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 Kelly is illegally sourcing her own drugs after her bid for medicinal cannabis was withdrawn - the result of a ''complicated'' application process that required information that was ''impossible to access''.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]
