Questions about cannabis law reform are again being posed, with a survey revealing that most users would not use more if the drug became legal. The Global Drug Survey, conducted in partnership with Fairfax Media, shows that we are a nation of cannabis smokers, with more than a third of the almost 6000 respondents having used it in the past year. Respondents were also asked about their attitude towards legalising drugs, and how their behaviour would change if the law was amended. [continues 175 words]
An invisible swath of middle-class New Zealanders are drinking heavily and indulging in drugs, a new survey has found. Fairfax Media's involvement in the Global Drugs Survey on worldwide drug use has for the first time revealed how entrenched alcohol and drugs - both legal and illegal - are in our everyday lives. Addiction medicine specialists say the results have identified key trends in our drug use, and show users fall across a broad spectrum of the population. The survey reveal both interesting and shocking glimpses into the drug habits of the 5731 New Zealand respondents, who had a mean age of 34.7, about half of whom had an undergraduate degree, and 84 per cent of whom were employed. [continues 395 words]
LAWS and the legislation that enables them are key points to building and sustaining a safe, reasonable society. But just as important than the laws themselves is the level of confidence we place in them. Without that confidence people will ignore the rules or, worse still, take the law into their own hands. One thing that can erode that confidence is criticism and searching questions from people charged with enforcing that law. A lot of people already think the law can be an ass, but when top-level officials come to the same conclusion, then you have some issues. [continues 396 words]
MONDAY'S business feature in the Taranaki Daily News was yet another reminder (as if we needed it) that innovation and hard work are integral parts of our psyche. Taranaki-born Greg Flavall founded Hemp Technologies in the US state of North Carolina before shifting to the taxfree state of Nevada. The business now has branches in New Zealand, the United States, Canada and Romania and employs about 300 staff, from administration and distribution to chemical scientists. The core business is the manufacture of hempcrete, which is made much like concrete, and the only ingredient not from New Zealand is the hemp itself, which is grown in the Netherlands. It is actually a mixture of hemp and lime and is easier to work with than concrete because it is less brittle. It is also a compound that should be dear to the heart of every greenie - like every plant, hemp absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows. It stores the carbon and releases the oxygen. This could be a really important step in the climate change battle. The hempcrete also acts as an insulator and keeps the damp out. [continues 334 words]
New Zealand's first hemp house is being built right here in Taranaki. In part four in a series on innovative Taranaki businesses, Susan Strongman speaks to Hemp Technologies owner Greg Flavall about all things hemp. "You'd have to smoke a joint as big as a telephone pole to even get a headache from what we grow." Greg Flavall Hemp Technologies On a four hectare lifestyle block a few minutes north of New Plymouth, New Zealand's first hemp house is being built. Amongst wandering sheep, chooks and bee hives, the house is being constructed out of timber and hempcrete a mixture of hemp, lime and water. Hemp house: Hemp Technologies co-founder Greg Flavall holds a bag of hemp at New Zealand's first hemp house, which is being built in Brixton. Left: A hen house made of hemp and recycled materials. [continues 1039 words]
A Loosening of Cannabis Laws Overseas May Change Kiwis' Thinking About the Drug Say Experts. Mike Mather Reports. New Zealand's traditional hard line on cannabis could soon be eased, says a leading academic who predicts a "sea change" is imminent. His comments follow a profound change in how the drug, also known as marijuana and dope, is being treated overseas. And an alcohol and drug counsellor says New Zealand is in the "stone age" when it comes to marijuana laws and that alcohol is actually the most dangerous substance in the country. [continues 734 words]
In response to Marie O'Connor (Letters' January 27) I am compelled to share with you a few facts I have come across concerning cannabis. Portugal decriminalised all drugs 12 years ago, not just cannabis, all drugs, and the result was that drug abuse has now halved. This may come as a surprise to a lot of you, and the theory of decriminalisation being a ticket to drug problems is a fair statement to make, but the real tide turner is what we choose to do with drug users/abusers. Do we lock them up like animals or do we treat them like humans and give them the help they may need? [continues 255 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. Only four people have an active prescription for the spray and only 48 have ever received ministry approval. The medication has been available with a sign-off from the health minister since 2008. [continues 219 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]
The legalisation of recreational marijuana in the American state of Colorado has attracted international attention, and New Zealand lawmakers should pay close attention to the experiment. Hundreds of people queued up on New Year's Day to be among the first people to legally purchase state-regulated marijuana, with media from around the world there to witness the historic moment. The legalisation of the drug for recreational use by adults marks a significant change in America's drug culture, but whether it is positive or negative remains to be seen. [continues 343 words]
Some heavy cannabis users are up to 11 times more likely to develop schizophrenia, a drug symposium in Auckland has been told. People with a certain gene combination that exists in 25 per cent of the population had that heightened risk, Otago University's Professor Richie Poulton told the Cannabis and Health Symposium. Risk of psychosis was elevated for those who used the drug when they were young, the Dunedin Longitudinal Study showed, but not at the levels of that gene combination. [continues 366 words]
Model for Dealing With Problem Has Not Reduced Demand or Supply So We Should Go Way of Some US States Illegal drugs are the scourge of the modern world. They have the capacity to destroy everything in their path. It is critical that this problem is adequately dealt with. But the global war on illegal drugs that was declared five decades ago has been a disaster for all except criminals. First, demand and supply for illegal drugs is much larger now than when serious attempts at prohibition began in the 1960s. Since 1998 when the UN held an event entitled "A drug-free world: we can do it", consumption of cannabis and cocaine has risen by about 50 per cent, while for opiates, it has more than trebled. [continues 830 words]
Many New Zealanders are turning to cannabis as an alternative to alcohol, which might explain why we are among the highest users in the world, a medical anthropologist says. According to the Ministry of Health's most recent New Zealand Alcohol and Drug Use Survey, one in seven New Zealand adults will have used cannabis in the past year. The survey found 46.4 per cent of all adults had used cannabis in their lifetime. That put New Zealand among the highest cannabis users in the world, according to the 2013 United Nations World Drug Report. [continues 357 words]
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, easily the best European interpreter of America, observed of how opinion shifts in this still-new country: "As long as the majority is still undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision is irrevocably pronounced, everyone is silent, and the friends as well as the opponents of the measure unite in assenting to its propriety." If you want to know why universal healthcare is still being fought over in America, the answer is that the country remains split on the subject. And if you want to know why gay marriage has suddenly gone from being unthinkable to being an increasingly accepted part of the American landscape, you'll notice how polling support for it has shifted from 57-40 against marriage equality as recently as 2009 to 54-43 in the latest Gallup poll four years later. [continues 887 words]
More Americans Back Legalised Cannabis Than Support Obamacare, Writes Andrew Sullivan. Alexis De Tocqueville, easily the best European interpreter of America, observed of how opinion shifts in this still-new country: "As long as the majority is still undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision is irrevocably pronounced, everyone is silent, and the friends as well as the opponents of the measure unite in assenting to its propriety." If you want to know why universal healthcare is still being fought over in America, the answer is that the country remains split on the subject. And if you want to know why gay marriage has suddenly gone from being unthinkable to being an increasingly accepted part of the American landscape, you'll notice how polling support for it has shifted from 57-40 against marriage equality as recently as 2009 to 54-43 in the latest Gallup poll four years later. [continues 921 words]
Legalisation of Cannabis in the United States Is Only a Matter of Time, Writes Andrew Sullivan. Alexis de Tocqueville, easily the best European interpreter of America, observed how opinion shifts in this still-new country: " As long as the majority is still undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision is irrevocably pronounced, everyone is silent, and the friends as well as the opponents of the measure unite in assenting to its propriety." If you want to know why universal healthcare is still being fought over in America, the answer is that the country remains split on the subject. And if you want to know why gay marriage has suddenly gone from being unthinkable to being an increasingly accepted part of the American landscape, you'll notice how polling support for it has shifted from 57- 40 against marriage equality in 2009 to 54- 43 in the latest Gallup poll four years later. [continues 575 words]
The latest Gallop poll in America has shown that a solid majority now support the legalisation of cannabis (Oct 25). The irony is that America is behind the pressure to prevent other countries around the world from legalising cannabis. The time has come for New Zealand to grow up and take a rational look at the benefits of hemp (cannabis). Let's move away from treating young and old as criminals for smoking a substance that has killed no-one and has minimal health risks, certainly far less than alcohol and tobacco. MARC FIBBENS Halswell [end]
I had the opportunity to speak to Nick Smith and Maryan Street at the Nelson markets. I asked them; with the amount of proof of the benefits of medicinal cannabis, why then are their parties dragging the chain on allowing people to use cannabis medicinally? Nick Smith rattled on about how cannabis causes throat and head cancers. I challenged him to produce any peer-reviewed studies to back his claim (which there are none). He muttered something about the studies he's seen from the Ministry of Health. Well, if it came from Peter Dunne, we know it will be dubious. [continues 116 words]
The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party's leader believes new laws regulating synthetic cannabinoids mean the "dam is about to break" for cannabis legalisation. Party leader Michael Appleby was in Timaru yesterday on his way to party's annual conference in Dunedin. "We've been around years. "We actually held our first ever conference in Timaru. I don't think we're a ginger group. "Every little push we make has got our views closer to the mainstream." He said the recently passed Psychoactive Substances Act, which regulates the sale and supply of synthetic cannabinoids, was a step in the right direction. [continues 197 words]
Dunedin is a little closer to becoming the Amsterdam of the South Pacific as Whakamana: the Cannabis Museum of Aotearoa counts down to its opening. A joint venture by the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and Otago cannabis lobby group Otago Norml, the museum will be officially opened on Sunday, October 6, under the directorship of long-time Otago cannabis lobbyist Abe Gray. "All the local journalists and politicians will be invited, plus a few celebrity musicians. The general public are also invited," Mr Gray said. The opening would kick off Cannabis Awareness Week taking place online and at venues around Dunedin, he said. [continues 161 words]
A former senior New Zealand detective serving prison time in the Cook Islands for cannabis offences says the drug should be decriminalised because police are wasting money and resources chasing social users. Former Detective Inspector Mark Franklin admitted during an interview with Fairfax Media at Arorangi Prison in Rarotonga that he had used cannabis throughout his police career to relieve stress. He continued to use the drug in Rarotonga after he was diagnosed with cancer, as it was the only thing that helped with nausea. [continues 407 words]
YOU'D be right to wonder what has changed in Timaru since the Psychoactive Substances Bill was passed in Parliament in July. And you wouldn't be far wrong if you concluded "not much". Because in Timaru, unlike other centres, recreational drugs were no longer being sold from dairies anyway. Instead, two Stafford St retailers were the only shops selling synthetic cannabis, and they still are. Now, they do so under an interim licence, interim because the law has some catching up to do. [continues 306 words]
Two organisations behind a joint venture Cannabis Museum in Dunedin want to see the city become Dunsterdam, the cannabis capital of the South Pacific. Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and Otago Cannabis lobby group Otago Norml want to achieve the status for Dunedin by opening New Zealand's first Cannabis Museum and launch a charitable trust in Dunedin this month. The function of the museum would remain within the law, says Julian Crawford, who is setting up the facility with well-known Dunedin cannabis lobbyist Abe Gray. [continues 255 words]
Former senior New Zealand policeman Mark Franklin pleaded guilty to drug charges in the Cook Islands High Court yesterday, Television New Zealand reported. A one-time detective inspector in Northland, Franklin was arrested in 2011 over allegations that he was operating as a local drug dealer, selling cannabis from a bar, in Rarotonga. Franklin's co-accused included a senior policewoman, Inano Matapo, and her partner, Giovanni Masters, who is the son of the country's deputy prime minister. New Zealand police officers based in Rarotonga helped in the major drug bust, which may lead to further charges. [continues 58 words]
Researchers are getting a better understanding of the effects of cannabis use on mental health, but the definitive answer remains hazy, write Robin MacGregor Murray and Amir Englund. Is cannabis harmful to mental health? That question has provoked much debate over the years, often generating more heat than light. The bottom line is this: Within the scientific community, there is a general consensus that most people who use cannabis will not develop significant mental health problems. Certain individuals, however, are more susceptible to the negative effects of its use. [continues 561 words]
A new ad campaign is targeting "sensible stoners" who falsely believe smoking cannabis makes them more focused behind the wheel. The New Zealand Transport Agency's (NZTA) latest safety campaign began airing on TV screens, in cinemas and online last night, targeting the misinformed demographic - drivers in their 30s and 40s who smoke marijuana and drive - for the first time. New Zealand Drug Foundation research has found that half of the drivers killed on New Zealand roads are impaired by alcohol, other drugs or both. [continues 260 words]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A novel New Zealand law that could legalize some designer drugs is being scrutinized with interest by other countries struggling to keep up with the proliferation of "party pills" and similar products. The law, enacted two weeks ago, represents a U-turn from the traditional approach of banning synthetic drugs. Instead, New Zealand will attempt to regulate them, allowing their sale if they go through rigorous safety testing similar to that for pharmaceuticals. Giving users a high wouldn't be a reason to ban them, a government health official said, though they would need to come with warnings, such as not driving while under their influence. [continues 491 words]
Overwhelming support: More than 1000 people - many with dogs at their side - gathered in Cathedral Square to protest against the testing of legal highs on animals. The demonstration was one of several around the country, held yesterday to coincide with Parliament sitting. Protesters, armed with placards bearing messages including "torture for profit" and "my life is in your hands", chanted "we shouldn't die for you to get high". The Psychoactive Substances Bill, which comes into force tomorrow, allows limited testing of party pills and synthetic cannabis on animals if no suitable alternatives can be found. [continues 159 words]
Drug-testing expected to cost up to 5800 their benefits, and 8000 others with arrest warrants also in jeopardy. Thousands of people are expected to be chopped off welfare benefits as sweeping changes in the social security system come into force today. The reforms represent the biggest upheaval in the welfare state since the Social Security Act was passed by the first Labour Government in 1938. All sickness beneficiaries, and sole parents and widows with no children under 14, are now subject to the same requirement to look for fulltime work as other jobless people, although sickness may be accepted as a valid reason to postpone work temporarily. [continues 365 words]
Synthetic cannabis manufacturers are putting lives in danger as they tweak products to get around bans, a forensic scientist says. New Plymouth teenager Logan Wilson was admitted to hospital last week with kidney and heart failure after smoking the legal high Kryptonite. The 19-year-old spent five days in the intensive care unit at Taranaki Base Hospital, where he was put in an induced coma and was on a ventilator. Jake Bertie, of NZ Forensic Consultancy Solutions, told the Taranaki Daily News manufacturers were making minor modifications to the chemicals used in the products to get around government bans. [continues 412 words]
The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is threatening to seek an injunction to force Maori TV to include it in a debate ahead of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election. The June 25 debate is only expected to feature the Green, Labour, Mana and Maori candidates. ALCP leader Michael Appleby said he had complained to the Human Rights and Race Relations commissions. Maori TV said it had nothing to do with race. It simply invited the four frontrunners. [end]
One of New Zealand's longest serving political leaders has been denied the chance to debate his position on Maori TV. Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party leader Michael Appleby is making a bid for the Ikaroa-Rawhiti seat in the coming by-election - but was barred from participating in the candidates' debate on Native Affairs on June 3. Producers of Maori TV's flagship current affairs programme told Mr Appleby, 66, that he could not take part in the debate as he did not have Maori credibility in the electorate. [continues 532 words]
Clever Chinese manufacturer with links to NZ just one of the chemical masterminds outwitting authorities. When a worldwide shortage of MDMA disrupted the manufacture of Ecstasy, party goers didn't have to wait long for their fix. Chemists simply experimented to create a substitute called mephedrone, a chemical similar in structure to methcathinone (an illegal drug that itself is similar to methamphetamine). The recipe for the legal drug was posted on the internet and mephedrone, later called Meow Meow, became the new Ecstasy in the UK and Europe. [continues 1130 words]
I was pleased to read the letter from J Hatch and the column by Grant Miller in response to articles about my stance on drug regulation, particularly cannabis. This is a debate that we need to have and I hope it continues. What hasn't come through very well in the articles is exactly what my position is. I actually don't think politicians should make the decision whether or not New Zealand should decriminalise cannabis or any other substance. That should be left to scientists and the health professionals who deal with the impacts of substance use, misuse and abuse. [continues 215 words]
Grant Miller's pathetic attempt to justify cannabis prohibition ( Standard, May 27) ignores the most fundamental principles of justice and human rights, while making assertions which are not supported by any evidence whatsoever. To give just one example, he asserts that " ending prohibition of cannabis would naturally lead to more people trying it. The more people who try it, the more that become addicted". News flash, Grant - prohibition has not stopped anyone trying it, and it never will. As far as addiction is concerned, cannabis is less addictive than coffee - perhaps Grant thinks we should ban that too? [continues 55 words]
Regarding Matthew Dallas' May 25 editorial, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of Anglo cultural norms, cannabis would be legal. Unlike alcohol, cannabis has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Cannabis can be harmful, but criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. Consider the experience of the former land of the free. 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 at preventing cannabis use. The United States has higher rates of cannabis use than the Netherlands, where cannabis is legally available. [continues 64 words]
The author of ' Legalising drugs a wrong step' ( Miller On Politics, May 27) makes a series of assumptions that contradict international experience. The first is the idea that somehow young people are influenced by the criminal status of cannabis, that they are put off using it. Absolute waffle. Youth have a strong sense of justice. The idea that cannabis, a far less harmful substance than alcohol, is criminalised while alcohol is widely promoted reeks of hypocrisy and vested interest. The youth that we should be most concerned about, those whose upbringing has negatively impacted their self esteem, are actually more likely to use cannabis because it is illegal. " Look at me, I'm an outlaw." [continues 194 words]
I totally agree with Grant Miller on not legalising marijuana. Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway's attitude is completely out of touch with the many victims of marijuana use and the long-term destruction for their families - especially once a family member is addicted. Having managed the repeated cycle of psychotic behaviour that ensues from real cannabis addiction by a family member over 10 years - can I please ask Mr Lees-Galloway, is he at all familiar with this, at a real gut level? The social, emotional, and economic disaster of what he's suggesting legalising? [continues 93 words]
Others Watching to See If NZ Law Has Desired Result. New Zealand once prided itself on being a "social laboratory" for advances in public welfare. Within a few months it will become a laboratory in every sense: for the approval of new recreational drugs. Other countries are taking a close interest in Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne's proposed licensing system for synthetic psychoactive substances, as Mr Dunne found when he addressed a United Nations Drug Convention in Vienna recently. Drug researcher Chris Wilkins told the Weekend Herald he found the same interest at a drug policy conference in Bogota, Colombia last week. [continues 530 words]
If the movement to legalise cannabis had a theme song, and it's surprising that it doesn't, the old pub anthem Tumthumping would be apt. " I get knocked down/ But I get up again/ You're never going to keep me down." Every few years proponents of pot are taken a little more seriously, and the reasoning for decriminalisation or legalisation sounds a little less radical. Though the furore over synthetic, legal highs, has helped push the spotlight back on the natural stuff, the impetus for debate remains unchanged the present legislation is outdated and deficient. [continues 339 words]
Lees- Galloway May Not Represent the Views on Drugs of the People in His Electorate. When Palmerston North MP Iain Lees- Galloway started his speech in Parliament last month concerning the Psychoactive Substances Bill, there was an interjection. The city MP was talking about " a mechanism by which some drugs can become legal and make it to market in a regulated - I hope a very tightly regulated - market". " That, I believe, is a very positive step in our drugs laws," he said. [continues 739 words]
TV Vote Inspires Cannabis Call Palmerston North MP Iain LeesGalloway wants Parliament to consider decriminalising cannabis while discussing legislation to regulate legal highs. " What we know is that prohibition causes more harm than good," he told the Manawatu Standard. " It should be science and not politics that determines the relative harms of specific drugs. " My view is that cannabis would be a good candidate for examination." Mr Lees- Galloway, Labour's associate health spokesman, was responding to the result of a drug decriminalisation debate on TV3' s The Vote. [continues 393 words]
The owner of the Switched On Gardener chain of hydroponic stores has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Judge Andree Wiltens refused the option of home detention as he sentenced Michael Quinlan in the Auckland District Court yesterday. General manager Peter Bennett, 43, was also sentenced, receiving a prison term of three years and nine months. Two women broke down in tears as the sentence was read out to the packed courtroom. The men were found guilty in December of supplying equipment for cultivating cannabis, but both were acquitted of being part of an organised criminal group. [continues 186 words]
Despite promises, no money from crims' assets has gone to alcohol and drug treatment. Not one cent of the millions of dollars worth of assets seized from criminals has been funnelled into drug treatment or resources to fight organised crime as promised when the enabling law came into force. Nearly $150 million worth of homes, cars, boats, cash, jewellery and other valuables has been restrained since the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was passed in December 2009, of which $27 million has been forfeited to the Crown. [continues 792 words]
A Timaru professional man smokes a joint most evenings and does not think it affects his work. John believes the locally grown marijuana he buys is safer than synthetic cannabis which is sold legally. "People assume legal highs are safe because they are legal, and marijuana is unsafe because it is illegal." He would like to see all drugs having the same status because prohibition does not work. However he would not like them to be available to anyone under 20, and concedes that no drug is safe. "It's not good for young minds." John was open about his drug use with his three children, now adults. One smokes, one doesn't and the other dabbles occasionally. [continues 455 words]
A Collingwood bartender caught growing 122 cannabis plants told police he made juice out of the cannabis leaves to provide relief from a medical condition. Police raided Krishna Mason's Puramahoi property in Golden Bay after spotting plants growing during their annual aerial search. Police found 122 plants on the property, which had a caravan and several out buildings. The plants ranged in size from 20cm to 2 metres tall. They were reasonably healthy, police said. Mason showed police a banana box containing 125 grams of cannabis. [continues 110 words]
A UNITED Nations report has highlighted the extent of drug abuse in New Zealand, including " growing concern" over the misuse of prescription drugs. The 22-page document, entitled "World situation with regard to Drug Abuse" states: " The highest prevalence of opioid use was estimated to be in North America and Australia and New Zealand, which in fact reflected the misuse of prescription painkillers." The UN's report stated prescription drug misusers were often "young adults, women, elderly patients and healthcare professionals". [continues 398 words]
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 that 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 579 words]
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