The Psychology of Economics

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Summary

In February 2010, the Law Commission recommended that the Government overhaul the country’s drug laws with a view to treating drug misuse as a health problem. The Commission said the ‘use of drugs, even by those who are dependent on them, is largely treated as a matter solely of criminal policy rather than health policy. It should, however, be the concern of both’.

It went on the say, ‘[We] think that the criminal justice system has a key role to play in identifying individuals whose drug use is causing harm and diverting them into drug education, assessment and treatment … Simply punishing a drug user, without taking steps to address their drug use, is a wasted opportunity.’

The Minister of Justice responded by saying that ‘there’s not a single, solitary chance that as long as I’m the Minister of Justice, we’ll be relaxing drug laws in New Zealand’.

Yet the same politician’s attitude to regulation and education is the reverse when it comes to dealing with loan sharks.