Mark Ron: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
Mark Ron: Motions — Misuse of Drugs (Changes to Controlled Drugs) Order 2003 
[Volume:608;Page:5669] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 One really needs to pick up on exactly where that speech left off. When the Greens said tonight that they would support any initiative to reduce drug abuse I guess what they failed to say was that it would be as long as they agreed with what they considered were the causes of drug abuse. We then get into a circular argument. I suggest to Nandor Tanczos that the sorts of things that I might consider caused drug abuse would be precisely the things that he did not consider caused it. Therefore he would then end up back where he likes to sit comfortably and that is approving nothing to actually address the problem. 
This is the first time I have ever heard the Greens calling for more resources to allow the police to investigate. I expect that if the police got more resources in the Budget the first thing they would be saying is that that would allow the “Gestapo police State” to continue to focus on Greens and people who harmlessly go about using marijuana. They cannot have their cake and eat it too. I applaud the call by the member for more funding for police. My question is what is he doing in his special relationship with the Government to ensure that it happens? What I see on a day-to-day basis is that this Government is able to operate because of support from the Greens—despite the fact that it is not putting more money into the police. 
That brings me around to the United Future party on the other side of the cross-benches. It is all very well and fine for United Future to say it supports this bill but if it took 2 seconds to listen to the Greens’ speech and couple that to all the election promises it made about the police it would be putting its foot on the throat of the Prime Minister to make sure that the sort of funding that Nandor Tanczos is talking about to make this law really worthwhile actually occurred. But what happened last year? We saw the police get $54 million more funding did we not? I ask the United Future party how far will that go? What does it mean when we see the police raking about $90 million in extra revenue through ticketing normally law-abiding New Zealanders on the road and involving a constable in Taihape who I suggest would be better off out there catching burglars drug growers drug dealers and drug suppliers. He is doing a job that a speed camera or a non-uniformed staff member could do so there is legitimacy in the argument that Nandor Tanczos advanced—[ 
Interruption 
] “Al Bundy” over on that side of the House really gets upset on occasions but he should listen to Nandor Tanczos because that is a legitimate criticism. We seem to be sitting here watching the Government pass law after law after law without one iota of commensurate policy or money to enable the police to enforce them. 
I applaud the reclassification of this drug as a class A drug. The ability to be able to search without a warrant is long overdue. Unlike Nandor Tanczos I believe that the thought that they might get a 6-month or 7-year jail sentence might deter some people from dabbling in the use of P. Regretfully the minds of many of those already indulging and addicted are so addled that nothing will deter them except their own deaths. For some of us who are sick and tired of paying their hospital bills maybe that should come a little more quickly. But maybe the point here is that we need to be looking at harder penalties again than those we are seeing for drug dealers drug suppliers and those who would set up the illicit homebake operations to produce P. 
I am not sure how many members sitting here tonight attended the Police Association presentation when they brought a gentleman out from Hawaii. He talked freely and frankly about the real downstream effects of P and the use of P on the streets. I can tell members this: amongst law enforcement officers in this country who are well aware of the problems being faced in the United States and in Hawaii there is a fear. I want this Government to think right now about the occupational safety and health issues that are currently facing the police force. As has been already pointed out some of the side effects of the use of P are paranoia and suicidal tendencies. One side effect is an enhanced human strength. In fact we saw photographs of a person high on P who had been shot six times by the police officer trying to stop him. He was shot twice in the head with a 3.57 magnum and it did not stop him. What do we have our police doing? They are carrying pepper spray. Oh yeah! There are people who get drunk on a Friday night who are able to deal with pepper spray as though it was just giving them a bad sneeze. P is over and above that again. Police officers say that one of the side effects of P is superhuman strength and therein lies an occupational safety and health threat to our front-line police officers. 
But do I see the Government pumping up the numbers of police on the streets? Do I see the Government pumping in extra funding? If we really want to get serious about the production and trafficking of methamphetamine why has the Government not taken aboard my suggestion to raise legislation entitled the “Suppression of Gangs Act” similar to the suppression of terrorism legislation? We all know—indeed Black Power members themselves have come out and said it—that the gangs are involved in the production and distribution of these drugs. Some gangs have seen the side effects of these drugs and are terrified of them. Denis O’Reilly said on television that Black Power was actively trying to stop people producing and using them. I do not believe that all Black Power members are trying to stop people producing distributing and using these drugs. Some elements of Black Power might be—particularly the ones who were on television that night—but not all of them are. 
People should not underestimate the threat posed by methamphetamine. There are stories of self-mutilation and of people high on P gutting themselves. Members should stop and think about that—people who are so high and so paranoid that they slam a knife into their own stomachs rip out their own entrails and sit there doing it as though they are playing with nana’s knitting. [ 
Interruption 
] “Al Bundy” should grow up! Officers have described people high on P who have been shot—and in the case I mentioned shot six times—and have continued to put up physical resistance. We have had stories in the paper of self-castration. It is good that the Government— 
Georgina Beyer 
: Don’t look at me! 
RON MARK 
: Georgina Beyer says not to look at her! It is good that the Government has brought this motion to the floor of the House. It is good that every party is supporting it—except the Greens which for its own reasons has decided not to. But it would convince more of us in this House that there is meaning behind this motion if the Government puts its money where its mouth is in this next Budget. It would be considerably better if the Government told the House that it will bring in a couple of hundred extra policemen and policewomen or that it will put not a lousy $54 million but every dollar it collects off road revenue from speed cameras back into policing. It is one thing to pass legislation that makes the Government look good in the polls; it is another thing to give the police and the Corrections Department the resources to deal with the results of such legislation. 
Up until now Mr Anderton has been occupied with old-age pensioners drinking far too much sherry and getting tipsy on port—so much so that he spent months and months poring over a piece of legislation and sucking the United Party into believing that it would address the teenage drinking problem. My horrible fear is that he has spent all of that time dealing with sherry and port and has only just now got around to P. The message to Mr Anderton is that this is far more important and greater threat to our young people than alcopops and light spirits. It demands that he put more money into policing and law enforcement and into places that deal with drug and alcohol rehabilitation. At the moment the only track record he has is that of being the person who when in Government closed down Queen Mary Hospital.