Letters: Imprisonment is not the answer

Unacceptably 40 per cent of Maori in prison are there for drug offences, a reader writes.

Imprisonment is not the answer

Unacceptably 40 per cent of Maori in prison are there for drug offences which means that a significant proportion of children in those whanau grow up without one parent, making them in turn 20 times more likely to be imprisoned.

Maori are not implicitly criminal but these statistics show they are disproportionately let down by our education and justice systems.

A recent correspondent intimated that those families who use drugs don't deserve financial support. How about a drug policy that doesn't take away a family's income in the first place?

Treating drug use as a criminal issue has not had any impact on drug use per se.

Overseas evidence from Portugal, Uruguay and the United States indicates that drug intake, especially in teenagers, does not increase with decriminalisation of all drugs.

A public health approach could use money wasted on prisons for treatment and job creation which would protect the children and family of those dispossessed people who are more likely to suffer medical complications of alcohol and other drugs.

Let's have proportional consequences for this health issue, rather than depriving children for generations to come.
(Abridged)

Dr Tony Farrell MBChB FRNZCGP FAChAM
Mount Maunganui

ABs v Lions: it wasn't offside at all
If you study the position of the two relevant Lions in the "offside" incident, against the "Standard Life" logo, on the pitch, it shows the ball went back from the first Lions player's touch, to Owens.

Because the Lions player, who jumped for the ball, fell back, it made it look as if the ball went forward.

In fact, the first player was level with the "L" of "Life", whereas Owens was level with the "r" of Standard. Therefore the ball went back, not forward, so it wasn't offside at all.

Jim McCrone

Tauranga