Hard News: Cannabis: The Experiment is Real
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when I was feeling paranoid, so too others were feeling the same/similar paranoia themselves
Yeah and in those unfamiliar with owning their own feelings the typical response is to point the collective finger at a scapegoat chosen to suit the purpose. And maybe even go to war... at the very least some form of denigration goes on.
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http://norml.forumotion.co.nz/t62p210-if-sog-is-lime-and-bitters-then-xmas-is-wella-fraud#1709
yeah, but no...$800 buck wank fest....
featuring cake cutting clowns from the NDIB...
very funny proceedings.... on the first day stop at 4.20..haha rofl...not really..gett'n my glad rags....
wow... looking forward to my "ticket" so I can "network"....
PEACE -
some of the best minds about cannabis and health from around the world for three days in Auckland, New Zealand 27-29 November.
Eh????
Bet most of them have never even tried it.
wankfest indeed -
Well, this conversation has become rather pointless and negative.
On a more useful note, some interesting charts from Pew Research on Americans' changing attitudes to marijuana.
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Simon Wood, in reply to
Hi again Russell,
I am still curious why you deign my contributions to this discussion thread so unworthy of a considered response as to why we can't divert some (more) of the MOJ budget towards compassionate responses for drug users rather than punishment?
Perhaps my contributions were worded poorly as it was the last few days before our 2nd child was born on 17/11, so I may not have been as coherent as I should have been?
Here's a good article from Scoop that spins a similar cut of story:
Cannabis can help us understand violence as it encourages compassion (in the 'right' set & setting) in most people, so if we can move through the paranoia, into metanoia, then everyone is a winner.
I'd be interested to hear a well thought out response, rather than the blunt response you've already given; as below:
'What you describe sounds both ghastly from a human rights perspective and unworkable on a practical level. How many lives would the state be directing? Who would decide which activities and causes were worthy? Who would keep this ledger of “behaviour”? How many officials would be employed making sure each citizen got only the quantity of drugs warranted by his behaviour?
No.'
Surely all the various peoples administering the existing MOJ bail conditions, periodic detention, community service requirements, etc, are doing just the same thing essentially...why can't it be tweaked towards monitoring actively conscious compassionate acts? Whats to lose?
Thanks I hope.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I think he was more likely referring to the two subsequent comments which pretty much slagged off a conference that might do some good to the debate.
I certainly wouldn't be a fan of your actual suggestion, either. The idea of predicating the purchase of something with a whole bunch of other completely unrelated actions doesn't sound sensible to me. The works you are describing would be simply punishing to anyone who didn't want to do them, and they would buy on the black market as they do now. I can understand the things you're prescribing as alternative kinds of punishment for minor crimes, but be honest about the fact that they ARE punishments. I don't think viewing the access to dope as a crime/punishment cycle is an improvement. It's actually what we have right now. You're talking about people getting pre-punished. Not a good idea IMHO.
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I've written a new post here, from the symposium.
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Joshua Campfens, in reply to
Dear Russell,
I would like to make contact with you regarding a guest article proposal for hardnews. Could you send me an email: helpfuljosh (at) gmail.com or let me know how to reach you. Thank you!
Kind regards,Joshua
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Brent Jackson, in reply to
See the little email icon in the top right corner of Russell's comment ? Click on it.
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Maybe it's part of Fonterra's current farmers don't polute rivers alternative facts media campaign, or perhaps Fairfax have a new policy of offering airtime to bigots. Whichever... this "opinion" piece from one Jon Morgan -- editor of NZ Farmer -- is, like the rivers near dairy farms, full of shit.
Under a headline which screams, "We're losing our judgment over cannabis" Morgan attacks Richard Branson's recent comments that NZ should consider cannabis cultivation as an alternative to over-dairification. And right from the get-go, Morgan proves that he's not a man to let facts stand in the way of a good rave.
No one in their right mind would support the production of a dangerous mind-altering drug over milk.
Er... correct. Especially when you slip in the word dangerous as a qualifier. And ignore the very real damage dairy farming does to our countryside.
Drug-induced psychosis can also result from heavy and prolonged use of cannabis. Symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, memory loss and confusion, and can last up to several days.
Now that sounds dangerous. Right? Morgan admits in the story that he was a regular dope smoker who is familiar with LSD. Could too much of the latter possibly have coloured his thinking on the former? Or merely distorted his ability to make any judgment, rational or otherwise.
Just as much fertiliser and pesticides as any other crop would still be needed (unless we go to GM varieties), negating the excuse of replacing dairy's pollution.
By way of mitigation, if Jon has smoked cannabis infused with pesticides that may go some way towards explaining the logic behind this prattle.
In fact the humble hemp plant is being increasingly used around the world for soil remediation because it's great at rejuvinating soils exhausted from overuse and over-fertilisation -- a subject Jon may actually know something about.
And he's completely missed the point that dope plants generally don't shit and piss in our rivers.
But alcohol is not the same. One drink doesn't distort your senses and affect your judgment, though one joint does.
I can imagine Jon propping up a rural bar with his farming mates, and all of them choosing to have just a single drink over the evening... so they can all drive home safely. Does that really happen, Jon?
Morgan chooses to ignore the science and provides no sources for any of his wilder claims, even though they fly in the face of current research. Which leaves the reader in no doubt that he's just another misinformed schmuck spouting anti-cannabis nonsense. What a dick!
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
What a dick!
I like the way you've incorporated that into the link url
http://www.stuff.co.nz//91314039/jon-morgan-is-a-dick
rather then the more prosaic
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/91314039/jon-morgan-were-losing-our-judgment-over-cannabis<goes away briefly, furious key pecking is heard>
Oh, I see, you can type anything after the story number - I have a vague recollection of someone pointing this out before (perhaps you Alfie) - now I see what fun could be had by an angry aggregator with an agenda.... hmmmm
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By way of mitigation, if Jon has smoked cannabis infused with pesticides that may go some way towards explaining the logic behind this prattle.
N,N′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium dichloride!!
Paraquat!}}
Was used to poison marijuana crops [[http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/19/opinion/poisoning-pot-and-people.html|back in the '70s and early '80s in the US...
and later
I think it is still being used in NZ - and have since the '60s)
and he says he was a user over 30 years ago....
....them chickens can take a long tiiime to come home a-roosting
just sayinPS more info:
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.additional-resource.php?resourceID=000192 -
Alfie, in reply to
Oh, I see, you can type anything after the story number - I have a vague recollection of someone pointing this out before (perhaps you Alfie)...
Yep... (takes a small bow). It's a feature with Stuff stories.
It's nice when somebody notices. ;-)
I think it is still being used in NZ...
Indeed, but the NZ agent prefers to call it PQ200 because paraquat has... you know... a really bad rep.
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