Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:623;Page:18873] 
5.  
JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: Is he satisfied with the current legal status of cannabis; if so why? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 The Labour-Progressive Government is satisfied with the current illegal status of cannabis. It is illegal because of the empirical evidence that cannabis use is particularly harmful to young people those with mental health disorders and their families and their communities. 
Judy Turner 
: Has the Minister seen new research released yesterday from the Christchurch school of medicine confirming a clear link between cannabis use and an increased risk of psychosis; if so is this not even more compelling evidence that the current legal status of cannabis should not change? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Yes I have seen that and I believe that all members of Parliament should take the opportunity to read it. It is instructive not only for those who use cannabis on a heavy-dose basis but even for those who are casual users. 
Hon Matt Robson 
: What advice has the Minister received in relation to the legal status of cannabis? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: I am chairing public meetings around New Zealand on the misuse of methamphetamine alcohol and other drugs. The strong feedback that I am getting from those communities from parents and from people who work with young New Zealanders is that cannabis should remain illegal. Many note that the biggest substance abuse problem in New Zealand by a country mile—the one that leads to most of our problems of violence and abuse—comes from a legal drug alcohol. The second-biggest problem is caused by cannabis and communities tell me that if we decriminalised it then cannabis would cease to be our second-biggest drug problem and might instead escalate to compete with alcohol. 
Rod Donald 
: Does the Minister agree with his colleague Damien O’Connor who said on Monday: “Take marijuana; it’s illegal so there are no outlets there’s no advertising there’s no legal purchase age and there’s no taxation. Do these controls stop people smoking cannabis? No. Do they reduce the harm? No. Do they eliminate the wider problems of cannabis in our society? No.”; if so does he agree that prohibition is an ineffective way to tackle the health problems of cannabis use? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: What I do know is that legal smoking of tobacco kills 4700 New Zealanders a year. If tobacco were illegal I have no guarantee that it would kill any fewer; it might do still more damage. So I do not believe that legalising marijuana is a good move and a direction for New Zealand to take and therefore I do not agree with my colleague from the West Coast. 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: I seek leave to table my complete speech so that all the members of the Green Party can read the whole speech. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Judy Turner 
: Has the Minister seen research from the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and the Australian National Drug Research Institute that shows that prohibition of cannabis does limit the amount consumed by heavy users and does he agree that that justifies retaining its current legal status in New Zealand? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Yes I have seen that evidence and much other evidence that lead me to believe that the present prohibition on cannabis in this country is the correct prohibition for us to have. 
Steve Chadwick 
: Has the Minister seen studies or reports that link cannabis use with psychotic symptoms or mental health disorders? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Yes. I think that was the report referred to in the original question. As I say I think it would be instructive for members of Parliament to read that report. Other empirical work is also being done in New Zealand however. Late last year the National Drug Policy’s discretionary fund allocated funding to a number of projects. Three projects deal with research into the health effects of cannabis. These studies aim to gather information on the effects of cannabis on users’ lungs how it compares with the use of tobacco and the impact on New Zealand households of expenditure on cannabis. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister accept that his proposed drug classification system which will establish a new class class D will open the door wide for any future Labour-Green Government to decriminalise cannabis without the need for legislation; if not why not? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: No I do not. The classification I am seeking is for legal substances. Cannabis is an illegal substance. 
Mark Peck 
: Has the Minister seen the book written by Trevor Grice and Tom Scott  
The Great Brain Robbery 
; if so would he recommend that members of Parliament have a look at this document before they advocate any further liberalisation in the area of substance abuse? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Yes and yes. 
Judy Turner 
: Has the Minister seen the latest magazine from NORML—an ideological cousin of the Green Party—which celebrates the fact that the new class D could “open the way for cannabis to be reclassified downwards”; if so will he give a guarantee that this will not happen on his watch? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: No I cannot say that I have studied that document. 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Why not? 
Hon JIM ANDERTON 
: Well I have other things to do. I do not agree with it in any case.