Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Kia kaha, Helen Kelly, in reply to George Darroch,
Okay.
I can only hope that his comments are taken out of context here.
The quotes were reported from a Radio NZ interview – Kathryn Ryan if I recall correctly:
Dunne said he relied on clinical advice when deciding whether to grant an exemption, with the Ministry of Health providing a recommendation for each case.
Pharmac was considering whether to subsidise Sativex, a medicinal cannabis mouth spray which costs about $1300 a month, but had not yet made a call.
Dunne rejected calls to allow the use of raw cannabis for medical reasons, saying the Government’s policy was “not to decriminalise the cannabis leaf” while there was not sufficient evidence for its medical value in an unprocessed form.
“[To say] that people puff the weed the way they like and all will be bliss – that is nonsense.
“We’re talking here about medicinal products that have to be properly tested, properly regulated, the dosage assured so that people aren’t being exposed to risk.”
Dunne said the Government’s focus would remain on clinically tested and approved medicines that were safe for use, while continuing to allow applications for exemptions.
“That is really where the argument begins and ends – all the other stuff is extraneous, emotional nonsense."
I understand he feels he has to back the process, but he did not cover himself in glory in that interview. He lost the plot.
He later said he would welcome New Zealand holding medical cannabis trials – a few days after he’d dismissed the possibility of trials because New Zealand is too small. Which could be true –Ed Gane got trials for the new Hep C antivirals here basically because he did the principal work in describing the virus 20 years ago.
On one level, it’s all perfectly proper. But at the heart of this is the case for a deviation from process in the name of harm reduction on one hand – and National’s 100% political “no decriminalisation” line in the sand on the other. I really think that the best hope for change is making the issue politically awkward for Key. Dunne won’t, and probably can’t, do it on his own. In Australia, it's taken new legislation.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Don’t just sit there
gaffer something!Ah yes. Back when gaffer tape was a precious traceable commodity – as well as a universal panacea.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I wouldn’t go so far as saying there was a ‘friendship’ between INXS and Toy Love
You may be right (as usual). I just seem to recall something about Chris and Michael Hutchence getting on well.
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This is interesting. Nielsen has released figures on 2015 US consumer spending on music – and 52% of it was on live music events.
And that's not even accounting for merchandise et al.
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Hard News: Kia kaha, Helen Kelly, in reply to George Darroch,
As for the idea that people would illicitly use Sativex when perfectly good recreational cannabis is widely available – it would be just as ridiculous as banning cough medicines because they contain alcohol.
Some of them contain rather more than that – and pose a much greater risk of harm than Sativex.
I do realise that the advice to Pharmac concerned public spending priorities and that the committee didn’t see enough evidence of Sativex’s effectiveness in treating spasticity (although I’m not sure it had taken into account the broadly positive American Academy of Neurology review in 2014).
That’s fine and that’s what advisory panels are for. But in speculating on potential for abuse and diversion, I think the committee went beyond its own expertise and was simply wrong. You do have to wonder if there’s institutional resistance here – I have heard murmurings of that with respect to Dunne’s advisors.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I don’t think that’s quite true.
Toy Love left Australia (well Sydney) to tour NZ with every intention of going back and building on the following that had been steadily built up. They did every gig asked of them unflinchingly. Played the silly games when necessary, the tiny pubs, the big surf suburb barns, RSL clubs and cast pearls before wine bars…Fair enough. I just recall the received truth from Chris that the whole thing was pretty evil.
I was going to mention INXS as another band that didn't fit the pub mould. The early friendship between them and Toy Love makes more sense in that context.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Mike O'Connell,
There’s more on the tour in this which I came across on Rest Assured – includes a lengthy analysis by Jello himself on the then Oz music scene. Worth a look.
It's also covered well in last year's Stranded documentary, which loses its way somewhat when it gets on to a survey of Brisbane music (a lot of which wasn't that good) but is compelling on the political and social environment of 1970s Queensland.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Tim Michie,
Very much appreciated the K Rd Metro article Russell.
First time I’ve bought the magazine in donkey yonks.Cheers Tim. Everyone seems to like it except Paul Reid.
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Cheese on Toast has the details for watching Lemmy’s funeral service from 11am on Sunday morning.
And you can help the petition for one of the new elements to be named Lemmium get to 150,000 names. It's well on the way.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of…, in reply to Pete McDowell,
You could compare the Go Betweens and The Triffids, Paul Kelly etc to the Flying Nun bands to be fair, rather than the bogan legends.
Oh, for sure. The Church and others too.
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