Mānawatia a Matariki, it’s Māori New Year and our drug laws are still racist. Plus, the Green Party has a new drug law reform policy that includes regulating cannabis.
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Is Police discretion for cannabis possession racist?
On Newshub Nation this week, more evidence police discretion for drugs offences still isn’t working and Māori are impacted at an “alarming rate”.
New figures show that last year more than a thousand people were convicted for cannabis possession – 49 percent of them Māori.
One hundred and eighty people were sent to prison with a cannabis possession charge in 2022.
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While the overall number of people prosecuted for cannabis possession has been dropping, the proportion of Māori is on the rise.
For the first time, in 2022 the actual number of Māori convicted overtook Pākehā.
We need proper cannabis law reform, because the absence of reform means vulnerable and ‘stereotypical’ people continue to be subject to police harassment and prosecution – whether intentional or not.
The NZ Drug Foundation’s Sarah Helm, who I caught up with this week, was quoted saying “We’re getting it wrong for Māori in particular, we’re getting it wrong for everyone. If we try and do better for Māori, we will end up doing better for everyone, essentially.”
Chlöe Swarbrick said the discriminatory application of police discretion was a predictable outcome.
“if…
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