Controlling and Regulating Drugs - an issues paper on the reform of New Zealand's drug laws

The Drug Foundation has published its submission to the Law Commission's issues paper - "Controlling and Regulating Drugs" - on the reform of New Zealand’s drug laws.

Our comments on this report are influenced by our guiding principles, including a commitment to evidence-based best practice and policy, and harm minimisation. Information about the Drug Foundation is appended to this submission.

The Drug Foundation has had a very long interest in bringing our 35-year old drug law up-to-date. We welcome the Law Commission’s first principles approach to the review of the Misuse of Drugs Act and agree with the Commission’s own assessment that the Act is outdated and does not reflect current knowledge and understanding about drug use and related health, social and economic harms.

We believe that Controlling and Regulating Drugs is a well researched and comprehensive report that provides an excellent springboard for further debate of the issues. Chapters 1 to 7 provide thorough background and context and we do not propose to make specific comments regarding these chapters. In calling for public submissions, we note that the Commission has identified a range of questions from the remaining chapters that have been grouped under eight areas: proposed approach to drug regulation; classification of prohibited drugs; dealing; personal use offences; enforcement and the criminal law; exemptions to prohibition; achieving balance in drug policy; and the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Act 1966. We have structured our submission under these eight broad areas.

Throughout our submission, we focus on addressing only those questions that we believe fall under our core area of interest and expertise. We devote considerable attention to an alternative approach towards possession of drugs for personal use. For many of the questions that have been posed in the report, we note that the Law Commission outlines options for consideration before indicating its own preference. With a few notable exceptions, the Drug Foundation endorses many of the options that the Law Commission favours. Our submission gives particular emphasis to the areas where our views diverge from the Law Commission’s preferred options. We also elaborate on some areas that we believe have not received sufficient attention in Controlling and Regulating Drugs and that we believe warrant further consideration.

We believe that the current review provides an excellent opportunity for New Zealand to drag its drug laws into the 21st century. A key objective of the current review is to propose a contemporary legislative framework for regulating drugs that supports and enhances the effectiveness of drug policy. While we strongly endorse this goal, we have concerns that inadequate attention has been given to the weaknesses of current drug policy. Although our National Drug Policy 2007-2011 is based on the principle of harm minimisation, we believe that beyond this laudable goal, it lacks clear direction, well founded priorities, and specific actions. It also does little to facilitate true inter-agency engagement. We believe that future drug policy must be more firmly grounded on the evidence and provide greater clarity to all stakeholders. A review of the outcomes of the current National Drug Policy should be a priority.

Underlying our submission is our belief that drug use should be viewed primarily through a health and social lens rather than a criminal justice one. As such, we welcome efforts at rebalancing our drug laws so that efforts to curb supply are also better supported by measures aimed at reducing demand and minimising harm. We believe that any new approach to personal use should be underpinned by the following core principles:

• it should not encourage drug use, nor patterns of use which may increase harm
• it should direct  dependent drug users into education and treatment
• it should reduce the adverse social costs of being apprehended for minor drugs offences
• it should move supply of drugs away from large-scale, criminal, commercial suppliers
• it should free up the police and the courts to deal with more serious crimes.

To inform our own submission and encourage public submissions, we have engaged in consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. These have included our members, our board, a special MODA advisory group, academics/researchers, youth and community leaders and treatment providers. We have also met with young people currently in residential treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. We have endeavoured to reflect the range of voices we have heard during our consultations in this submission. We also wish to congratulate the Law Commission for the extensive consultations that it has had with a range of stakeholders throughout the country as part of its review process.