Posts by Russell Brown
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
One thing that Sanho mentioned to me and then to the crowd at Splore:
An unexpected consequence of marijuana legalisation in the US states has been the discovery that growers have been using inappropriate and dangerous pesticides. Residues simply haven’t been tested for until now.
So users have been inhaling potentially carcinogenic chemicals. Again, we come back to the concept of harm reduction.
-
Hard News: UNGASS and the "Drug Free…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
It shouldn’t be a UN matter. It’s reasonable for the UN to concern itself with preventing conflict at one end and uncontroversial stuff like standardising plugs at the other.
Why should the despots of Saudi Arabia or Zimbabwe have any say in what New Zealanders put in their bodies?
An entirely reasonable question. It’s essentially a consequence of the fact that since 1961, drug control policy has been determined by UN treaties to which most countries in the world are signatories. This makes sense in that controlling drug trafficking is by definition an international effort.
One of the effects of that is that democracies, most notably in Europe, have been constrained from pursuing prudent drug policy by their UN treaty obligations. That’s why cannabis has continued to be officially illegal in the Netherlands – just policed differently.
It became more of a problem when it was deemed that the conventions applied to use as well as trafficking. UNODC initially told Portugal that it was in breach, but was quite correctly ignored. Bolivia exited the UN conventions over its determination to allow traditional cultivation of coca, but was eventually vindicated. The USA has some ropey reasoning that allows it to champion the conventions at federal government level but allow states to legalise marijuana. Uruguay’s just doing it.
So yes: this whole thing is unravelling.
-
Hard News: UNGASS and the "Drug Free…, in reply to Ross Bell,
Check out that good looking and wise guy at 2.19 and again at 7.13 :)
Ha! I like the cut of his jib.
-
Hard News: UNGASS and the "Drug Free…, in reply to Paul Brown,
Now, if people want a smoke they are going to go to town and probably buy some gang supplied skunk weed at 3 times the strength. It is just so counter productive.
Yes. The police spraying programme in recent decades basically drove production indoors and to more organised criminals and much stronger (and qualitatively different) weed.
-
A young man in Kapiti died this week, after taking Alpha-PVP or “bath salts”.
Alpha-PVP is a dangerous drug that gained currency as a way of avoiding progressive bans on other cathinone drugs, so it’s essentially a product of prohibition.
It also doesn’t show up in reagent tests, so it’s very easy for users to take it unknowingly.
-
Also, if anyone can find that UNGASS 1998 promo video – it's described here – I'd be very grateful indeed.
I suspect it has been very deeply buried along with UNDCP itself.
-
Hard News: The K Road Story, in reply to Bazooka Joe,
As an outsider, K-Rd is definitely the best and most unique thing about Auckland. I love visiting there whenever I can.
I'm an uptown guy. Most of my time in the CBD is spent around K Road.
By contrast, apart from the actual waterfront, downtown's got nothin' for me.
-
Hard News: The K Road Story, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I hardly ever got anything done, it was too fascinating watching the street unfold below….
There was a daily parade of distractions up the stairs to the Planet office. I loved that part. The first time I ever laid eyes on Zane Lowe, Gemma Gracewood and a few other clever people was when they appeared at the top of the stairs with something to say for themselves.
-
Polity: Poll Soup, in reply to Mr Mark,
Thanks for those, Mr Mark!
It's always useful to be reminded that a question has been chewed over before.
-
Hard News: The K Road Story, in reply to Howard Edwards,
(and not just to piss Family First off either!)
Although that would in itself be a sound reason.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 219 220 221 222 223 … 2279 Older→ First