Comparative data with Washington State which is the latest Peter B Lewis funded 'state initiative' [and IMHO his best yet, it's 'beyond' possession for medical use only] has some utility here. Washington State, the home of Seattle, Boeing and Microsoft has a population of 6 Million (50% higher than NZ). arrested 600 cases in 1998, down to 418 cases in 2001. This represents a shift in enforcement priority.
But wait...
Hang on, 418 successful prosecution cases... for 6 Million people.(April 2003) 1:14,000pop
Whereas New Zealand is 23,000 charges laid, resulting in some 9299 convictions for 4 million people. [yr 1999] or 1:426 pop
Where is the rationale for believing the war on drugs is US centric.
By any comparison, the New Zealand Police enforcement priorities are approx 32 times more vociferous than their Washington brothers, and thus deserving of scrutiny...
Especially as 52% of adult New Zealanders have smoked pot.. this is dangerous and perverse misappropriation of public health policy.
see [
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...juana31m0.html ]
Cheers