Posts by Russell Brown
-
Hard News: Modelling Behaviour, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
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 chain and see how many moral panic stories of hospital admissions, crazed psychopathy and so on it generated.
I doubt it would generate acute kidney injury, which has happened here too.
I don’t think there can be much doubt that some of the chemicals now being sold – as the earlier ones have been progressively banned – pose significant health risks. It’s not just a media myth.
-
Hard News: Friday Music: That Hammer Time, in reply to Glyn,
Nice to meet you at the book launch today, Glyn.
-
Hard News: Te Qaeda and the God Squad, in reply to Matthew Poole,
I got as far as “which is a rarity from that institution which rarely criticizes unlawful or immoral acts of the NZ police force” and stopped. The IPCA has been quite forthright in criticising the Police.
I'm not particularly interested in hearing any more from a number of those originally charged. They don't seem to have reflected on their own actions at all.
Oddly enough, I have a lot of time for Rangi Kemara, who in some ways is the most culpable of all.
-
Hard News: Friday Music: That Hammer Time, in reply to Ethan Tucker,
So impressed that you worked with Graham Linehan!
As I said, lovely man. Haven't seen him since then, but I thought I should tweet the link to this post.
-
Hard News: Friday Music: That Hammer Time, in reply to Simon Grigg,
In a New Zealand music month week, it’s gratifying to mention that P-Money’s Gratitude album entered the US iTunes Hip-hop album charts at 59 on Wednesday, thus becoming the first ever NZ hip-hop album to chart in the US. It’s now bumped up to #43.
It’s also an amazing record that I’ve been playing non-stop all week.
Thanks Simon -- I meant to check that out but haven't had time to get to it. The album is streaming in full on Soundcloud.
Oh, and AudioCulture goes live a week today at 10am.
WA-HEY!!
-
My friend pointed out to me this Vice post: Rave and Hardcore YouTube Comments will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.
It's basically just a collection of people having a moment as they fondly recall their old-skool clubbing days. Really quite sweet.
-
Hard News: Modelling Behaviour, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
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 cannabis law, “sending a signal” not to do something 80% of young people do is manifestly ineffective, even if you think it’s an appropriate signal. And that the criminalisation of such a common and relatively benign behaviour causes more harm than good.
There are drugs whose sale I would prohibit on public safety grounds, but I would avoid criminalising their possession and use.
-
Hard News: Modelling Behaviour, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
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 regard the purpose of the law as "sending a message" but don't seem to accept the consequences of criminalisation.
-
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 a view that the role of the law is to say “It’s not okay”. And certainly, the least harmful approach to psychoactive drugs is to not take them at all. But when the criminal law actually inflicts further harm, what do you do?
-
Hard News: Modelling Behaviour, in reply to Ross Bell,
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 the supply of other synthetic cannabinoids is prohibited on evidence-based public health grounds, without criminalising end-users?
But that would have been a tad long ...