Drug law change tightened at 11th hour

A late change to a bill described as de facto decriminalisation of drug use is likely to swing the balance more towards police prosecutions and away from health referrals, the Police Association says.

But association president Chris Cahill said he still expected the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill to lead to a “significant” drop in prosecutions.

The late change means the test for prosecuting drug users will be whether a therapeutic approach would be more beneficial “to the public interest” rather than for the individual involved.

It was championed by New Zealand First and agreed to by Labour and the Greens, and accepted during the committee stage of the bill on Tuesday night.

The Police Association, the Drug Foundation, the Law Society and the Green Party have all called the original bill effective decriminalisation for drug use because it meant police should only prosecute drug users if that was a better outcome than a therapeutic approach.

Cahill said the new change will swing the pendulum back towards the status quo. “I wouldn’t say it’s a game changer, but it evens things up more towards the ability to prosecute.

“It still leaves a hell of a lot of room for legal argument about what the public interest is.”

Under the original bill, Cahill said, police would consider health and addiction issues if they came across a group of people smoking methamphetamine at a kids’ playground.

Under the changed bill, he said, the officers would consider the environment and whether the activity was harming the community.

He still expected prosecutions for drug use to drop significantly.

In 2017/18, 1351 people were charged with drug use/possession where that was their most serious charge; about 1000 people were convicted and 52 were imprisoned, mostly from charges relating to methamphetamine and cannabis.

Health Minister David Clark said the aim of the bill had not changed.

“Generally I would expect in the public interest it would be more sensible to apply a therapeutic approach.”

NZ First law and order spokesman Darroch Ball said the change would align the bill more closely with current police practice.

Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said the change was more or less meaningless.

“Whether the test is for the public interest or the individual, the practical outcome should be the same.”