Maori Council wants more use of discretion

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the police to use their powers of discretion to stop sending Maori to prison for lowlevel drug offences now the cannabis referendum looks unlikely to pass.

Preliminary results for the cannabis referendum, announced on Friday, revealed 53% voted against legalisation, and 46% in favour.

Those campaigning yes to the cannabis referendum argued that fewer Maori would have a criminal record if it was legalised, as they were six times more likely to get a custodial sentence for cannabis than nonMaori.

New Zealand Maori Council chief executive Matthew Tukaki said he knew many Maori would be disappointed with the failure of the cannabis referendum.

However, he said the disparity in the policing of cannabis that leads to more Maori being charged and convicted for cannabis offences than nonMaori could still be addressed.

‘‘We should not delay in having a conversation — not about decriminalisation — but actually, reform of the criminal justice system more generally.

‘‘Police already have powers of discretion and instead what we see is them continue to arrest mostly brown kids, and Maori and Pasifika kids, when it comes to possession of cannabis — that’s a lowlevel form of offending that the police already have the ability to use discretion for but for some reason they’re not using it.

‘‘I’m sick and tired of seeing our people being nothing more than quotas to get the arrest numbers up.’’ — RNZ