I went through the technical argument behind the scenes in January. The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs – which has been sitting on this for a year – came through. Sue Grey's a champ.

I have a dim…

It's a bit of a persistent factoid that Philippa Anderton's death was drug-related. It was deeply tragic, but it was related to mental illness rather than drug use. His son did suffer…

I'd have thought that it's the incongruity of Anderton's more throwback views with his wider supposed progressiveness that's historically riled and exasperated…

I just finished reading Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. It makes a compelling case for drug law reform which has really given me something to think about although I still have issues with decriminalisation.

Seems he might have a way to go yet. I…

Gah, I know that I said I wanted to move past discussion about Dunne, but a year ago he was literally the…

At one point he had the theo-cons Paul "God's Little Rally Driver" Adams and Gordon Copeland beside him in Parliament.

Perhaps what Dunne needs is a nice biopic.

That isn't what I'm coming down on him for. But yes, this goes nowhere. I don't know what's possible in drug reform because that comes down entirely to whether it gets political support, how the horse…

Dunne has a caucus? "Nutbars", such a cute expression.

In the speech, statement and interviews linked to in the post above, in which he proposes an undeniably radical…

I'm genuinely excited by the fact that the Act will have to be rewritten after the election(the process…

Because functionally it's as if McClay still held the portfolio.

Well, from what you said earlier:

Although when I interviewed Dunne last year, he insisted that he’d always held such views and making no change to the law on cannabis a condition of United Future’s coalition support…

Here's McClay, last month, rushing to the press to denounce Gareth Morgan's cannabis decriminalisation proposal:

"Young people taking drugs and voting should never be linked. Drug abuse is harmful…

So your problem is that he listened to evidence and changed his mind?

Sometime before now, when it’s likely he’s not going to make another…

Yup. I'm not buying it. The guy is like a double agent for prohibition.

I’m puzzled about what you think he should have achieved. He delivered the National…

No, they were legal for years before that. The Psychoactive Substances Act was actually a very bold initiative, one that passed with only one dissenting vote in Parliament. Clearly, synthetic cannabinoids…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no00oHll06w

Obvious hyperbole, I'd say. He'd need to be in his eighties. For the excessively factual, he was first a minister in 1987 (for Labour) and, has been seated in a ministerial limo, or at least a government supporting MP, for most years since…

I believe this comes under the heading of "when I'm presented with contrary evidence, I change my mind, what do you do?"

O'Connor, I think, toned it down when he realised he might be a Labour candidate, but he's on record as saying that if we're to…

Does that also mean earlier (non-drug related) offences, such as vehicle related offences (unpaid fines, driving without a licence, etc.) disqualifies someone for that clean slate consideration?

Yeah, nah, we do. Police discretion is having an impact, but on a formal level, diversion and pre-charge warnings only work for people with a clean slate.

My question is why was Peter Dunne so resistant to Helen Kelly's request for medicinal cannabis for her and others only last year?

Hmn..only if decriminalisation of of all unregulated drugs is in direct conflict with Dunnes’ alcohol and tobacco interests.

Labour have put a hanger and flogger up in Dunne's loyal and beloved seat, so it's quite possible that there are a few Wellington liberals who might be…

I can see centrist governments going Californian and taxing the drugs but meaningful investment is rehab is unlikely with the current decreases of investment in the public sector.

Not that overly. All the things you mention are happening daily, and they shouldn't be.

Yes, but I'm a bit more impatient than that :-). Not that I'm a pot smoker but I think it just criminal that we might put anyone up in front of the courts for minor possession for personal consumption. How many future job/employment prospects have we ruined today…

Standing in Mr Dunne's way is his ministerial boss – the Prime Minister. Bill English says Mr Dunne is "making a lot of assumptions" about a drug that "does real damage to people".

"We don't want to encourage open trading in cannabis and…

http://www.top.org.nz/jessica

And of course here's their cannabis policy;

http://www.top.org.nz/top8

Also to legalise and regulate.

And yet…