Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Friday Music: A genuine original, in reply to Rob Stowell,
rip celia. the world a little blander today. really feel for the patel family – hope they are doing ok.
I've been genuinely struck by how many people knew her and are feeling sad this week – people I really wouldn't have expected.
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Hard News: Where are all the polls at?, in reply to Trevor Nicholls,
They matter so much that it should be mandatory to state them when reporting the headline numbers.
It was reported in the story on the website – but not by Gower in his news piece. Naughty.
But in some ways understandable – it would have entailed a comparison with the opposition’s more recent poll, and you don’t pay heaps of money for polling only to talk about the other guys’ fresher poll.
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A stinging statement from the National Committee for Addiction Treatment:
“People across the spectrum of society experience the impact of drug addiction. When people are made to feel less worthy than others it makes it very difficult for them to reach out for help.
“So at a time when we’re seeing a worldwide move away from kneejerk punitive approaches, these statements take us back to the failed war on drugs mentality that in practice is a war on drug users.
“While Mr English may be glad we don't have a constitution to get in the way, we do have a Bill of Rights and a National Drug Policy, brought in recently by this very government, that is underpinned by the ideas of proportionality, innovation and compassion.”
Dr Caldwell says the government seems bent on chipping away at these ideas and its own policies by dismantling good work that’s already been done.
“You can't have it both ways. Earlier this year we saw funding pulled for a very successful treatment programme for gang members who wanted help for methamphetamine addiction that the whole world was applauding. That innovation is gone.
“Gangs don't actually have a monopoly within the drug industry. Drug use and supply cut across all segments of society so to target one segment and say they are worth less than others means proportionality and compassion are thrown out the window as well.
“This is not okay. In fact, it’s appalling. This is exactly how stigma is perpetuated and why we have to constantly go cap in hand to get the funding needed to actually address this issue properly.”
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English seeks to walk it all back on Morning Report.
Mr English told Morning Report Mrs Bennett had misused the term human rights.
"It's just not the right way to describe human rights," he said.
"She understands the policy the right way, but it was a discussion about the legal rights of particular people, not the human rights of New Zealanders."
"Sometimes we just don't say the right thing, that happens," he said.
Which is all very well, but no one's asking English about him saying NZ's lack of a written constitution lets us be "flexible" about people's rights.
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Dr Jarrod Gilbert has written a scorching column:
National are proposing to give police powers to search gang members without a warrant. Allowing police the power to march through people's houses at their will is a power that if targeted against anybody else (the parents of wealthy school children, for instance) would be seen as completely outrageous.
But as Bennett said, 'some people have fewer rights than others.' And that's a statement that should trouble us, particularly when the Prime Minister supports it by saying, 'it's good that we don't have a written constitution it's enabled the country to deal with issues in a practical way.'
But this isn't even practical. Far from it. Bennett said on Twitter that 'scumbag gangs don't deserve protection'. But the majority of drug dealers aren't gang members, so why do those scumbags have greater rights than those in a gang?
And concluding:
The proposed law will not have any meaningful impact on the drug trade in New Zealand. But it does speak to who we are as a country. Paula Bennett ought be called out in the strongest possible terms for this cynical politicking.
Our country, and the principles of Western justice that underpin it, are more valuable than a political party's advantage on the hustings.
It's not that I think we shouldn't vote for Paula Bennett. I think she should resign.
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Hard News: About last night's medical…, in reply to Pete McDowell,
Just want to recommend Disjointed on Netflix. Kathy Bates so good as cannabis activist/dispensary owner Chuck Lorre show
Ooh. Thanks for the tip.
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I should have mentioned that the New Zealand Drug Foundation’s model drug law is also there as a resource for the next Parliament.
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Just FYI: we were told that Hosking was given a “clarification” to deliver last week – and rewrote it on his own, rendering the whole exercise of clarifying rather pointless.
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Yeah, it's been a privilege to watch.
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Full-size version of The Others way timetable (click to embiggen).
