Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Talking to the United Nations…, in reply to BenWilson,
When you put it that way, yeah.
But public health officials are generally averse to approving anything that hasn't been double-blind tested, especially for children. Yet when nutbar parents can subject their kids to chelation to cure their damn autism, you do have to wonder.
You'd think there might be some ground between official approval and "it's a criminal offence to even possess this".
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The Intercept has a report on Key retracting his vow to resign if it was shown that there was mass surveillance of New Zealanders.
It really does seem this should be bigger news.
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OnPoint: Leviathan, in reply to Idiot Savant,
The problem, of course, is that those in power like to paint anyone who doesn’t like the way things are as a crank. Hager, for example, is nothing but measured and correct. And he is spun as a liar, a thief, and a conspiracy theorist for taking what the government says in its own documents at face value.
Yeah, that's true. But imagine if he actually did say something crazy.
Anyway, here's Hager being measured and correct on Selwyn Manning's new Evening Report site:
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Hard News: Talking to the United Nations…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Manufacturing and supplying cannabis isn’t criminal in one country and four US states. Why should other countries (and similarly, the US federal government) impose their will on those places, any more than muslim countries get to impose their alcohol laws elsewhere?
I don't disagree! I was just talking about how the conventions have come to be what they are.
I do think that even in a sensible world there would be legal treaties in this area, although they would be reflected in different ways in the various laws of sovereign nations.
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OnPoint: Leviathan, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Make an effort to work with MPs while not being a crank
This is important. Don't be a crank. Be measured and correct.
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Hard News: Talking to the United Nations…, in reply to David MacGregor,
Hard to understand the nub of this story without any context. I assume there is a backstory somewhere but it seems arcane with it.
The Brownfield stuff is hardcore policy geekery. I did try and contextualise it a bit for the blog. Any specific questions I can address?
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Hard News: Talking to the United Nations…, in reply to Ross Bell,
Wow, just wow. Peter Dunne has just released the speech he’ll soon give at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in a couple of hours. Brilliant stuff (except the medical cannabis stuff – some work still to be done).
To wit:
For those suffering from such ailments I have enormous sympathy and I have asked my officials in New Zealand’s Ministry of Health to look into the evidence and efficacy for cannabis as a medicinal or therapeutic relief.
The evidence, however, has been underwhelming.
As a global community, I believe it is essential that we address the issue of medicinal cannabis on its merits. Based on the evidence provided to me, I have grave reservations about the efficacy of cannabis for the vast majority of indications that it is being put forward for.
These concerns do not stem from a personal antipathy towards the drug, rather, they stem from the very real likelihood that many sufferers – and in many cases they are children, are being given false hope that cannabis use will significantly ameliorate their symptoms, their pain and their reduced quality of life.
I can sympathise to an extent, in that the medical benefits of cannabis are routinely wildly oversold. What he’s missing (or, rather, his officials are) is that, especially where pain is concerned, subjective benefit is benefit. If cannabis helps someone get off major painkillers, that’s a big win. When the only treatment for chronic pain is something like morphine – and going on the nod and always being constipated and all the other things people find unpleasant – it’s actually wrong to criminalise people for using something that works for them.
The reference to children is presumably in the case of conditions like childhood epilepsy, where there seems to be a reluctance to accept that high-CBD (and hence, much less psychoactive) strains are providing benefit. Yes, there isn’t enough research on CBD, but other epilepsy drugs are vile and disabling. Really, they’re awful.
I think this is kind of a flashpoint: held to a conventional standard of pharmaceutical drug approval, we shouldn’t use cannabis as a medicine. But until we get grown-up enough to do the research, it actually seems cruel to deny these children access.
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Hard News: Talking to the United Nations…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
There’s no UN convention on what rules countries apply to booze, or pr0n, or firecrackers, or non-military firearms.
The clue really lies in the name of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The manufacture and supply of illicit drugs is by definition a crime, and because supply often crosses borders, a global crime. This framing has been baked into the conventions since Harry Anslinger drove it onto the UN agenda in the late 50s – and to a lesser extent, in the various conventions of the League of Nations from 1920.
Simple answer to it being a criminal problem? Make it not a crime. But there would still be legitimate criminal offences in drug manufacture and supply: making and selling drugs that were likely to seriously kill users would be a bad thing – even if only because they were badly manufactured or of a particularly dangerous kind (say, NBOMe sold as the much safer LSD). It’s really a matter of the best way to reduce harm, which is clearly not hard prohibition.
Indeed, we have many, many examples of prohibition generating harm. That’s the problem that needs addressing.
Anyway, here's the list of the more than a hundred UN treaties, which might be worth discussing.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Christchurch,…, in reply to Mike O'Connell,
No-one’s mentioned Kevin Smith and Say Yes to Apes. I remember a crazy free-form performance in the University Ballroom ca. 1984.
I have very fond memories. But strictly speaking, they're a Timaru band.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Christchurch,…, in reply to Rob Stowell,
Didn’t even hurt. Without a pause we continued til we’d pushed them out the door.
I did find on the odd occasion that just asserting authority worked reasonably well with boot boys who were spoiling a party. They could be surprisingly biddable.
This, of course, probably wouldn't have worked so well with yer actual psycho skinhead.
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