Hard News: Drugs and Sex
170 Responses
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What, are they toaster-ovens or something?
There's a market for micro-chipping toaster ovens? My local vet would love to get in on that.
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Kong,
If oil were prohibited then I'm sure there would be oil-runners and dealers maintaining the supply to the enormous existing base of petrol-heads. But the petrol would be low octane, or even worse, cut with alcohol, so your car would go slower, and get a headache. Illegal petrol labs would be blowing up all the time. Moralists would point out the millions of people who die in vehicle accidents every year, including innocent children. Idealists would say that petrol fumes are good for you, giving you improved self-esteem and a big stonk.
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But unfortunately there is no such connection between being Recessed and Baked.
Stimulants for the Stimulus?
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Putting petrol in my car is not akin to supporting the US invasion of Iraq.
You can make some links though. Lots of companies that benefitted massively from the invasion seem to have sent a lot of money into the campaign coffers of various politicians.
More so if you buy from the various military support companies (Halliburton etc) than from your local petrol station though I think.
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Buying cocaine is directly supporting the murderous criminals who control coca production. Putting petrol in my car is not akin to supporting the US invasion of Iraq.
OK, try another one. That coltan ore they mine using dubious labour practices in the D.R. of Congo, which is used to make our cellphones and computers and gaming consoles, and which causes health problems for the miners, many of whom are children, and which has basically funded a massive war with millions dead. Are we culpable? I think we are, right? Or are we not culpable, because the electronics-manufacturing companies we buy from, and the governments under whose regulations they operate, made 'policy choices'?
In other words, how many degrees of separation from the crooks do consumers have to be before we aren't guilty?
I have no idea what the answer to that is, but I really hope it doesn't involve Kevin Bacon. :)
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Russell, I think you have confused Monbiot's characterisation of the EU proposal as being what he thinks. It isn't. He goes on to say:
Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. That wasn't what I was trying to say.
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there is a lot of crap around about how cannabis is a gift from the earth, harmless etc etc. sorry folks, just not true. a certain number of people can use cannabis recreationally with little or no harmful effects. another group can suffer very badly from the effects of it - depression, anxiety, drug-induced psychotic symptoms ... not to mention legal hassles, family problems, financial problems ...
It would be more accurate to say that the overwhelming majority of people who ever use cannabis suffer little or no harm, but a small group is clearly at risk. And the legal hassles are a function of the law, not the drug. The law presently does nothing to prevent at-risk people from using it, or help them in any way.
In the case of Turei's bill, you're talking about a doctor's decision to recommend medicinal use for particular individuals, which would seem to greatly lower the risk of the other symptoms. There are now ways to screen for innate risk in individuals too.
it's not quite the harmless little plant a lot of smokers would like us to think. the fact that turei included "depression and mental illness" as reasons for being prescribed this depressant is reason enough for the bill to have been kicked out without even a first hearing, IMO.
I disagree. I gather even MPs who voted for the bill thought it was poorly-drafted (to some extent you can blame Nandor, from whom Turei inherited the bill, for that) but believed that it should be discussed -- and, if necessary, re-written in select committee.
You seem to have made up your mind. I'd like to have heard the evidence.
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I smell the sweet scent of a CIR.
Should a joint as part of good parental relaxation or individual medication be a criminal offence in NZ?
Discuss.
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I think the real scandal on this thread relates to the PAS get-together at a Dunedin pub tomorrow night.
Where they have booked tables
Tables!! At a pub??
What is Dunedin coming to?
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You can go to Danyl McLauchlan's blog (below) and read why medicinal Heroin is allowed but apparently medicinal Cannabis isn't.
I think conscience votes should be removed and replaced with intelligence votes. "Conscience" doesn't quite seem the right word a lot of the time.
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This is a university town - we allow books at tables, even in pubs .....
Truth be told we're at a size now where we probably have to book - we decided we were too big even for the newly expanded Inch bar .... -
Kong,
Stimulants for the Stimulus?
Growers for Growth! Don't stash cash, buy stash! We'll settle the hash of this downturn. The seeds of revival are home grown! Hydro powered hydro led recovery! Nip the recession in the Bud!
Should a joint as part of good parental relaxation or individual medication be a criminal offence in NZ?
So long as they don't mean joint in the horrid European sense of mixing lovely local herbs 'jointly' with nasty foreign ones.
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The oil trade is largely peaceful.
Indeed it is. A lot of major oil producers equip and operate brutally effective state security apparatus. And with the sort of resources the oil trade makes available it is hardly surprising that the resulting states are "peaceful".
For example just in the past week we have seen militia in Iran gun down demonstrations. The Sauds have a well funded religious body that is so effective the locals can barely even think of dissent as anything other than a mortal sin. Libya has crafted its dictator a personality cult enforced by an extensive secret police.
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I really hope it doesn't involve Kevin Bacon. :)
Mmmmm, Bacon.
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I smell the sweet scent of a CIR.
Should a joint as part of good parental relaxation or individual medication be a criminal offence in NZ?
Great idea Michael.
Sounds to me what a CIR should be for. Politicians don't have the cojones to support decriminilisation of any form. If they had a referendum showing some support for it then they might be able to strap some on. -
One wonders if the real reason for the Maori Parties lack of support for the bill was that many of their voters in northland stand to lose massive amounts of income if cannabis is ever legalised.
Profit's would drop through the floor if everyone was allowed to grow their own.
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To be honest, turning the current state of affairs around by legalising narcotics and having them state-controlled and distributed is just a touch too Brave New World for me.
Mr Dalziel, how bouts a riff on Soma for your fellow citizens :)
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I've decided to start a CiR too - mine will simply be "Have you stopped beating your children yet"
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Should a joint as part of good parental relaxation or individual medication be a criminal offence in NZ?
That could be interesting considering that 3 times as many people consume cannabis on a regular basis than voted for ACT.
Ahh, the Irony.
Ahh, the Irony Bar.
That reminds me.
Two horses walk into a bar. The first one says "I thought you would have seen that"
Never mind. -
The oil trade is largely peaceful.
you are joking, right?
just about every non-OECD country that is a major exporter of oil is either in a state of civil war or under an extremely corrupt and repressive dictatorship. it may be peaceful for you, but not for the Nigerians, Iraqis, et al.
the countries that refuse to toe the US imperial line (Iran, Venezuela, Russia, etc.) have there own severe problems too, and it almost all can be traced back to oil money and control of oil.
Putting petrol in my car is not akin to supporting the US invasion of Iraq.
have you ever been to a Shell] station?
or [[http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCM_MuT5we5M|BP? -
Kong,
Two horses walk into a bar. The first one says "I thought you would have seen that"
The second one says "Why didn't you say something?"
"I did, but I think my voice was a little hoarse"
"Teach you to have that little racehorse just now"
"Your Mama!"
"I wish it was your Mama, she's so fat, she ..."etc.
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Where they have booked tables
Tables!! At a pub??
What is Dunedin coming to?
Tables are required so you can make people 'table suck' their spillage. No table it ends up on the floor and gets soaked into the carpet before you can persuade them that they really need to clean that up.
And as Paul points out, we're growing bigger. We're working on getting big enough so that we can book out the new multi-purpose stadium when its complete. (Paul will be outside boycotting).
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And as Paul points out, we're growing bigger.
You do realise that standing takes up less room?
Even in a circle. With handbags in the middle.
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Even in a circle. With handbags in the middle.
I think that's what the rugby players are doing on the telly when they 'scrum' - comparing handbags
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I'm heading home to Hampden tomorrow, otherwise I'd be at the pub like a shot. (But not tequila, no, never again)
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