They accepted biased and poor quality research to hype up the harms of BZP and suppressed information they didn't like.

What is the state of the research regarding the side effects of medium to long term BZP use?

A few months back I saw a newspaper report of a "study"…

I think the major bulk of their work is in public law for non-government clients — including some (like the gaming industry) that might be deemed distasteful, so this is pretty much in line with what they do. Matt Bowden used them to get the original approval for Ease.

Oh,…

NZ's drug policy already leads and brings me great joy in the respect that:

(1) we already have a restricted substances category for recreational drugs not harmful enough to be made illegal; and
(2) the future direction was clearly signalled by statements made through the Minister that the onus is…

I don't believe that either, but as long as politicians refuse to abolish The Lords Prayer from Parliament you'll never get any joy with a progressive drug policy.

NZ's drug policy already leads and brings me great joy in the respect that:

(1) we already have a restricted substances category…

NZ will lead the world in progressive drug policy

No, the Netherlands lead the world in progressive drug policy.

Good luck, but I doubt party pills (ones that get you high) will ever be legal again. That's be because getting high __is wrong, immoral, and should never be legalised. Party pills…

The technology is definitely here to improve on BZP as far as drug effects go. We have plenty more, but I don't want to put them out without some control over them this time around.

Improving on the "26m pills consumed on 9.5m occasions by 400,000 kiwis over 7…

OK, am I the only person who feels a little uncomfortable with a law firm that does extensive work for the government and government departments on the one hand, acting as lobbyists for special interest groups on the other? Just a little too 'K Street' cosy for my blood.

I…

Social Tonics Association chairman Matt Bowden said the group was working with Chen Palmer on its select committee submission and proposals to the Law Commission and Ministry of Health on a regulatory framework for new…

bit much faith in the ol' market there methinks... hydrogen cars, anyone? why bother improving the product if it's already shifting big units...

The far right in the US have been going to town on the leftist support for the Sardinistas for the last…

Meanwhile, panic in Limerick over BZP-based party pills in Ireland's head shops. It's a reasonable guess that they are New Zealand-made products.

Not quite sure if panic is the right word, Limerick – known to the rest of Ireland as “stab city” highlights the dark underbelly of the Celtic tiger,…

gave me a massive smile, a massive erection, and had me running around the club looking to score more ... which scared my wife who immediately took me home ....

You sure she rushed you home beacuse she was scared?

Come now Kyle, a little consistency will go a long way here.
You aknowledged Chavez rearming was due to an Armerica threat.
We're with America and so have rearmed also.

...

Labour stood valiently to the side when Indo annexed Timor & USA gave the Solomons a hostipal pass during WWII…

Did E do anything for you?

Hard to say for sure, which in my book really means no. I once had a good night, but that particular night was good anyway.

There's still a couple of uppers to try, but I'm on a bit of a health kick recently, and…

Police…

Perhaps I'm just not an uppers kind of guy. Or perhaps I'm too critical to let a placebo effect work on me.

Did E do anything for you?

To hold the UN up as some moral authority has the same vaidity as saying God is on my side.…

Helen Clark wasn't in government when NZ got involved in Vietnam. In fact, I think she was a university student protesting against it.

IIRC, our involvement in Vietnam was sold to the public as a "policing operation", which it quite clearly wasn't.

And yes, Clark marched in the streets, as…

To rearm is to rearm. That Helen rearmed NZ is the same as Chavez rearming his nation.

No it isn't. Handing out guns to your friendly militias has tended to end badly in other countries.

All peace keeping operations is simantics for they're not coming over the top YET.

No…

Invent a better mouse-trap and people will buy it, etc.

That's not how modern business works though.

Invent a better mouse trap and save it for when your current mouse traps aren't selling.

For instance, it is rumoured that Intel is already producing processors on a 45nm process, but they…

To rearm is to rearm. That Helen rearmed NZ is the same as Chavez rearming his nation.

That's nonsense. See my point about Helen Clark not handing out AK47s. Upgrading military equipment for a standing army which largely engages in peacekeeping activities under the banner of the UN, is completely…

To rearm is to rearm. That Helen rearmed NZ is the same as Chavez rearming his nation.

That USA has invaded oil rich nations for their oil is really without doubt, and is about defending the american way of life = cheap oil. This is a form of self…

At journalism school we used to carry around copies of “Heroes” like Mao’s little red riding hood book, because we wanted to change the world and we…

Aunty Helen has led the rearming of the NZDF.
Exactly which invasion has Chavez been party to?
Closing a TV station & banning coverage of MPs in parliment, a matter of degree but all going the same way.
And which ethnic group has Chavez made illegal to have legal representation in…

Ben, they worked for everyone else but you.

Phew, I thought I must have just been crazily at odds with common perceptions of what 'high' actually meant. Maybe I have odd brain chemistry, and it just didn't work for me.

Then again, I do recall some effects – there was…

But if they have known about these better alternatives for some time, why have they not been selling them already?

Invent a better…

Ben- I agree that it was definitely a marketing success, and maybe "cool factor" was more in effect than actual…

That doesnt disprove my point..... if methylone was better as you say, but turned out to be legal, do you doubt it would have started outselling BZP?

Yes, it would have, but it was banned before it emerged from Bowden's public trial/direct marketing operation. It had quite a fan base.…

Aunty Helen has led the rearming of the NZDF. (Of course the notable exception of the strike force – that has never ever been used – hell I came…

The funniest thing is that it probably led to quite good parties because of it's *ineffectiveness*.

Ben, they worked for everyone else but you. Just not for all that long — and not nearly as long as they made you feel absolutely ghastly.

As for the banning television channels and meddling with the constitution – I agree there – Chavez looks definitely to be on the slide.

Oddly enough, while it was doubtless whiffy, the refusal to renew RCTV's frequency licence doesn't trouble me as much as some of the other stuff. It…

Conor Foley's great isn't he.

That being said, anyone who wants to pin the police repression tag on Chavez is going to have to do the same to Lula too. I've always had my doubts about Chavez and I've always been a huge fan of the PT (Lula's…

Yes, the new regulations will change things... but as things stood up until now, if a better legal high was already available,…

Is he doing anything different than Helen Clark has actually achieved (& wants to continue)?

Umm, yup.

I have mixed feelings about Chavez, as do probably a fair few people on the left.

I also have mixed feelings about Helen Clark, again, ditto.

But the difference between them and what they're…

The difference is that Lula is doing it constitutionally and properly, without transforming his country into a dictatorship.

The other difference is that Brazil is a LOT bigger than Venezuela. About 10 times as many people. It's like comparing the problems NZ faces with the problems faced by the UK.

I have no inside info, and in fact no actual interest.... but logic suggests whatever replaces BZP has to be not as good.... if something better was available, it would have already been put on the market.

Not at all. Bowden's Ease (methylone) was way better than BZP, but the…

but he should have accepted the constitutional limits rather than seeking to make himself President-for-life

But remember, he is an avowed fan of Fidel Castro ... dictators always see themselves as benign.

Contrast this with US democracy: Bush I & II, and now possibly Clinton I & II. He insists not, but who…

The most succinct condemnation of Chavez is a simple comparison with him to President Lula of Brazil – a centre left politician who really is doing something for the less well off, without the benefit of all that oil money.

Well, Chavez "really is doing something for the less well…

Much of central/south america are at war (only on occation openly). As such being on a war footing requires strength.

Is he doing anything different than Helen Clark has actually achieved (& wants to continue)?

On Human Rights how about…

What-ever replaces BZP is bound to be not quite as good

I shudder to think how bad that would be. NoDoz perhaps? Hopefully Anderton doesn't make drinking coffee illegal before his sorry arse leaves politics forever.

As for Pilger, I think he's coming at it from the "Chavez isn't so…

Conor Foley often has very good pieces on Brazil in…

I doubt very much that there is even the hint…

Do you have any scoop on what form the post-BZP products will take?

Is there any real reason to hope they will exceed the performance of the soon-to-be-banned pills and still manage to hurt less the next day?

I have no inside info, and in fact no actual interest.... but…

Do you have any scoop on what form the post-BZP products will take?

Is there any real reason to hope they will exceed the performance of the soon-to-be-banned pills and still manage to hurt less the next day?

But it's interesting to see Labour now acting like an Opposition party and employing the same slow-drip attempt to erode its opponents' credibility as has worked so well for National.

Emphasis on the 'attempt' part, and I think there has to be a meaningful distinction drawn between (legitimate) political and…