Posts by Russell Brown
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Okay, I found out a bit more. Acting on the demonstrable fallacy that drugs have been strictly classified according to risk, authorities have treated the analogue provision as a kind of presumptive measure of risk. So if it resembles something that's banned, it should also be banned.
But that won't make sense under the new regime: if a drug has already been approved and found to be "low risk" under the process, it makes no sense to treat it as risky -- the risk assessment has already been done.
So if a particular drug is added to Schedule A of the Misuse of Drugs Act, an analogue of that drug that has already been approved can't be un-approved. Not sure where that would leave something similar to methylone.
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Got a Twitter reply from James Dunne at Chen Palmer (who have acted for Bowden in the past) saying that "analogues are not eligible for approval but an approved product does not become illegal if it becomes an analogue."
Which I take to mean that any drug already found to be an analogue is ineligible for the process, but anything now declared an analogue is in. This is not logical.
But it does mean that Bowden could present something similar to methylone for approval.
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Hard News: And one war ends?, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
IANAL, but my reading of this is that analogues *can* be taken through the process.
I see what you mean. But the official briefing paper says this:
Once the bill takes effect, any products that have been legally available for sale over the past six months must begin their approval process or they will become illegal. If they do begin this process then they can still be sold legally, however the Authority has the power to remove them from the market at any stage if they are considered too high risk.
Products that have already been banned could apply for approval as long as they weren’t classed as an analogue under the Misuse of Drugs Act (e.g. Spice). Any product containing convention drugs like cannabis, LSD and MDMA are not eligible for approval under this system. This bill also sets up a range of restrictions around the sale and supply of approved products. Some of these will only apply to certain products. Restrictions around place of sale, internet sale, labelling, packaging, health warnings, signage, display and storage, disposal and certain restrictions around advertising will only apply to products if the Authority decides they should.
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Hard News: And one war ends?, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
If analogues are eligible for the approval process, that’s a good thing.
I would be surprised if they were.
That’s what I thought. And I now see those comments aren’t there any more …
But the very broad reach of the analogues provision is problematic. It excludes from the process what may well be some of the safer substances.
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Interestingly, Matt Bowden indicated in the comments under his photos that he believes he will be able seek approval for Ease (aka methylone), which was withdrawn from sale after being deemed in breach of the MoD Act's very broad analogue provisions. If analogues are eligible for the approval process, that's a good thing.
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I see nothing that gives me that kind of confidence.
I thought the Le Monde reporting, based on two months spent on the ground alongside rebels, was pretty compelling.
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Bart Janssen,
To be fair they have said they saw rockets launched from govt positions that landed where the gas was released. Not proof no. But at this point only lawyers are arguing.
I'm in no doubt that the Syrian government has been using chemical weapons in populated areas -- there are multiple eyewitness reports, some of them from people who paid with their lives.
It's possible that some rebel forces are using such weapons, but the evidence for that seems sketchy.
That doesn't necessarily mean any kind of military intervention is a good idea, but it seems clear that this isn't Iraq in 2003. There were no unconventional weapons anywhere there and hadn't been for years. In Syria, there are, and they're being used.
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Up Front: The Missing Stair Part Two:…, in reply to TracyMac,
That relates to Cliff Pervocracy’s Just One Ally – someone else who shows they have your back, and/or are also witnessing just how fucked-up a situation is. Can make all the difference, a lot.
Yes. "It's not just you. I'm seeing this crap too."
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I've never been aware of a rapist within my my social group (which does not of course mean there has never been one), but I have a couple of times physically placed myself so as to frustrate a creeper.
I didn't cause a confrontation (in one case, it was a creeper boss, which might have got difficult) but it was surprisingly effective just firmly, passively being there.
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One instance of this video has already suffered a copyright takedown, but for as long as it lasts, here’s the Auckland Uni Law Revue parody of ‘Blurred Lines’:
Update: A TVNZ news story says it was taken down because “YouTube claims the video violates its terms and conditions by displaying sexually explicit content.”
Huh?
Update 2: Pretty sure it's not the "sexually explicit content". The notice links to YouTube Community Guidelines, which include copyright.