NORML NZ has sent a letter to every MP urging them to vote 'no' on an amendment bill outlawing pipes, pipe parts, and vapourisers.
The letter points out that the Prime Minister has publicly acknowledged how the proposed ban on smoking paraphernalia would be counter-productive and harmful to health:
"While people use those implements for the consumption of illegal drugs, they're also used actually for genuine and practical reasons by other users, who are other people. So it's a question of whether that would practically work and even if you outlawed those whether they could use some makeshift home developed implement, so as a general rule no, my experience is they haven't worked very well." **
In the letter, NORML recommends that Parliament either delete the amendment to Clause 4 in the Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill 2010 prohibiting the import and supply of smoking paraphernalia, or amend the bill by substituting the text in the current clause with regulations to control the sale of cannabis utensils.
"NORML NZ endorses a draft notice that has been circulated by the Campaign for Safer Smoking entitled the 'Misuse of Drugs (Regulation of Cannabis Utensils) Notice 2011'," said the organisation's president Stephen McIntyre.
"The regulations in this notice would limit the availability of cannabis utensils to those aged over 18, and compel retailers to provide official information on the health risks of using cannabis to their customers."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Voxy.co.nz
Author: John Key
Copyright: 2010 Digital Advance Limited
The letter points out that the Prime Minister has publicly acknowledged how the proposed ban on smoking paraphernalia would be counter-productive and harmful to health:
"While people use those implements for the consumption of illegal drugs, they're also used actually for genuine and practical reasons by other users, who are other people. So it's a question of whether that would practically work and even if you outlawed those whether they could use some makeshift home developed implement, so as a general rule no, my experience is they haven't worked very well." **
In the letter, NORML recommends that Parliament either delete the amendment to Clause 4 in the Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill 2010 prohibiting the import and supply of smoking paraphernalia, or amend the bill by substituting the text in the current clause with regulations to control the sale of cannabis utensils.
"NORML NZ endorses a draft notice that has been circulated by the Campaign for Safer Smoking entitled the 'Misuse of Drugs (Regulation of Cannabis Utensils) Notice 2011'," said the organisation's president Stephen McIntyre.
"The regulations in this notice would limit the availability of cannabis utensils to those aged over 18, and compel retailers to provide official information on the health risks of using cannabis to their customers."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Voxy.co.nz
Author: John Key
Copyright: 2010 Digital Advance Limited
