Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The Greens' pretty good new drug policy

Katharine Moody

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 17:15:21 +1300

Interesting, didn't know that. Gee, I am so looking forward to NZ being done with Dunne in 2017.

Sacha

Mon, 26 Dec 2016 17:28:42 +1300

That's why comedians got too scared to do political satire after the '70s: media owners don't like criticism of themselves or their political reps.

NZ copyright law lacks protection for satire or parody, unlike in the US.

Once commercial imperatives and behaviours arrived with multi-broadcaster competition, no chance this nation…

Scott Michael Savidge

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 15:06:08 +1300

Let it snow! This is the best kind of drug education...

http://uberhumor.com/nellie-celebrates-a-white-christmas-with-cocaine-drugslab

mildgreens

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 13:06:43 +1300

Labour made provision for Class D, (Restricted Substances Regulations 2008). National was never going to live with it as it meant cannabis law reform. Dunne compliantly threw it out with the deliberate curve ball, PSA with animal testing!

Class D was never found wanting... indeed David Nutt called them 'the…

Katharine Moody

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:44:11 +1300

Watched Druglawed recently and wondered why we can’t just declassify cannabis as a class B and C drug and bring it under food safety regulations for those that want to develop OTC remedies and/or other product formulations. It’s a herb with medicinal properties, after all. I just keep thinking about…

Dennis Frank

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:22:42 +1300

There is indeed. The reason I didn't mention it is because it represents a different archetype, that the word fool also was applied to. The tarot fool represents everyman, starting out out the road of life. Young men are so naive they often make fools of themselves by accident, eh?…

andin

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:01:00 +1300

Just In Case You Were Wondering why im on the internet late.
Fools are the best. theres a Fool tarot card.
Its a tradition the west needs badly.
a few egos need to be deflated at present

Dennis Frank

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 09:52:28 +1300

It was a broad generalisation: most of those are mostly true. The thing about playing the fool is that the play is most socially effective along the fine line that divides truly foolish behaviour from that which makes people think and invokes insights into what's going on at a deeper…

andin

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 00:51:10 +1300

Mostly it seemed generational – those born in the forties who created the avante garde, and those born in the fifties who just followed the trend without comprehension

your stretching there methinks. Decade of birth has nothing to do with it. And as much as i do admire the Prince…

Dennis Frank

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:46:49 +1300

Emery's experience replicates my own. When I got a job making television commercials in Sydney in '76 I bought a white Rover V8 3.5l with scarlet leather upholstery and a turbocharger button on the floor that got me across an intersection when the lights went green before any other car…

Russell Brown

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 13:56:29 +1300

Canada's legalisation task force has delivered its report:

https://youtu.be/20F1usGqplo

Dennis Frank

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 18:10:21 +1300

Not just that. It was created to serve as the political representative of the green movement – no doubt the current parliamentary reps feel they're doing that but I'd only partially agree. Some founders thought they were transforming the residue of the Values Party into something more viable, but since…

Farmer Green

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:47:02 +1300

[business as usual . . .perpetuates as mass psychology] only because it has been the source of employment.

There might be other reasons , e.g. people might be inherently conservative , and tolerant of no more than incremental change.
That is , tolerant of incremental change up until the point…

Dennis Frank

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 15:41:06 +1300

That's been the case, but it's a perception/reality thing. Business as usual only perpetuates as mass psychology because it has been the source of employment. That paradigm seems increasingly unsustainable. Once the shift starts there's a good chance voters will act like pebbles in a landslide.

My problem with the…

Farmer Green

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 15:22:18 +1300

parties most in accord with most voters prosper
Yes , but assuming a political party has this one particular (drugs) policy “in accord with most”, then it is their other policies, which are not “in accord with most” , which are preventing them from being in a position to achieve…

Dennis Frank

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 14:59:29 +1300

Exactly, and that's been the situation most of our lives. But now polls show a majority favouring legalisation, the Greens are blowing with this wind, and those stuck in the rut look increasingly out of touch with the zeitgeist.

Political logic says parties most in accord with most voters prosper…

Farmer Green

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 13:21:57 +1300

unable to speak publicly
So an uninformed , disinformed , disinterested , or fearful majority of the public will not encourage law change, and so politicians will act accordingly to maintain approval.
It's quite an opposing force to overcome if the harm of the present situation is to be reduced.…

Dennis Frank

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 08:26:52 +1300

There wasn't one. You're right that the issue hasn't been dealt with properly, but that's because all the people with experience are unable to speak publicly from that position. If a law change provides them with freedom of speech, public discourse will acquire an unprecedented semblance of balance.

Mind-altering drugs…

Farmer Green

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 07:13:31 +1300

Full circle, eh?
What was the stance on minors back then? It seems to me that this has never been satisfactorily addressed.
Even now , it is still possible to ask , quite reasonably, how is this going to work for the non-adult, who seem to be the only at-risk…

Dennis Frank

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:04:50 +1300

I was an active contributor to the revision & was pleasantly surprised by how the process developed. We performed major surgery on Kevin Hague's language & phraseology but his plan was a sound basis upon which to proceed. Fair to say the product became more staunch than the basis!

Back in '91…

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 09:50:31 +1300

The passage above was lifted from this discussion of Karl Ege's book An Evident Need of our Times :-

https://lilipoh.com/articles/a-need-still-evident-karl-ege-and-the-future-of-education/

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 09:08:27 +1300

Invariably the “sticking” point in regard to substance liberalisation centres around – “what about the children? ”
Usually the answer given is “education”, which does not, today , mean what the etymology of the word might suggest . There is schooling and there is education.

” . . . a…

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 07:59:37 +1300

The things that they used to write . . . :-)

https://libertygibbert.com/2010/10/31/libertarianism-and-drug-liberalization/#comment-13318

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 07:53:07 +1300

Are we as a country capable of having an adult conversation about drugs, their harms and all the other nuance in regard of them.
Not just pot but A class to alcohol.

In the distant past , a group of "libertarians" tried to have a conversation about this ; it…

Farmer Green

Sat, 10 Dec 2016 07:26:41 +1300

"Education will be provided on the harmful e ects (sic) of heavy and prolonged usage," (get well soon R.)

The " truth" will be available in all schools. Haha.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 16:10:36 +1300

meanwhile, in other news....
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/87382326/party-pill-pioneer-matt-starboy-bowden-to-accept-bankruptcy-from-thailand

Russell Brown

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 11:19:16 +1300

The old policy said this under Medium Term Steps:

I stand corrected. In my defence, I'm sick.

chris fowlie

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:54:02 +1300

You probably thought the Greens already wanted to free the weed, right? Not lately. The current policy offers only to prioritise enforcement elsewhere and (as a “long term goal”)

The old policy said this under Medium Term Steps:

Introduce a legal age limit of 18 years for personal cannabis use.…

Russell Brown

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:50:11 +1300

Here we go: Part 2: The animal testing problem.

Russell Brown

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:49:56 +1300

I'm interested to know more about this RB. What's the issue with animal testing?

I'm writing a separate post about it right now, because it's interesting. I meant to have it all covered in this one, but unfortunately the sore throat and headache I've been fending off for a couple…

Scott G

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:46:00 +1300

There are, however, a couple of issues the party will find it hard to resolve: most notably its frequent reference to the Psychoactive Substances Act as a model, when that act is currently kneecapped by an animal testing ban

I'm interested to know more about this RB. What's the issue…

bob daktari

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:41:32 +1300

I strongly believe that if cannabis is to be allowed for personal use there must be some form of regulation and taxation – i.e. it should be legalised and controlled

Part of me also thinks this is a quarter acre dream policy – we're not all gardeners... nor want to…

Rob S

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:37:43 +1300

Are we as a country capable of having an adult conversation about drugs, their harms and all the other nuance in regard of them.
Not just pot but A class to alcohol.
Even more so can our politicians?
A referendum perhaps as guidance would need to be held and the…

Public Address

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 09:37:43 +1300

Discussion from blog post.