|
New
Zealand:
Parliament
Reclassifies
Speed
and
Ecstasy,
Stiffer
Penalties
Coming
8/5/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/398/newzealand.shtml
The New Zealand Parliament
Thursday okayed the rescheduling of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS),
such as Ecstasy and methamphetamine from category B to category B1.
It was a move sought by the New Zealand government in the wake of evidence
of increasing ATS use in the South Pacific island nation.
The move will dramatically
increase penalties. For example, possession with intent to distribute
ATS drugs, which previously carried a maximum sentence of three months
is now worth up to 14 years in prison. It also gives police greater
search and seizure powers in ATS-related investigations.
Associate Health Minister
Jim Anderton praised the move, saying the stimulants were extremely harmful.
"By supporting this move, Parliament is saying that it is not in the public
interest for them to be used as so-called recreational drugs," he said
in a statement after the vote.
Concern about methamphetamine
in particular has been on the increase in New Zealand since a police report
last year warned that the drug was easily available. The vote came
just two weeks after a well-publicized ATS bust involving white-collar
managerial workers in Auckland.
The recent bust reinforced
the findings in the police report, said local police commander Ted Cox.
"The report indicated availability of these types of drugs as 'easy' or
'very easy' and that ATS drug use is prevalent across the community not
just in the criminal world," he told the New Zealand Herald. "The
study showed a percentage of ATS drug users had high levels of fulltime
employment, came from a range of occupational backgrounds including professionals,
earned mid-level incomes and had relatively high levels of educational
achievement," Cox said.
So we should send them to
prison for a few years?
-- END --
|
Issue #398
-- 8/5/05
Feature:
Marc
Emery
Busted
--
Canada's
Leading
Marijuana
Activist
Facing
Life
in
American
Prison
Over
Seed
Sales
|
Feature:
The
Methamphetamine
Epidemic
--
Less
Than
Meets
the
Eye
|
Feature:
Prison
Protest
Aiming
for
DC
in
Eight
Days
|
Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Patriot
Act:
House
Reauthorization
Includes
New
"Narcoterrorism"
Offense
|
Patriot
Act:
Sold
as
Fighting
Terrorists,
Act
is
Used
in
Marijuana-Smuggling
Investigation
|
Search
and
Seizure:
New
Jersey
Police
Looking
for
Marijuana
Growers
Must
Have
Warrant
to
See
Utility
Records,
Appeals
Court
Holds
|
Treatment:
Congress
Lifts
30-Patient
Limit
for
Buprenorphine
Treatment
|
Marijuana:
Denver
SAFER
Initiative
Headed
for
November
Ballot
|
New
Zealand:
Parliament
Reclassifies
Speed
and
Ecstasy,
Stiffer
Penalties
Coming
|
Treatment:
New
Web
Site
Provides
Resources
on
Opiate
Agonist
Therapy
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Job
Opportunity:
Prevention
Point
Pittsburgh
|
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
