Green MP Nandor Tanczos has criticised police for investigating cannabis offences when they are slow to respond to burglaries.
Mr Tanczos was interviewed by police last week after New Zealand First MP Craig McNair made a complaint about his cannabis use.
Police were still looking at the legal issues, Wellington district crime manager Detective Inspector Harry Quinn said yesterday, and further comment was unlikely before Friday.
Mr Tanczos wants cannabis decriminalised for people aged over 18, and has admitted using cannabis as part of his Rastafarian beliefs.
Yesterday, he said the time police took to respond to burglaries showed the public needed to decide on the allocation of resources.
He cited figures showing Counties-Manukau police took longer than 24 hours to respond to burglary complaints in August, compared with 15 hours in the same month last year.
"If it takes more than 24 hours to investigate a burglary, why the hell are police spending 280,000 sworn police hours - at a cost of $20 million - investigating cannabis offences?"
This time and money was mostly spent investigating and arresting adults for personal possession and use of cannabis.
Heavy police spending on policing the drug had failed to keep it out of schools, he said.
Money saved by not investigating responsible adult drug-users could be spent on more important things, "such as burglary, violent crime and those who sell drugs to kids".
- NZPA
Tanczos hits back at police crime priorities
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.