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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 33 No. 4. 7 April 1970

marijuana—At Easter Council

marijuana—At Easter Council

NZUSA has called upon the Government to legalise the controlled use of marijuana.

At Easter Council, discussion of the marijuana question continued for about an hour only. The Lincoln College delegation abstained from all motions but the remaining five universities (Otago having refused to attend the Council) were unanimous in their decisions on the motions pasted. These were:

That NZUSA call upon the Government to remove marijuana from the narcotics list.

That NZUSA call upon the Government to amend New Zealand's narcotic and drug legislation to include the legalisation of the controlled use of marijuana. (The words "controlled use of" were inserted in an amendment moved by Victoria. A note was added to the amendment to the effect that "this amendment does not imply that constituents feel that marijuana is in any way harmful.")

That NZUSA believes that the processes of the criminal law are inappropriate for the social control and treatment of drug usage and therefore supports the provision of adequate facilities for persons addicted to any form of drug, so that social provision becomes an effective means of combatting drug usage, rather than the drug-inducing tendencies of legal regulation. The text of this motion was suggested to the Council by Greg Macaulay, the President of NUAUS.

A motion from the Canterbury delegation which read, "That NZUSA recommend that legislation be introduced which would make it illegal to buy, sell or trade cannabis" was tabled until Winter Council. The intent of this motion, Canterbury President, David Cuthbert, explained, was to prevent the emergence of a marijuana trade run by "entrepreneurs, tax officials, Rothmans and people like that."

Some discussion of the course of action which should be taken to implement the motions passed, followed. Auckland President, Mike Law, said "There are a lot of people around who are resisting all the evidence which has been about drugs since the sixteenth century," and that NZUSA now had a policy on which it could take action.

It was agreed that the President of NZUSA should make submissions based on the background material prepared by constituents, to the Board of Health Committee on Drug Abuse and Drug Dependency in New Zealand.