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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 5. March 26 1979

From the Courts

From the Courts

This week a 49 year old man appeared before Mr. Gilbert SM who fined him $400 and $10 costs on a charge of cultivating cannabis. The man was emphatic that the cannabis was for his own use. A week earlier another man was heavily fined for possession of cannabis which he said he used because it eased his asthma.

Whatever your attitude to cannabis it is clear that there is too much legislation in New Zealand which repressive and undemocratic. One of the ideals of a liberal democracy is liberty, something which is becoming less evident in this country, espec-especially as people are not permitted to live as they wish in their own homes. Until something definite is proved against cannabis the government and the courts should keep their fingers out of other people's private deals.

Just how much can you rely on getting justice dealt out fairly in the supreme court these days? This question may well be asked following the setting of a precedent in the supreme court this week when a post-verdict poll of the jury nullified the verdict. Two jurers admitted doubts over a verdict of guilty following questioning by the judge. One jurer said she felt pressured into the wrong decision because she thought the others were more intelligent than her.

How many innocent people have gone to prison because of a doubting jurer has given way under the pressure of remembering a long trial and then deliberating the verdict for hours on end. It's about time that those who administer the judicial system realized that they are playing with peoples lives and acted accordingly.

Chris Conway