Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Modelling Behaviour

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 31 May 2013 16:43:00 +1200

Synthetic Cannabis uses chemicals to emulate the same effects, (as I understand it) but it is a constructed/manufactured substance how do the makers and sellers get away with not listing the chemical contents?

Presumably the labeling regime only applies for those things you eat/drink, so I'd imagine cigarettes don't have…

BenWilson

Mon, 27 May 2013 17:00:36 +1200

a far more accurate description, pretty much sums it up :)

Considering I had some of the exact same brand and sub-brand purchased from a different place, and we took it together, and experienced nothing like that, it's the only accurate description. I do not believe that they were the…

Rob Stowell

Mon, 27 May 2013 16:20:31 +1200

synthetic whatever
a far more accurate description, pretty much sums it up :)
a friend became, if not addicted, a bloody persistent user of K2. #notgoodshit

BenWilson

Mon, 27 May 2013 15:40:19 +1200

I doubt it would generate acute kidney injury, which has happened here too.

Or cause a person to lapse into unconsciousness 4 times during dinner, as happened to a friend of mine in front of me. On a different occasion said friend took some synthetic whatever in his back yard,…

Russell Brown

Mon, 27 May 2013 11:40:55 +1200

More or less. Although controlled drug *analogues* which are currently illegal *can* be approved for sale as psychoactive substances. In theory.

Which actually makes no sense at all.

I reckon a great experiment would be for a party pill/synthetic cannabis supplier to drop an entirely inert placebo into the supply…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 27 May 2013 10:04:32 +1200

More or less. Although controlled drug *analogues* which are currently illegal *can* be approved for sale as psychoactive substances. In theory.

I reckon a great experiment would be for a party pill/synthetic cannabis supplier to drop an entirely inert placebo into the supply chain and see how many moral panic…

andin

Sun, 26 May 2013 12:45:41 +1200

You may well be able to test items on list X and show they are not harmful, but they’ll still be illegal because they are on the list.

Someone once told me living will cause your death.
Is that on the list? Can we test that?

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 26 May 2013 08:41:36 +1200

Doesn't NZ have product labelling laws?
Marijuana is a plant, part of the larger set of naturally grown products, which contains varying levels of naturally occurring psychoactive cannabinoid compounds.
Synthetic Cannabis uses chemicals to emulate the same effects, (as I understand it) but it is a constructed/manufactured substance how do…

Steve Barnes

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:17:55 +1200

Catch 22 all over again
What nonsense.

FletcherB

Sat, 25 May 2013 19:16:18 +1200

I am not a lawyer, nor have I read the bill itself... but judging from what I've read…

Steve Barnes

Sat, 25 May 2013 17:04:12 +1200

So, if passing this law, the psychoactive substances bill, does that mean someone could ask the “Authorataay” to test some actual cannabis and reassure us that taking it is, indeed, “Low Risk”
Personally I think playing Rugby has a higher risk in terms of brain damage and as for drinking…

Simon Adamson

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:18:19 +1200

Hi Ross. I thought you made the most sensible comments of the evening. However I've got to be honest and say that I felt pretty uncomfortable seeing colleagues (you and Jeremy McMinn) being somewhat captured by the oppositional style of the debate – under normal circumstances I can't imagine you…

Jolisa

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:47:50 +1200

A flashback to the original "do you stand by your product and would you consume it on air" stunt (although that one was voluntary, on behalf of the cunning stuntman at least; not so much his junior sidekick).

Tom Semmens

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:46:16 +1200

The public are adults, they can and want to, consider nuances and grey areas. Why not actually present a complex issue and then ask a complex question...

Because someone, somewhere, might change channels.

Bart Janssen

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:23:26 +1200

But that would have been a tad long …

Because the public are too stupid to understand a nuanced and complex issue?????

As a scientist we get hammered if we ever treat the public like idiots, and rightly so. If someone is not interested fine, but if they are interested…

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:22:09 +1200

Yeah, nah...
what was I doing again?

Tom Semmens

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:35:49 +1200

You'd go a long way to find a more honest and straight up fellow IMHO than Grant Hall and I thought he did a good job with handling Duncan Garner's badgering. The saddest thing about that was some of my friends in the audience came away with the view our…

Richard Aston

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:51:58 +1200

I saw the show – and voted – Duncan's woeful team were easily outclassed by Guyan's.

Duncan's stunt with the Juicy Puff was embarrassing., It wasn't debate , just TV showmanship , ie bullshit.
What was interesting was the slightly hysterical tone from Duncan's "No" team , a;ll emotive blah…

Russell Brown

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:07:06 +1200

I probably asked that question in a slightly confusing way, so did you mean:

Not at all acceptable?

Or not at all unacceptable?

:-P

Neither. I was just imagining what someone else would think. Generalising on my own part would be a different matter.

I do think in terms of…

Scott Chris

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:41:42 +1200

I suspect there's rather a lot of contrived hysteria over synthetic cannabis. Tried some a few months ago. Apart from the taste the effect was indistinguishable from natural cannabis – which, I might add, I rarely partake of these days.

Sacha

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:57:53 +1200

Duncan tells me Hall does use his own products, but in oral, rather than smokable form

Did wonder if there are less damaging ways than smoking to ingest these new substances – much like decriminalising the real thing would allow vaporisers and suchlike to help reduce harm.

Sacha

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:57:25 +1200

Aw. I need to watch the rest of it. Wasn't in the mood for the style.

Graeme Edgeler

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:35 +1200

Not at all!

I probably asked that question in a slightly confusing way, so did you mean:

Not at all acceptable?

Or not at all unacceptable?

:-P

Russell Brown

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:17:31 +1200

Are you saying you agree that a law that is criminalises certain behaviour, but which you don’t want police to enforce is acceptable, or unacceptable, if that law “sends a message” about harmful or potentially harmful behaviour?

Not at all! I'm seeking to understand the thinking of people who do…

Graeme Edgeler

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:13:21 +1200

Well, actually, I can. It's a view the the role of the law is to say "It's not okay".

Are you saying you agree that a law that is criminalises certain behaviour, but which you don't want police to enforce is acceptable, or unacceptable, if that law "sends a message"…

andin

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:00:34 +1200

He rolled (badly) a large joint
I would have watched it just for that teehee!
shot glass in hand.
Shouldn't that be a case/carton of Woodies
'cause thats an average consumption while sittin' on your arse in front of the tele
watching spewort Isnt it? I dunno But its not…

Russell Brown

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:57:46 +1200

Wayne Poutua is clearly a good man who helps young people who really need help – but when he agreed that kids using cannabis needed care not criminalisation, yet insisted that the possession of cannabis should remain a criminal offence, I couldn’t understand his argument.

Well, actually, I can. It’s…

James Littlewood*

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:55:24 +1200

Didn't see it. Sounds like an interesting approach. I chuckled the first time I encountered the synthetic stuff in a head shop one day. "What the hell's that?"

"Oh" the guy said. "Doesn't show up in urine tests. So guys who get sampled at work quite like it. Truckers, pilots,…

Russell Brown

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:48:42 +1200

Bloody pleased with the final vote, naturally, but bottom line the drug policy debate is a lot more nuanced than that format allows

Indeed. In a perfect world I'd have preferred to vote "Yes" to:

Should the carefully regulated sale of cannabis (and possibly some other cannabinoids) be permitted, while…

Ross Bell

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:35:29 +1200

Thanks for the thoughtful post Russell. I have mixed views about the debate. Bloody pleased with the final vote, naturally, but bottom line the drug policy debate is a lot more nuanced than that format allows (or any format that pitches one side against the other). There's likely to be…

Sacha

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:24:08 +1200

turned me off

same.

Chip Matthews

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:17:49 +1200

I didn't watch the whole debate last night as much as I did want to, but the slightly sledging-takin the piss outta opposition type approach actually turned me off.

But my concern with regards to Duncan and his trying of Juicy Puff last week, was that there was no sense…

Public Address

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:17:49 +1200

Discussion from blog post.