HEADS UP
BANG!
Positive vibrations
T
hings are looking up. There’s a new man in the White House. We have a new Government and NORML has already developed a new plan in response. The very first medical marijuana patients have been approved in New Zealand. The Misuse of Drugs Act is being fundamentally reviewed. This means we now have legal hemp and the beginnings of legal med-pot, and overall cannabis arrests are down 40 per cent from ten years ago. That’s good cause to celebrate. But on the downside, more people were busted for pot last year, while arrests for methamphetamine dropped. The police seriously need to re-think their priorities. Is this what the public wants? Speaking of which, this issue we present the low-down on the Law Commission’s review of the Misuse of Drugs Act, and your guide to the Police’s new search and surveillance powers. We also have an interview with Canadian Judge Jerry Paridis, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Nandor Tanczos presents a special feature covering all you need to know to grow hemp in New Zealand. Plus we have an interview with Tigi Ness, the elder statesman of New Zealand reggae. As the summer festival season approaches, this is a good time to learn your rights. Don’t wait until after you get busted! Five minutes now could save you a lot longer in the cells. Check it out on page 47. Next issue, I’ll be reporting from the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. Until then - enjoy!
Chris Fowlie Editor 4
N O R M L N e W S Summer 2008/9
Undercover cop who lied in court now wants to help
A
into police undercover work in 2004, has been hired by Police National Headquarters to independently investigate the allegations. See the forums at norml.org.nz for more info.
Patrick O’Brien says he is racked with guilt and has offered to assist anyone he helped put inside. “In every case I lied to the courts and I lied to the juries to obtain convictions against my targets... Telling lies was easy - policemen don’t tell lies’ - and my targets never stood a chance.” In a confession letter he sent to chief justice Dame Sian Elias, he said all but one of the juries returned a guilty verdict. The stress and shame of the work eventually broke O’Brien. He resigned from the force and fled New Zealand. “I am nearly 60 years old now, and in what time is left to me, intend correcting the wrong I have done.” Police National Headquarters received the letter last Christmas Eve, but an investigation did not begin until February, and has only recently been made public. In his confession letter O’Brien said he intended to “start knocking on doors and apologise” to those he had helped to wrongfully convict. “Should any target wish to seek remedy for my wrong, I will assist in whatever way I can.” Wellington lawyer Bruce Squire, QC, who also investigated allegations
Prohibition kills
former undercover cop who put over 150 people in jail has admitted he lied on oath every time he took the stand, and often tampered with evidence.
The recent murder of another undercover cop was a sad but inevitable consequence of current drug laws. Prohibition creates a lucrative black market that is controlled by force rather than rule of law - just like with Al Capone in the 1930’s. Sergeant Don Wilkinson was killed in September after being discovered planting a tracking device on a car outside a suspected P lab, joining a growing casualty list from the War on Drugs.
More pot busts New Zealand continues to have the world’s highest cannabis arrest rate, with another Kiwi toker arrested every 35 minutes. The latest Police crime statistics show they have put more effort into easy busts of pot smokers and less effort into hard drugs like methamphetamine (P). Cannabis arrests were up 5.8% in the year to 30 June 2008, but arrests for “new drugs” fell 11%. There were 15,288 arrests for cannabis, with 76% for personal use or possession. The only good news is that the cannabis busts are still 40% down on the peak of 25,293 arrests in 1998/99. www.NORML.org.nz