Colorado legalised marijuana sales two years ago. Ben Hoyle reports on the highs and lows of the decision. The "bud tender" had shoulder-length black hair, a deep well of patience and a connoisseur's pride in his wares as he spread tray after tray of marijuana-based products on the glass counter top. There were fruit gums, chocolate caramels, granola packets, medicated sugar to drop in your coffee or tea in the morning, Rosemary Cheddar Crackers for a savoury taste, a bath soak and even sensual oil for the bedroom, Charles Watson explained. [continues 1041 words]
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration yesterday denied requests to stop classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical use, leaving users and businesses in limbo after many states have legalised it for medical or recreational purposes. The DEA though did relax certain restrictions on growing marijuana for research purposes. For decades, marijuana has been listed as a "Schedule I" drug, placing it on par with heroin. The government has repeatedly rejected appeals for reclassification. "Marijuana shouldn't be listed as Schedule I," US Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, said. He said the decision left "patients and marijuana businesses trapped between state and federal laws." [continues 411 words]
She recently turned 18, and if Malia Obama did not know that she had become a legitimate target for sections of the American media, she does now. The "First Daughter" was videoed smoking what a witness claimed was a joint in a video clip released yesterday. The footage was taken at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago last month. It is unclear from the images whether what Obama can be seen puffing on is a regular cigarette or one rolled with cannabis. [continues 146 words]
Terminally ill Helen Kelly says the Government has made her a criminal after a review of medicinal cannabis guidelines has resulted in little change. More than a year ago the former Council of Trade Unions president was diagnosed with lung cancer and after trying a variety of different medications she resorted to cannabis for pain relief. Kelly is illegally sourcing her own drugs after her bid for medicinal cannabis was withdrawn - the result of a ''complicated'' application process that required information that was ''impossible to access''. [continues 388 words]
A "change in direction" for New Zealand's drug policy is not a move towards cannabis decriminalisation, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says. Dunne is in New York for a special UN session on drug policy, and told TVNZ that the Government would push for a more "health-centred" approach. However, that did not mean decriminalisation, he said. "There's no majority in Parliament for doing that, so that's not going to happen, and people who think that that day's just around the corner are sadly forlorn." [end]
It does not make sense that a country like New Zealand, which is at the leading edge of everything from rocket launches to mountain climbing, should be so woefully behind when it comes to cannabis realities. With the "war on drugs" being called a total failure by the most prominent global experts, we are starting to look suspiciously resistant to dumping the expensive, ineffective prohibition of cannabis. Are we happy to support overseas drug companies that sell cannabis pharmaceuticals for outrageous prices? Are we happy to deny suffering Kiwis the right to choose a drug that can give them relief? How cruel is that? [continues 102 words]
Are we hearing the first murmurs of a more calm and rational approach to minor drug offences? Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, the Government's go-to man on drug regulation, is sidling cautiously towards some meaningful changes. His national drug policy, released last year, puts a new emphasis on treating drugs as a health issue. Among other things, the policy calls for a review of drug paraphernalia laws, as well as options for "minimising harm in relation to the offence and penalty regime for personal possession" of drugs. [continues 470 words]
Gangster Warlords, by Ioan Grillo, Allen & Unwin, $32.99 In May 2010 a state of emergency was declared in the Jamaican capital of Kingston. Schools and businesses were closed as armed vigilantes were seen patrolling the ghetto streets. In Tivoli Gardens, a west Kingston housing estate, gang members stockpiled weapons to prevent the arrest of their leader Dudus (Michael Christopher) Coke, revered locally as a Robin Hood figure but reviled in the US as a master of drug cartels. Ioan Grillo's exploration of the drug trade in the Caribbean, Central and South America, a follow-up to El Narco (2011), charts the rise of newlook drug barons such as Dudus, who see themselves partly as combatants in a war zone, partly as an alternative state-within-a-state. [continues 460 words]
Regarding Jane Bowron's thoughtful column (November 16), there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalisation. Switzerland's heroin maintenance programme has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime by providing addicts with standardised doses in a clinical setting. The success of the Swiss programme has inspired heroin maintenance pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. Expanding prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Cannabis should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the advertising. As long as criminals control cannabis distribution, consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs. Cannabis prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Robert Sharpe Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
While some may view the government dishing out of tips on how to get high safely as cynical and degenerate, surely this is a health issue rather than a moral one? Last week's announcement by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne that government experts may be able to offer advice on recreational drug-taking will probably go down like a cup of cold sick with conservative Kiwis. In Dunne's time as associate minister, the very flexible centrist politician who prides himself on his common sense has been learning on the job, his rocky journey into legal highs taking him to professional lows. [continues 583 words]
A POISONS expert has warned of risks to users' health from new legal highs that have appeared to replace synthetic cannabis. Legal highs brand Tai High has introduced a new "non-psychoactive" smoking blend, claiming to be free of cannabinoids, nicotine and tobacco. The warning comes as information provided to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act shows girls as young as 13 were left unconscious after smoking synthetic cannabis in the final months before the drugs were banned. National Poisons Centre reports reveal that users described "black vomit", suicidal thoughts and blacking out repeatedly after smoking the substances. [continues 525 words]
The prime minister claims to be taking money from the cannabis sales and redirecting it to those affected negatively by alcohol. What a perverted hypocrisy that is. Not only can cannabis growers look forward to an increase in police attention, the Government is looking to use drug money to clean up the mess the alcohol industry has created. It has huge budgets to sponsor sporting events and teams, but no money to help the addicts it creates. This Government keeps alcohol number one as the only legal recreational drug in town, without any competition, because of the illegal status of cannabis is assisting it monetarily. This drug (alcohol), sanctioned by the Key Government is definitely number one in the cause of assaults on females, assaults and abuse on hospital staff, the number one factor in police arrests, the number one factor in the traumatisation of children and of lost opportunities and potential in youth. This indeed is the number one act of cynicism by the Key Government on this issue. Waipukurau [end]
High Court Rules Against Boy's Bid A STUDENT who was expelled after being caught smoking dope during school hours, but not on school grounds, has lost his attempt to challenge the decision in the High Court. The Palmerston North Boys' High School student, then 16, was suspended and later expelled by the board of trustees' disciplinary committee in December. That prompted his mother to seek a judicial review of the decision. After being caught by police smoking marijuana with a group of other students, the pupil - who was dressed in uniform - was returned to school. [continues 269 words]
A STUDENT caught smoking dope during school hours, but not on school grounds, has wound up in the High Court after his mother challenged the school's decision to expel him. The Palmerston North Boys' High School student, then 16, was suspended and subsequently expelled by the board of trustees' disciplinary committee last December. That prompted his mother to seek a judicial review of the decision. The court case comes on the back of school principals saying parents are increasingly calling in lawyers over suspension matters, turning disciplinary hearings into "mini High Court trials". [continues 478 words]
Your article Son of legal high critic charged over cannabis (May 17) further highlights the problems generated by our out-of-synch cannabis laws and the need for a vigorous and rational debate on cannabis policy, as recently proposed by Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse. The negative consequences of cannabis prohibition raised by [Carterton councillor Jill] Greathead - criminal conviction, potential loss of employment and travel opportunities, not to mention the emotional trauma which could have had tragic consequences - are clearly disproportionate to the offence her son committed. [continues 69 words]
Treating Pot Smokers As Criminals Doesn't Work the Issue Is a Health One, Writes Ross Bell. People who have problems with cannabis need help. A WELCOME outcome of the Government's disappointing U-turn on "legal highs" has been the renewed focus on wider drug policy, namely the contrast between the approach to synthetic cannabis and its natural cousin. Last week, Auckland City Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse suggested it was time to talk about cannabis law reform as a possible means of addressing demand for synthetics. [continues 712 words]
New Zealand should not proceed down the path of decriminialisation when it comes to marijuana, writes Bob McCoskrie. IT IS ironic that at the same time as we ban synthetic cannabis and we try to price and label cigarettes out of existence, supporters of marijuana are peddling the same myths that we believed for far too long about tobacco - that marijuana is harmless, and it can even have health benefits. Supporters of decriminalisation would have us believe that cannabis is a gentle, harmless substance that gives users little more than a sense of mellow euphoria and hurts no one else, and that legal highs wouldn't be as attractive if we just decriminalised marijuana. [continues 632 words]
The contrast between legal highs and alcohol legislation shows how irrational drug laws are in New Zealand, and now with a knee-jerk response by Peter Dunne, in response to media-generated hysteria, there is chaos. Synthetic cannabinoids create more harm than natural cannabis, but less than alcohol. Drug experts say that if alcohol was a new drug like synthetic cannabinoids it would be banned. The prime minister debates whether rats are more acceptable than rabbits for drug testing while he prevails over a drug policy which actively encourages corporate drug testing of alcohol on young New Zealand human beings on a daily basis. The most stark example of harm being several thousand children born every year with alcohol-induced brain damage. Auckland [end]
MOVES to liberalise drug laws around the world, including decriminalising cannabis use, posed a grave danger to public health, the United Nations said yesterday. It attacked "misguided initiatives" on cannabis legalisation in the United States and Uruguay, saying they would not end underground markets. The UN's defence of drug laws comes after Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the UK should be at the heart of the debate about alternatives to prohibition. In its annual report, the International Narcotics Control Board, the UN body monitoring drug treaties, said that the commercial sale of cannabis for medical reasons in Colorado had led to an increase in car accidents involving "drug drivers", and adolescent cannabis-related hospital admissions. [continues 331 words]
GETTING high may be legal, medically speaking, but it helps if you're rich. Ministry of Health figures show that almost nobody is using the medical cannabis mouth spray Sativex. Medical cannabis users and advocates say that with a price tag of about $1300 a month, most patients were ignoring the spray and opting for the cheaper, but illegal, option of smoking cannabis instead. At present, only four people have an active prescription for the spray and only 48 have ever received ministry approval. [continues 591 words]
IT'S BEEN great staying at home in Wellington this summer. The combination of awful television and dreadful weather has enabled me to catch up on heaps of reading. But tucked in between the dreary viewing of inane reports on New Year celebrations around the world and heart-breaking road tragedies was an entertaining story about America's first legal marijuana stores. In the state of Colorado, people queued for hours in snow just so they could be the first customers. As these happy shoppers talked to the television cameras, it dawned on me that dope fiends seem to be the same the world over. [continues 613 words]
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox took his crusade to legalise marijuana to San Francisco yesterday, joining pot advocates to urge the US and his own country to decriminalise the sale and recreational use of cannabis. Fox had a three-hour meeting with the advocates, including Steve DeAngelo, the Oakland-based executive director of California's largest marijuana dispensary, and former Microsoft executive Jamen Shively, who hopes to create a Seattle-based pot brand now that Washington State has legalised recreational use. Legalisation, Fox said after the meeting, was the only way to end the violence of Mexican drug cartels, which he blamed on the US's war on drugs. [end]
YOUNG teenagers who smoke cannabis may not be stunting their intellect, says a new study challenging a claim by New Zealand scientists last year. The earlier, and widely praised, Dunedin study found people who started smoking cannabis in their teenage years, and kept using it for years afterwards, showed an average decline in IQ of eight points. It sampled more than 1000 people, comparing their IQs from when they were 13 to 38. The study also found those who started using cannabis after the age of 18 did not show the same decline in IQ. [continues 147 words]
I HAVE changed my mind about cannabis. I don't think it should be legalised and so normalised the avowed aim of some lobby groups but I do accept it's madness to have overflowing jails bursting with its lowest-level dealers and the people they sell to. The lobby groups are full of hot air and paranoia but low on presentation of facts, however the Justice Ministry has convinced me this week with its statistics on how this minor offending is taking up court time that would be better spent on speeding up justice for serious offenders. [continues 578 words]
Testing of party pills on animals remains an option but Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has ruled out using a "barbaric and disgusting" test where doses of the drug increase until half the test group dies. The lethal dose (LD50) test is banned in Britain and is not recognised by the OECD. Mr Dunne initially said it was "unavoidable" that party pills would be tested on animals, including dogs. But he confirmed yesterday that the LD50 test would not be used, labelling it barbaric and disgusting. [continues 348 words]
The Drug Foundation is disappointed the Government has rejected calls to carry out medicinal cannabis trials but says the door remains open for pharmaceutical companies to run their own tests. The Government yesterday released its response to the Law Commission's May report on drug laws which contained 144 recommendations. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said the Government agreed the 1975 Misuse of Drugs Act needed to be rewritten and that task would be undertaken by the incoming government because it was important the issues were not rushed. [continues 384 words]
Synthetic cannabis products contain an alarming cocktail of chemicals whose side-effects are largely unknown, new research shows. Environmental Science and Research has spent several months testing 43 herbal highs available in New Zealand and found that all of them contain at least one synthetic cannabinoid - and in many cases more. Ten of the products - or nearly a quarter - contained four or more. ESR scientist Paul Fitzmaurice said that was worrying. "Some of the products available in New Zealand contained quite an elaborate mixture. [continues 163 words]
The man behind New Zealand's first cannabis club, The Daktory, was today jailed for eight months after appearing in the Auckland District Court. Dakta Green, who ran the west Auckland club where cannabis could be bought and sold freely for more than 30 months, was found guilty on three cannabis related charges earlier this year. The 61-year-old was sentenced to eight months for possession and supplying cannabis and three months for permitting his premises, The Daktory, to be used for commission of a crime. [continues 133 words]
The punishment for small-scale drug dealing should be softened while possession of drug utensils should be made legal, the Law Commission has recommended. The commission this afternoon tabled in Parliament a major review of New Zealand's drug laws. It says there is room for "a more flexible approach to small-scale dealing and personal drug use," particularly when it is linked to addiction. "For those whose drug use is associated with addiction or other mental health problems, the criminal law's response can in some circumstances exacerbate rather than reduce drug-related harms," the report says. [continues 465 words]
Police will not back a proposal for a three-strikes warning scheme for "social dealers" of class C drugs. The Law Commission issued a report yesterday on the 35-year-old drug laws, saying there was room for "a more flexible approach to small-scale dealing and personal drug use", particularly when linked to addiction. A new system of warnings for personal possession and "social dealing" of drugs is proposed, with three warnings for a class C drug offence before an offender would be ordered to attend "a brief intervention session". Two warnings would apply for class B drug offences, and one for class A. There should also be a presumption against imprisonment for those prosecuted for "social dealing" that had no profit for the dealer, the report says. [continues 587 words]
Retailers are welcoming a move to restrict the sale of "legal highs", which mimic the effects of cannabis, to people aged over 18. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said yesterday that he had accepted the recommendations of an expert advisory committee to limit the sales of products such as Spice, Kronic, Aroma and Dream, which can be bought legally at dairies and convenience stores, as well as online. Known widely as "herbal smoking blends", they contain vegetable matter treated with synthetic cannabinomimetic substances. When smoked they give psychoactive effects similar to those from cannabis. [continues 189 words]
Police say there was no need for them to intervene when pro-cannabis campaigners lit up on the grounds of Parliament during a protest rally. Around 50 pro-cannabis campaigners descended on Parliament this morning, openly smoking cannabis joints and pipes. Senior Sergeant Scott Miller said police had acted in consultation with the Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith, and a decision had been made to monitor the situation and act only if there was violence or an attempt to breach the barricades. [continues 237 words]
A former MAF biosecurity information manager has been jailed for four years for his part in a fantasy importation ring. Muhammed Yusuf Alan Bates, 39, IT consultant of Wellington, had pleaded guilty to six charges of being a party to the importation of the drug fantasy. He had been managing computer programs for the government department that included border clearance and diagnostic laboratories. He lost his job after he was arrested last year. Yesterday, in Wellington District Court, Judge Denys Barry jailed Bates for four years for arranging addresses and recruiting people to receive packages filled with fantasy from China. [continues 216 words]
Staff, managers and customers of a well-known chain of horticulture shops have been arrested in a massive crackdown designed to break the backbone of the $800 million cannabis industry. Officers swooped on 35 gardening businesses across New Zealand yesterday - including all 16 branches of Switched On Gardener - after employees allegedly sold undercover police drugs, plants and growing equipment. Some people arrested in Wellington are charged with selling drug-growing equipment, including 600-watt lightbulbs, bottles of Superior Potash, Guano Superbloom and Budzilla, pH test kits, mite and aphid sprays, and High Times cannabis magazines. [continues 701 words]
During my 18 years of police service I was sent to zero calls generated by the use of cannabis. Though it is no play toy, cannabis is not worthy of police time. Every hour my colleagues in New Zealand spend chasing the non-violent, non-problem cannabis user means less time for the deadly DUI (drink driver) and those who hurt our women and children. The obvious solution to cannabis is to treat it like alcohol. The police have much more important tasks. Howard Wooldridge Washington DC [end]
Justice Minister Simon Power's dismissal of the bulk of the Law Commission's work on drug use in New Zealand is regrettable. I hope Mr Power has not mistakenly assumed that punitive drug laws actually reduce use. Consider the experience of the former land of the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated. Here in the United States, police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. [continues 97 words]
The Government's quick dismissal of the bulk of the Law Commission's work on drug use in New Zealand is regrettable. Its unpalatability for the Government - and, no doubt, for many others - - comes in its recommendation for flexibility when dealing with small-scale dealing and personal possession for use, and for less emphasis on conviction and punishment. The flip side of that is a recommendation for a greater focus on treatment, prevention and education. It is easy to understand why Justice Minister Simon Power shied away from that. The issue is a political minefield, one Mr Power sidestepped by advising the commission "that I have other things on my work agenda". [continues 392 words]
When one large cannabis-growing operation or one tinny house gets shut down by police, another will soon take its place. This is the nature of organised crime. By continuing to prohibit cannabis, not only does the Government give gang networks a profitable supply of non-taxable income, it also gives those gangs the power to decide where the drugs are being sold in our neighbourhoods. Wouldn't it be better if we controlled all aspects of the cannabis market by legalising and regulating the stuffing out of it? The tax revenue alone would be a windfall in the current economic slump. Stephen McIntyre Auckland [end]
Police paid informants a record amount of nearly half a million dollars in the past year. But it is impossible to know whether taxpayers are receiving value for money in the payouts as police cannot reveal how many arrests or convictions resulted from the payouts or which crimes the payouts were for. Informants received $1.7m in the past five years. The payout of $446,845 in the last year was the most in the last 10 years. Witnesses also receive non-cash incentives such as early parole or benefits for their families. [continues 670 words]
Ecstasy users are unwittingly taking other potentially more dangerous substances including P, as drug dealers become more reckless, officials warn. The trend is increasing the chance of accidental overdose and causing concerns for law enforcement and health authorities. Testing of what was believed to be ecstasy (MDMA) tablets by Environmental Science and Research, revealed a cocktail of other substances, including P (methamphetamine), BZP and mephedrone - linked to the death of a British 14-year-old girl last month. The tests were carried out on a number of illicit pills this year with results showing the majority contained BZP - the main ingredient in party pills made illegal in April 2008 - and mephedrone, a new substance in New Zealand similar to ecstasy. [continues 764 words]
It could be any office meeting. Morning sunshine streams through the window, staff are sitting around the table flicking through reports and nursing mugs of instant coffee, a manager uses a laser pointer as he talks through slides. But instead of suits, staff are festooned with weapons and gear - canisters at their chests, pistols at their hips, sledgehammers at their backs, their large semi-automatic weapons laid on tables. The armed offenders squad is briefing for Operation Cobra in Wellington. Six teams of police are about to search 60 properties in seven days. Fifty-five people will be arrested, and $100,000 worth of drugs and $200,000 in bank accounts will be seized. The squad is involved in a handful of the most dangerous or potentially volatile searches. [continues 637 words]
Human Rights commissioner Rosslyn Noonan says a new law giving non-police agencies greater powers to snoop is "chilling" and "disproportionately invasive". The Search and Surveillance Bill, now before the justice and electoral select committee, sets out the powers police have to search and monitor people, but also extends powers to other agencies, such as the Commerce Commission and local authorities. They will be able to secure warrants to use surveillance devices, such as cameras, search computers remotely and search vehicles without a warrant. [continues 447 words]
New Zealand is seen as a soft target by gangs, which launder millions of dollars through this country, says the head of an Australian police unit set up to combat Melbourne's criminal underworld. Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards of Victoria Police told the Police Association conference in Wellington yesterday that New Zealand needed to do more to crack down on organised crime. Mr Edwards heads the Purana Taskforce, set up after a "crisis" of gangland killings in Melbourne, on which the television drama Underbelly was based. [continues 563 words]
Victims of violent crime want an end to defendants "hiding" behind the right to silence in court but civil rights experts and defence lawyers argue that this would be a serious erosion of human rights. Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar said the law sheltered defendants who kept quiet during trials. "It [the change proposed] doesn't mean defendants will be forced to talk it just means if they don't, juries can take it into account." Abolishing the right to silence is one of a long list of demands by the trust to the Government intended to tip the scales of the justice system in favour of victims, not offenders. [continues 467 words]
Three Hells Angels associates are among more than 1000 people arrested after the largest crackdown on the cannabis industry in a decade. More than 140,000 cannabis plants were seized and destroyed as police used air force helicopters and chartered airplanes to scour the countryside for drug plantations in the 2008-09 operation. The gang associates were arrested after police found 100 plants in a forest east of Wanganui. A frontline officer, who did not want to be named for fear of jeopardising future operations, said the harvest was possibly destined for the bikie gang. "It wasn't a huge crop but they clearly knew what they were doing." [continues 320 words]
Books, contraceptives, Tupperware, underwear - you name it - it has probably been used to smuggle drugs and other things into prisons. While the number of interceptions of drugs and contraband, such as cellphones and SIM cards, has dropped in the past five years, inmates continue to think up ingenious ways to smuggle contraband in. Tongariro-Rangipo Prison staff found cannabis resin and leaf stuffed inside an inmate's deodorant bottle during a cell search this week. Staff became suspicious when they found the container had been tampered with, prison manager Steve Greer said. The inmate would be charged with drug possession. [continues 465 words]
A career burglar with a drug addiction who ripped off the prime minister's Auckland home has been jailed. John Key lost two watches and his wife Bronagh a large amount of jewellery in the burglary of their $8 million mansion in July 2007. Computers and sensitive files were untouched. John Clark, 37, appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday on 20 burglary charges and seven of receiving. Mr Key did not offer a victim impact statement, and is not seeking reparation. [continues 297 words]
Customs is looking to arm itself with digital tracking technology in the war against drug traffickers and smugglers. Spokesman Rowan McArthur says it is planning to evaluate and trial "surveillance technology", but would not divulge further details. "We will not be elaborating on this for obvious reasons of security and the potential for compromising our work in fighting the trade in illicit drugs and other contraband." About 20 per cent of illegal drugs imported into New Zealand are detected by Customs, according to a report by the National Drug Intelligence Bureau. [continues 235 words]
Teenagers can buy cannabis far more easily than beer, says the head of a top boys' school that has suspended 17 pupils for smoking the drug. Lindisfarne College a decile-10, high-performing, integrated school sent the boys home last week after an investigation triggered by a tip-off from a parent. Rector Grant Lander said yesterday the school found that "quite a number of boys were involved in possession or smoking marijuana" and had been since the start of the school year. [continues 283 words]
Police will have new powers to deal with drivers on drugs under legislation passed by Parliament tonight. Transport Minister Steven Joyce said "very disturbing statistics" showed how important it was to bring in the new laws. He told Parliament Massey University drug researchers carried out surveys which found that 90 per cent of `P' users and 62 per cent of Ecstasy users had driven under the influence of a drug other than alcohol during a six month period. "Many reported driving too fast, losing concentration, losing their temper at another driver, driving through a red light and nearly hitting something while driving under the influence of a drug," he said. [continues 338 words]
