The number of marijuana plants seized each year in New Zealand is only a “small portion” of those grown the police say. If that is the case why don’t they legalize it so they don’t have to waste law enforcement looking for it? Police say a rise in marijuana plant seizures since 2000 reflected an increase in illicit growers and targeted action. Roughly 140,000 plants were seized throughout 2008-2009 in New Zealand, along with 1157 people being arrested.
In Canterbury alone 66 people have been arrested in 2009-2010 and the number of plants has only been 1845. Overall New Zealand has dropped in the number of marijuana plants seized. It has dropped down toe 118,000 and 912 people being arrested.
Detective Paul Berry went on to say that only a fraction of the plants seized are actually a portion of the marijuana grown in the country. He said, “There’s no way we can fly all the areas to get all the cannabis. We are really looking at areas that are known to be hot spots.” Exactly why legalizing marijuana would save on wasted police manpower.
The social cost of marijuana estimates to be $11,790 per each kilogram. However, commercial growing operations were often linked to another crime.
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Tags: growers, Marijuana, New Zealand, police
