Posts by Russell Brown
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The big drug bust reported in today's Herald underlines the extent to which novel psychoactive substances are already flooding in to the New Zealand market:
A total of 379 suspected psychoactive substances totalling more than 500kg were intercepted during Operation Static which ended this month, Mr Williamson said.
This included Class A, B and C drugs, controlled medicines and a range of synthetic cannabinoids and analogues.
"There was a total of 80 kilograms of Class C analogues seized, including 18 kilograms of ecstasy mimic methylone, and these drugs have a street value of $21 million.
And of course the story wouldn't be complete without some conjuring with the police Drug Harm Index.
"The harm prevented from keeping these analogues away from communities has been calculated at $32 million," Mr Williamson said.
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This morning’s Herald reports a very strong poll result for Cunliffe’s Labour.
Greens up too.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Sacha,
quite :)
What the hell. We've been so on-topic lately. :-)
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to B Jones,
You reckon? I know people who vote more to the right, but are all about alt med. The anti-folate business was backed by both the Nats and the Greens (in Sue Kedgley’s time). Frame it as health freedom rather than taxpayer’s expense and it’s a natural alliance.
Absolutely.
Most notable case: National and the Greens teaming up to defeat a governing Labour Party on regulating dietary supplements in line with Australia.
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Hard News: Local interest, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Sure, but how many time do people have to point out to folks who really really should know better that child prostitution is illegal everywhere? And can we all agree Wayne Hawker is a creep?
He certainly is. But he's complaining about a brothel that complies with quite stringent regulation and acts entirely under the law. What happens at Hunter's Corner is outside the law, because the people who drafted it, in all good faith, thought street prostitution would simply disappear.
It hasn't, and I have enough empathy to see how people with homes and shops there would find the situation difficult and traumatic. I can understand that women would feel really threatened being approached by johns in their own local shopping street. And I get really fucked off when I see people loftily instructing people in a part of they city they'll never have to visit, let alone live in, to just suck it up or be considered bigots.
I have sympathy with the argument outlined by the Rev Margaret Ann Low. I want to support women and transwomen in street sex work, but I don't think the solution is telling people who feel they have lost ownership of their own neighbourhood to STFU.
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Hard News: Local interest, in reply to George Darroch,
I’m not a fan of the DHB electoral system. I’m immersed in both health and politics, and the document I filled out left me hoping I’d made the right choices rather than confident I was putting in place people who would improve the health of Manukau.
And if you aren't confident of making the right decisions ...
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Stephen Judd,
I have a problem funding things that extensive review has failed to find evidence for, eg acupuncture, when we could be spending it on things where there is evidence, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
It's not. Otoh, ACC part-funds three non-conventional therapies: osteopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture. They don't do it to be nice (hey, it's ACC), but because (they say) these treatments are "appropriate and clinically justified", ie: they seem to help injured people get back to work quicker. I think it's fair to let an accountable agency make such a decision.
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Hard News: Local interest, in reply to Craig Young,
Do not vote for the candidates asterisked below, given their stances against the health, safety and human rights of Manukau street sex workers and their support for the Manukau City Council (Regulating Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill, or opposition to Epsom’s boutique brothels, or strongarm tactics against Christchurch sex workers:
It's very easy to condemn the people of Manukau when you don't have to live or work in places where there are many street sex workers. I'd like to see someone do the much harder job of trying to come up with a solution that respects everyone's rights.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Tom Semmens,
By that definition,, natureopaths, iridologists, acupuncturists, osteopaths, chiropractors, and crystal waving new age hippies are all the same – purveyors of quack medicine.
Which is not actually what the respective reviews say, if you take the trouble to read them.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Ok this is a complete side track.
Totally.
Despite my fairly obvious dislike of alternative medicines there are some that have interesting science associated. While I personally got no value from acupuncture there is interesting science coming to bear of how acupuncture might work.
We've been through all this here at some length before, but I tend to place acupuncture in the same category as osteopathy -- the founding theory is pure woo, but the developed clinical practice may be helpful.
Three members of my family have experienced significant relief from osteopathic treatment over the years, and evidence reviews like this one tend to recommend it for back pain, alongside conventional treatment:
Sub-acute spinal pain or low-back pain are appropriate conditions to refer to an osteopath (because the evidence suggests patients may derive significant physical and psychological benefit from the therapy, it is cost-effective and may result in fewer prescriptions for NSAIDs).