Tougher marijuana stance on agenda

Press, 8 June 1989, Page 8

Tougher marijuana stance on agenda

By

TONY VERDON

in London

The Minister of Police, Mr Tapsell, is likely to advocate a tougher stance on marijuana when he returns from overseas at the end of the month. There was little enthusiasm for the decriminalisation of marijuana use in Scandinavia, he said in London on Tuesday. Mr Tapsell is half-way through a month-long overseas trip, during which he is discussing the drug problem with Government and police officials in various countries. He said it was already clear to him that other countries were having the same problems with drugs

as New Zealand. Mr Tapsell created a storm of protest when he said before starting his trip that New Zealand should face up to the marijuana problem. New Zealand was taking a halfhearted attitude to the drug, with police resources being tied up in dealing with 16,500 prosecutions last year, he said. In spite of the number of prosecutions, it was clear the police were making little headway with the problem. Mr Tapsell said on Tuesday that before leaving New Zealand he was personally in favour of taking a tougher stance, including stiffer penalties, against cannabis use. He said in Scandinavia

last week and early this week he had found governments and the police opposed to the decriminalisation of the drug. “European countries are now more inclined to take a harder line on the drug.” But Mr Tapsell said he would be .making a speech on the drug problem soon after he returned to New Zealand later this month.

Mr Tapsell was meeting the British Minister of Police, Earl Ferrers, to discuss the issue early yesterday. Mr Tapsell said he would continue studying the issue while in the United States next week, and did not want to say more about it until his speech in New Zealand.