Since this post brought it up – cannabis legalisation in New Zealand. Yay or nay?
Personally, I’m positive is cannabis was fully legalised, it would remove a swathe of our population from prison, free the police force from the monetary and manpower costs of enforcement and lead to a decrease in the cannabis users rate (as has been shown in the the Netherlands and Portugal). I’m aware that no party wants to touch it, and even the Greens step away from it since Tancoz left (though I read a nice piece by Turei recently on her stance on decriminalisation). The fact is, it’s unconscionable that we lock people up for consuming a drug that’s known to be non-toxic, not physically addictive, an anti-carcinogen and an effective medicine for a huge range of different health ailments. The fact that my taxes pay for this makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Legalising cannabis would also remove funding for many gang activities. When Chris Fowlie from the Cannabis Culture magazine actually travelled to New Zealand, himself and the rest of the NORML people he was with were actually threatened by gang members. One of them actually said [paraphrased] “originally I was in support of legalising cannabis, but then I realised it would cut into our profits”.
Just because someone isn’t in prison, it doesn’t mean a miscarriage of justice wasn’t carried out, gitmo. I can’t find data on imprisonment rate however
In 2005, there were a total of 16,364 recorded drug-related offences. The vast
majority of these (90 percent) were cannabis offences.
If so, do you believe it warrants being illegal, when you have the knowledge that somanyreputable scientists believe is it less harmful than alcohol, that anyone that possesses a tinnie should be allowed to sent to prison for upto six months?
Carcinogen if smoked, impairment of decision making, psychiatric disorders in some etc etc etc.
Make no mistake it is a drug of abuse and is as capable as any drug of abuse of causing harm…….that needs to be balanced vs its therapeutic effects in glaucome and certain patients or whom it is very effective pain relief medication.
Honestly the best reason not to legalise it is probably the stoner tourism it would attract.
Studies have shown cannabis to have anti-cancer properties, with one experiment showing a 50% decrease in the size of a breast tumor. THC is a trigger for some psychiatric disorders, not a cause. There has never been a causal relationship proven between cannabis and psychiatric disorders. Also, CBDs which are found in cannabis in lower rates than THC are anti-psychotics. Impairment of decision making? Considering many politicians have said they’ve smoked cannabis, that’s probably true.:twisted:
How does cannabis cause harm, gitmo? Give me examples instead of allusions. Cannabis is an effective analgesic, anti-emetic, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic (remember CBDs), and muscle relaxant. You know how many different medical conditions this can help treat? Way too many to list here, gitmo. You are an in compassionate ass hole if you can’t knowledge this fact.
If you believe something should be banned because it promotes tourism, you’re probably off your rocker. I understand that it does in Amsterdamn, but that’s in the middle of Europe. All you have to do if you live in Germany or France is a quick trip over the border. The 2200km to New Zealand just from Australia changes things a bit for us.
Cannabis can cause harm to the user. However it’s harm you’re causing to yourself and it’s less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. It’s not the state’s place to stop individuals doing what they wish with their own bodies and in the case of recreational drugs their own minds. Legalise it!
Quoth the Raven, you say cannabis causes harm. Could you please justify that statement? I’m not trying to be bigoted towards anti-cannabis opinions, I want to know what harm people really believe cannabis causes.
Noko
First – I think cannabis should be decriminalised immediately, as a first step toward legalising it in the future.
Second – QTR says it can cause harm, which is a little different to saying it causes harm. I agree with QTR, I’m sure it can cause harm. Other perfectly innocuous things like coffee, chocolate and water can also cause harm. More often than not they don’t, but they can. Similar with alcohol and tobacco, except the likelihood of harm occurring and the degree of harm are much greater.
The idea of putting restrictions and controls on most drugs, except the worst, and removing their illegality presently resulting in severe criminal penalties has a practical, pragmatic, thoughtful and intelligent approach with societal advantages and state cost savings.
The amount of time and money spent by the police in marijuana control could go somewhere else. There would be controls and standards imposed, perhaps marijuana would be treated more like party pills. The taxation on marijuana sales would result in more revenue, and criminality would then involve unpaid taxes. The government could promote different, less potent, strains of marijuana and there would be legalised outlets such as for alcohol. (There would also be controls on hours of sale made mandatory for the country). The growers could lease or buy their own land and grow and market the stuff. They could also be encouraged to go into hemp growing, another industry that would be beneficial to our economy.
Changes like this would have to be fought all the way through the politics and brouhaha of people who aren’t inclined to analyse and make changes to improve bad outcomes. Much easier to continue braying about others’ badness, being authoritarian, bemoaning the costs, etc. Many feel secure and superior in having continuing patterns of behaviour to criticise. Such people quote the anecdote and received wisdom and resist improvement of the situation. Drugs cannot be effectively abolished – prohibition in the USA just gave a boost to the criminal Mafia, and in NZ the gangs, otherwise low income powerless people, are drawn to the drug scene to improve their finances also.
Good idea perhaps we could let Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco give us some advice ….. I mean no harm could possibly come from freeing up access to marijuana
Harm reduction, making a choice for a better outcome in a dodgy situation. Do nothing often seems the best option. Why can’t trial policies be introduced for hard to deal with situations, to be monitored and assessed against reasonable goals of improvement?
The difference is that cannabis has medicinial qualities that are well observed and proved. Even the Ministry of Health has approved Savitex made from cannabis extract for medical use.
That cannabis smoke doesn’t even effect the airways in the same way as tobacco shows how ignorant you are (perhaps purposely) being of the matter.
Interesting bit of news. This is what happens when you try to use your intelligence and make some improvement in embedded policy. Google – The British Home Secretary sacked his drug advisor David Nutt on 30/10/09 for criticising the government’s drug policy.
An anti-smoking group has lost its taxpayer funding after audits revealed its director took a string of international jaunts.
Audits of Te Reo Marama found that international travel counted for a large chunk of the organisation’s spending, and led to the Ministry of Health pulling $200,000 a year funding.
Te Reo Marama director Shane Kawenata Bradbrook said he was surprised at the ministry’s decision – and that ministry cash was rarely used to pay for flights.
The Wellington-based group, which aims to help Maori stop smoking, is an independent organisation that receives funding from several sources, including the World Health Organisation.
On its website, it states: “Maori have a tradition of resistance within Aotearoa-New Zealand… Resisting the industry that profits from Maori illness and premature death continues that tradition of resistance.”
Public health group manager Warren Lindberg said the contract was terminated after “considerable concerns about its reporting and other management and governance issues”.
“The Ministry of Health did not expect to be funding international travel,” Lindberg said.
Interesting guy this morning Dmitry Orlov on Chris Laidlaw National Radio. Talking about the transition of big states USSR to capitalism type state and how they coped and how the USA will cope when they have to transition. Talked about how oil will soon be as expensive to find, reach, draw off and supply as can be paid by consumers, hence not profitable any more. Then… It’s a curse ‘May you live in interesting times’.
Heh, for one who claims to be “superior” it’s surprising that you haven’t even tried looking at the empirical veracity of Peak Oil, i.e. it’s not going to be an issue till the end of this century (see October 09 issue of Scientific American, “Squeezing More Oil from the Ground” pp36) though this may not be the best thing in getting us weaned off oil and over to low/neutral carbon energy sources.
Also, the USSR’s transtition to capitalism has worked oh so well, that’s if you’re one of the rich, for otherwise Russia has developing world levels for some of the key socio-economic indicators. Or course, this only matters darling if you’re one of teh poor, or those silly upper class fools who care about them…
/sarcasm
Interesting that feedbacks was the spam word. The way you think NickS all I would need to say is that one word and you could make a strong argument against it, having a quick sneer and projecting all your pathetic prejudices on to my possible, imagined meaning.
Long answer: People look for reasons for why horrible things happen, reasons which fit in with the cultural matrix/fabric they’re part of, and when your culture doesn’t really understand why some people break and go postal, you end up looking for “rational” alternative explanations. And given then that in the West, particularly the USA, there exists a proportion of the population who think evolution is teh evils, it’s not particularly surprising to see evilution blamed for these tragedies. Instead of say, said person having been put into a situation that is not productive to considering others as human, or just having mental disorders which predispose them to violence under the right environment…
Same thinking goes for why people reject evolution in the first place, though you can also look at the role culture plays in making individuals accept someone as an “expert” or particular claims as “true”, regardless of the empirical evidence to the contrary…
Which partly helps explain why Wishart somehow manages to get no1 for the piece of sh*t that is Air Con
And double plus irony for “Poison Free NZ”, mostly due to philosophical fun and dose-dependency of lethal effects when it comes to classifying the boundaries of the term “poison”.
Protip; water is toxic as well in sufficient quantities, aka water intoxication…
Kind of a misrepresentation there, NickS. According to Wikipedia’s article
Fluoroacetate is highly toxic to mammals and insects.[2] The oral dose of fluoroacetate sufficient to be lethal in humans is 210 mg/kg.[9]
That’s 1 gram to kill a 100kg person.
The thing about 1080 isn’t that it kills (well it is, when you’re talking about the deaths of 7 Keas, however) but the mechanism of killing. It interrupts the citric acid cycle, which is what our cells derive their energy from. It’s a particularly horrible way to die, for any creature.
Now if we were talking about it sticking around in the ecosystem…
Except of course 1080 doesn’t stick round in the environment, since organic molecules, other than aromatic hydrocarbon rings, tend to have rather short half-life’s out in nature when they have fluorine functional groups, as they tend to make the carbon they’re attached to highly electro-positive and prone to attack…
Or at least that’s what 2 years of organic chemistry and 3 years of biochemistry point to. Without digging through my notes/textbooks for reactivity data for F-fg’s…
Also, being killed by a stoat isn’t exactly a fun way to go, nor is starvation due to possums stripping your food source, nor gin-traps for possums, and/or shooting. The tendency to talk about poisons being “cruel” oft goes with a tendency to romanticise the cruelty of nature and ignore the use of rather nasty poisons in nature as defense, and the ecological impacts of introduced mammals, even at low levels, on NZ’s environment and native animals. Which all evolved in splendid isolation from mammalian herbivores and predators, and thus, are mostly highly vulnerable to becoming food…
And humane measures aren’t exactly an option when dealing with rough NZ back country and a lack of conservation funding, not to mention actual effectiveness.
Heh! Remember the last time he got to meet Obama? There he was at the UN surrounded by the leaders of the world discussing hugely critical matters pertaining to the future of the planet – asked what his impressions were, the Goober said:
h-yuck, h-yuck, h-yuck – Michull Bama’z roily, roily tull – she mid Bronagh luk lyke a Hobbit
it certainly looks as if the Maori Party is tearing its-self apart .
Sadly a great opportunity for Maori ,the Labour Party and the whole of the political Left has been lost. As soon as Maori Party was formed the Labour Party should has agreed to give up the electoral seats in exchange for the party vote . It would have kept us in government for years. Instead we drove them into the arms of the Nats.However having said that I realise that Turia and Sharples lean to the Right and cannot be trusted ,dispite the majority of Maori favouring a relationship with labour.
If as I believe will happen, the Maori Party splits then we Labour members must do our utmost to enable Maori to return to Labour.
Its going go happen so ,let be prepaired to welcome the Maori people with open arms/
A couple of misconceptions there, Postie. The Maori party was formed in opposition to the Labour party and was conservative in nature right from the start. It hasn’t moved right, it is right. Secondly, Labour don’t need to do a deal to pick up the party vote; they get it anyway.
Those points aside, you are dead right that Labour needs to be prepared to get those electorate seats back. Formulating policy that appeals to Maori would be a start. Perhaps they should begin by asking Maori what they want?
Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug.
The actual story shows a much different picture. Those who voted on the legal fate of this plant never had the facts, but were dependent on information supplied by those who had a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers. You’ll see below that the very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie on the floor of the Senate.
You’ll also see that the history of marijuana’s criminalization is filled with:
* Racism
* Fear
* Protection of Corporate Profits
* Yellow Journalism
* Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
* Personal Career Advancement and Greed
These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.
You are quite correct voice. Not only is Turia on the Right but she is driven by a hatred of Helen Clark.
However I still believe we should have made an effort before the eelction to have some accomodation.
We also missed the chance with the Greens in 1990.We should have stood down from the Coromandel in favour of the Green candidate in exchange for party vote ,Im a life member of the
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The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
Alex Casey and Gabi Lardies dissect their Laneway 2025 experience. Gabi Lardies: Hi Alex :))))))) Congratulations on not getting sunburnt. Everyone I talked to at Laneway yesterday was braving the sun for one thing. Charli XCX. How was your brat experience?Alex Casey: We will talk about the rest of ...
The US President's suggestion, which sparked enormous debate globally, has been labelled as a threat, not a proposal, by the Federation of Islamic Associations. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Interior of Auckland South Men’s Prison.Getty Images Prisons are not colourful places. Typically, they are grey or some variation of a monochrome colour scheme. But increasingly, ...
FICTION1Tree of Nourishment (Kāwai 2) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)Interesting to note that the author of the biggest-selling New Zealand novel in Waitangi Week is Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, and Ngāti Kahungunu).2 Kāwai: For Such a Time as This (Kāwai 1) by Monty Soutar (David ...
Remembering the renowned New Zealand writer, who died on February 5, 2025. The Stopover When the trout rise like compassion It is worth watching when the hinds come down from the hills with a new message it will be as well to listen. – Brian Turner Poet, environmentalist, sportsman, journalist, ...
Survivors can choose to have former High Court judge Paul Davison assess their individual claims to tailor payments to their personal circumstances. ...
Are we too modest when it comes to celebrating our putrid plant life?She’s beauty. She’s grace. She smells like a decaying corpse and lurks in the backrooms of Auckland Zoo, wallowing tragically in a bucket. In recent weeks an Australian corpse plant named Putricia has captured the noses and ...
Politicians from the coalition government received a frosty reception at Waitangi this year, but Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says the pōwhiri that received so much attention was just one part of many events throughout the week. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Allen, Postdoctoral research associate, Griffith University A humpback whale mother and calf on the New Caledonian breeding grounds.Mark Quintin All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Keogh, Associate Dean of Research, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University Jordan Mailata is an Australian-born NFL star who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive left tackle. This position favours very tall, heavy and strong athletes who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nigel Tucker, Research Associate in Environment and Sustainability, James Cook University TREAT volunteers planting treesTREAT Like ferns and the tides, community conservation groups come and go. Many achieve their goal. Volunteers restore a local wetland or protect a patch of urban ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karyn Healy, Honorary Principal Research Fellow in Psychology, The University of Queensland Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock The start of the school year means new classes, routines, after-school activities and sometimes even a new school. This can be a really exciting time for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Sadiq, Professor of Taxation, QUT Business School, and ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released a discussion paper this week on investment tax breaks. The study looks at whether tax incentives, such as instant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Naomi Zouwer, Visual Artist and Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of Canberra Galleries and art museums can be intimidating and alienating even for adults. Imagine it from a child’s point of view. Stern security guards in uniforms stationed the doors, bags checked, ...
The clock is ticking in the great chain chase. 2025 is an election year in New Zealand. Not the general variation, obviously, but the local form. If you’re thinking of running, nominations open in just five months, and your chances are good – about 50% across the various races; in ...
So which NACT MPs do you think will be trying to convince the leader that they ‘need’ to go to the soccer World Cup…?
Since this post brought it up – cannabis legalisation in New Zealand. Yay or nay?
Personally, I’m positive is cannabis was fully legalised, it would remove a swathe of our population from prison, free the police force from the monetary and manpower costs of enforcement and lead to a decrease in the cannabis users rate (as has been shown in the the Netherlands and Portugal). I’m aware that no party wants to touch it, and even the Greens step away from it since Tancoz left (though I read a nice piece by Turei recently on her stance on decriminalisation). The fact is, it’s unconscionable that we lock people up for consuming a drug that’s known to be non-toxic, not physically addictive, an anti-carcinogen and an effective medicine for a huge range of different health ailments. The fact that my taxes pay for this makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Legalising cannabis would also remove funding for many gang activities. When Chris Fowlie from the Cannabis Culture magazine actually travelled to New Zealand, himself and the rest of the NORML people he was with were actually threatened by gang members. One of them actually said [paraphrased] “originally I was in support of legalising cannabis, but then I realised it would cut into our profits”.
So how many people are in jail solely on a charge of use/possession of cannabis – I’m guessing not very many at all.
Just because someone isn’t in prison, it doesn’t mean a miscarriage of justice wasn’t carried out, gitmo. I can’t find data on imprisonment rate however
Link – StatsNZ
Given that, a fair few people were sentenced to community service, and/or fined.
However, gitmo, is there any justifiable reason cannabis should be illegal?
Yes probably for the same reasons that tobacco and alcohol are illegal for those under a certain age.
As always what needs to be balanced is the harm vs good of making something illegal/legal.
Gitmo, what harm comes from cannabis?
If so, do you believe it warrants being illegal, when you have the knowledge that so many reputable scientists believe is it less harmful than alcohol, that anyone that possesses a tinnie should be allowed to sent to prison for upto six months?
Carcinogen if smoked, impairment of decision making, psychiatric disorders in some etc etc etc.
Make no mistake it is a drug of abuse and is as capable as any drug of abuse of causing harm…….that needs to be balanced vs its therapeutic effects in glaucome and certain patients or whom it is very effective pain relief medication.
Honestly the best reason not to legalise it is probably the stoner tourism it would attract.
Studies have shown cannabis to have anti-cancer properties, with one experiment showing a 50% decrease in the size of a breast tumor. THC is a trigger for some psychiatric disorders, not a cause. There has never been a causal relationship proven between cannabis and psychiatric disorders. Also, CBDs which are found in cannabis in lower rates than THC are anti-psychotics. Impairment of decision making? Considering many politicians have said they’ve smoked cannabis, that’s probably true.:twisted:
How does cannabis cause harm, gitmo? Give me examples instead of allusions. Cannabis is an effective analgesic, anti-emetic, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic (remember CBDs), and muscle relaxant. You know how many different medical conditions this can help treat? Way too many to list here, gitmo. You are an in compassionate ass hole if you can’t knowledge this fact.
If you believe something should be banned because it promotes tourism, you’re probably off your rocker. I understand that it does in Amsterdamn, but that’s in the middle of Europe. All you have to do if you live in Germany or France is a quick trip over the border. The 2200km to New Zealand just from Australia changes things a bit for us.
Cannabis can cause harm to the user. However it’s harm you’re causing to yourself and it’s less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. It’s not the state’s place to stop individuals doing what they wish with their own bodies and in the case of recreational drugs their own minds. Legalise it!
Quoth the Raven, you say cannabis causes harm. Could you please justify that statement? I’m not trying to be bigoted towards anti-cannabis opinions, I want to know what harm people really believe cannabis causes.
Noko
First – I think cannabis should be decriminalised immediately, as a first step toward legalising it in the future.
Second – QTR says it can cause harm, which is a little different to saying it causes harm. I agree with QTR, I’m sure it can cause harm. Other perfectly innocuous things like coffee, chocolate and water can also cause harm. More often than not they don’t, but they can. Similar with alcohol and tobacco, except the likelihood of harm occurring and the degree of harm are much greater.
Ah, right, my misunderstanding. Thanks for clearing it up, AC.
The idea of putting restrictions and controls on most drugs, except the worst, and removing their illegality presently resulting in severe criminal penalties has a practical, pragmatic, thoughtful and intelligent approach with societal advantages and state cost savings.
The amount of time and money spent by the police in marijuana control could go somewhere else. There would be controls and standards imposed, perhaps marijuana would be treated more like party pills. The taxation on marijuana sales would result in more revenue, and criminality would then involve unpaid taxes. The government could promote different, less potent, strains of marijuana and there would be legalised outlets such as for alcohol. (There would also be controls on hours of sale made mandatory for the country). The growers could lease or buy their own land and grow and market the stuff. They could also be encouraged to go into hemp growing, another industry that would be beneficial to our economy.
Changes like this would have to be fought all the way through the politics and brouhaha of people who aren’t inclined to analyse and make changes to improve bad outcomes. Much easier to continue braying about others’ badness, being authoritarian, bemoaning the costs, etc. Many feel secure and superior in having continuing patterns of behaviour to criticise. Such people quote the anecdote and received wisdom and resist improvement of the situation. Drugs cannot be effectively abolished – prohibition in the USA just gave a boost to the criminal Mafia, and in NZ the gangs, otherwise low income powerless people, are drawn to the drug scene to improve their finances also.
Good idea perhaps we could let Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco give us some advice ….. I mean no harm could possibly come from freeing up access to marijuana
Harm reduction, making a choice for a better outcome in a dodgy situation. Do nothing often seems the best option. Why can’t trial policies be introduced for hard to deal with situations, to be monitored and assessed against reasonable goals of improvement?
The difference is that cannabis has medicinial qualities that are well observed and proved. Even the Ministry of Health has approved Savitex made from cannabis extract for medical use.
That cannabis smoke doesn’t even effect the airways in the same way as tobacco shows how ignorant you are (perhaps purposely) being of the matter.
Interesting bit of news. This is what happens when you try to use your intelligence and make some improvement in embedded policy. Google – The British Home Secretary sacked his drug advisor David Nutt on 30/10/09 for criticising the government’s drug policy.
Another trougher outed:
An anti-smoking group has lost its taxpayer funding after audits revealed its director took a string of international jaunts.
Audits of Te Reo Marama found that international travel counted for a large chunk of the organisation’s spending, and led to the Ministry of Health pulling $200,000 a year funding.
Te Reo Marama director Shane Kawenata Bradbrook said he was surprised at the ministry’s decision – and that ministry cash was rarely used to pay for flights.
The Wellington-based group, which aims to help Maori stop smoking, is an independent organisation that receives funding from several sources, including the World Health Organisation.
On its website, it states: “Maori have a tradition of resistance within Aotearoa-New Zealand… Resisting the industry that profits from Maori illness and premature death continues that tradition of resistance.”
Public health group manager Warren Lindberg said the contract was terminated after “considerable concerns about its reporting and other management and governance issues”.
“The Ministry of Health did not expect to be funding international travel,” Lindberg said.
Interesting guy this morning Dmitry Orlov on Chris Laidlaw National Radio. Talking about the transition of big states USSR to capitalism type state and how they coped and how the USA will cope when they have to transition. Talked about how oil will soon be as expensive to find, reach, draw off and supply as can be paid by consumers, hence not profitable any more. Then… It’s a curse ‘May you live in interesting times’.
Heh, for one who claims to be “superior” it’s surprising that you haven’t even tried looking at the empirical veracity of Peak Oil, i.e. it’s not going to be an issue till the end of this century (see October 09 issue of Scientific American, “Squeezing More Oil from the Ground” pp36) though this may not be the best thing in getting us weaned off oil and over to low/neutral carbon energy sources.
Also, the USSR’s transtition to capitalism has worked oh so well, that’s if you’re one of the rich, for otherwise Russia has developing world levels for some of the key socio-economic indicators. Or course, this only matters darling if you’re one of teh poor, or those silly upper class fools who care about them…
/sarcasm
Like the argument above in relation to drugs, it would seem the argument in relation to “peak oil” has become one of politics rather than the data.
Interesting that feedbacks was the spam word. The way you think NickS all I would need to say is that one word and you could make a strong argument against it, having a quick sneer and projecting all your pathetic prejudices on to my possible, imagined meaning.
An article in the Times of London from a few days ago brought to my attention by the wonderful Jerry Coyne – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article6905259.ece
Why are we still having these arguments?
Short answer: Because some people are morons
Long answer: People look for reasons for why horrible things happen, reasons which fit in with the cultural matrix/fabric they’re part of, and when your culture doesn’t really understand why some people break and go postal, you end up looking for “rational” alternative explanations. And given then that in the West, particularly the USA, there exists a proportion of the population who think evolution is teh evils, it’s not particularly surprising to see evilution blamed for these tragedies. Instead of say, said person having been put into a situation that is not productive to considering others as human, or just having mental disorders which predispose them to violence under the right environment…
Same thinking goes for why people reject evolution in the first place, though you can also look at the role culture plays in making individuals accept someone as an “expert” or particular claims as “true”, regardless of the empirical evidence to the contrary…
Which partly helps explain why Wishart somehow manages to get no1 for the piece of sh*t that is Air Con
Oh joy, once more science ignorance strikes;
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/protest-action-against-1080-drops-3144252
And double plus irony for “Poison Free NZ”, mostly due to philosophical fun and dose-dependency of lethal effects when it comes to classifying the boundaries of the term “poison”.
Protip; water is toxic as well in sufficient quantities, aka water intoxication…
Kind of a misrepresentation there, NickS. According to Wikipedia’s article
That’s 1 gram to kill a 100kg person.
The thing about 1080 isn’t that it kills (well it is, when you’re talking about the deaths of 7 Keas, however) but the mechanism of killing. It interrupts the citric acid cycle, which is what our cells derive their energy from. It’s a particularly horrible way to die, for any creature.
Now if we were talking about it sticking around in the ecosystem…
Except of course 1080 doesn’t stick round in the environment, since organic molecules, other than aromatic hydrocarbon rings, tend to have rather short half-life’s out in nature when they have fluorine functional groups, as they tend to make the carbon they’re attached to highly electro-positive and prone to attack…
Or at least that’s what 2 years of organic chemistry and 3 years of biochemistry point to. Without digging through my notes/textbooks for reactivity data for F-fg’s…
Organic chemistry is fun.
And potential sources for info, since I have all the motivation of a corpse at present for deep researching;
http://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar?q=%22Sodium+fluoroacetate%22+environmental+persistence&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHNG_enNZ348NZ348&um=1&ie=UTF-8&oi=scholart
Oh yeah, page 27 onwards of this pdf might be useful;
http://www.apvma.gov.au/chemrev/downloads/1080_env.pdf
Also, being killed by a stoat isn’t exactly a fun way to go, nor is starvation due to possums stripping your food source, nor gin-traps for possums, and/or shooting. The tendency to talk about poisons being “cruel” oft goes with a tendency to romanticise the cruelty of nature and ignore the use of rather nasty poisons in nature as defense, and the ecological impacts of introduced mammals, even at low levels, on NZ’s environment and native animals. Which all evolved in splendid isolation from mammalian herbivores and predators, and thus, are mostly highly vulnerable to becoming food…
And humane measures aren’t exactly an option when dealing with rough NZ back country and a lack of conservation funding, not to mention actual effectiveness.
Looks like our smug media slut of a PM got to meet Obama again.
Heh! Remember the last time he got to meet Obama? There he was at the UN surrounded by the leaders of the world discussing hugely critical matters pertaining to the future of the planet – asked what his impressions were, the Goober said:
it certainly looks as if the Maori Party is tearing its-self apart .
Sadly a great opportunity for Maori ,the Labour Party and the whole of the political Left has been lost. As soon as Maori Party was formed the Labour Party should has agreed to give up the electoral seats in exchange for the party vote . It would have kept us in government for years. Instead we drove them into the arms of the Nats.However having said that I realise that Turia and Sharples lean to the Right and cannot be trusted ,dispite the majority of Maori favouring a relationship with labour.
If as I believe will happen, the Maori Party splits then we Labour members must do our utmost to enable Maori to return to Labour.
Its going go happen so ,let be prepaired to welcome the Maori people with open arms/
A couple of misconceptions there, Postie. The Maori party was formed in opposition to the Labour party and was conservative in nature right from the start. It hasn’t moved right, it is right. Secondly, Labour don’t need to do a deal to pick up the party vote; they get it anyway.
Those points aside, you are dead right that Labour needs to be prepared to get those electorate seats back. Formulating policy that appeals to Maori would be a start. Perhaps they should begin by asking Maori what they want?
Why is Marijuana Illegal?
You are quite correct voice. Not only is Turia on the Right but she is driven by a hatred of Helen Clark.
However I still believe we should have made an effort before the eelction to have some accomodation.
We also missed the chance with the Greens in 1990.We should have stood down from the Coromandel in favour of the Green candidate in exchange for party vote ,Im a life member of the