is in direct conflict with the law for which the Minister has responsibility; if so why has he condoned the distribution of a Ministry of Youth Development drug education handbook to schools this month given that it takes this kind of harm minimisation approach? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: That booklet is not at all about teaching children how to use drugs safely. The thrust of the drug education programme is to stop children and young people from using drugs. But it is a bit like alcohol. We say that young people should not use alcohol but we say particularly strongly that they should not use alcohol and drive a car. The same approach should be taken with cannabis—that is one should not use cannabis but most particularly one should not use cannabis and drive a car. That is a sensible approach to take in this education programme. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: How does the National Drug Policy seek to deal with the problem of drug abuse? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: The National Drug Policy adopts a three-pronged approach. The first is to try to control the supply of drugs by law enforcement; the second is to reduce the demand for drugs which is done through drug education; and the third is to apply treatment for those suffering harm from drug and alcohol abuse. 
Richard Worth 
: In the light of the spiralling use of methamphetamine and other drugs why is the Government chopping the number of residential or inpatient treatment beds for drug addiction so that there are now about 110 fewer; and would it not be responsible to increase the number of beds rather than axe them? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: My colleague the Associate Minister of Health did just that as Mr Worth might be aware. He has opened a new residential drug treatment facility for the central region. 
Craig McNair 
: Can the Minister indicate what steps if any he is taking to persuade other parties with whom his Government has a cooperation arrangement that legalising cannabis freeing up access to drugs for young people and generally softening up current drug laws is undesirable? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: It is not my role to write drug or any other policy for any other party in this House but my advice to anyone is that we want to see less use of illicit drugs and less abuse of alcohol and all parties should take that approach. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: Does the Minister support the development of a consistent and integrated framework for regulating all drugs—one that is based on expert evidence of the best way to reduce harm to society and individuals from drug use; and does he think we might be able to see such a common-sense approach implemented after the next election? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: If the member is asking me to endorse his recently announced drug policy I will decline to do that. I believe that all drug and alcohol policy should be evidence based. 
Marc Alexander 
: Is the Minister satisfied with the situation whereby one arm of the Government is attempting to uphold the prohibition on drug use but another promotes educational programmes that do not have drug avoidance as their primary goal and in fact seek to avoid promoting abstinence in case it—and I quote from page 7 of the drug education handbook—“stigmatises experimentation with drugs as deviant behaviour”? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: There is in fact consistency in the approach of all Government departments and all Ministers in this matter and the advice we take on drug education is to follow international best-practice. That drug handbook does just that for schools. It tells schools the most effective way of communicating to students in a way that will get an improvement by way of drug reduction and hopefully drug elimination. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Has the Government received any other letters or reports on the question of abstinence; if so from whom? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: That is an invitation on a different matter and I decline to answer. 
Marc Alexander 
: Has the Minister finally read the Ministry of Youth Development drug education handbook given that he stated in the House on 19 May that he had not at that point and has he expressed any concerns to the Minister of Youth Affairs or the Associate Minister of Health that their Green-Party approach to drug education is inconsistent with the law? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: To the best of my knowledge the drug education handbook for schools on the best practice for eliminating and reducing drug use is not the policy that has been announced by the Greens though there may be some parallels. If the member looks at the work that has been done for example by Roger Sowry as an Associate Minister of Health under National he will see that Mr Sowry talked a lot about harm minimisation. World Heath Organization guidelines have been followed by successive Governments in this country. We look at following best-practice— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Oh spare us! 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I can table it if the member likes. Would he like me to?