Posts by chris
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
As Stephen McIntyre said, there are some great ideas being written here. and ultimately I can generally never fault New Zealanders for their ideas in response to the restrictions that we are bound by.
But the answer to these problems are not words, the problems are not specifically in the word of the law. They are in the kudos given to the law, the way the law is enacted, interpreted and prosecuted. We could write words to an MP, a paper, a politician, but screeds have already been written with little in the way of reponse.
We can base our argument, on harm reduction or freedom of choice, minimal risk, or religious freedom. Make no mistake, the issue here is the criminalization of the trivial.
and the quickest most viable solution is in trivializing the criminality.
this can be achieved with action. with regular public displays of this criminal action. but to do this people must work together. People must be prepared to put their money where their mouths are.
a group of 50+ people from all walks of life smoking weed in a public place can be ignored as a one off occurrence, once every 365 days it's easily pigeonholed by the powers that be as a marginalized activity committed by 'outsiders'
But if large groups, of all walks of life, begin very publicly engaging in this activity, on a very regular basis. the stress on police resources will hasten the required change. Disenfranchising the law is the quickest method of bringing about change to that law.
Sure there are risks, you may be arrested, you may be fined, incarcerated for a time, you may have to be careful, you may feel paranoid for the duration of your activism. but ultimately in numbers, fearlessly and righteously you will trivialize the criminality.
This is not worded so well. but words are comparatively ineffective anyway. Ultimately it comes down to a question of numbers. There are 550,000 smokers. There are not 550,000 police officers. and there are 52 Sundays in a year. It requires courage and belief, cohesion and resolve, collaboration and commitment. people will be hit hard more than once, several times in fact. but ultimately this is a righteous war that can be won. This year.
Networking and organization is the Key. To those employed in delicate circumstances, your inability to involve yourselves is understandable. but to the self employed, the beneficiaries and the students, this is your time.
-
Thanks Jo I enjoyed that.
then slowly extinguishing that light over the course of a half-hour tour of the differences between cultivars of Heliamphora clones from Brazil.
Sounds like a bit of fun. There's absolutely no question that the world (and most poignantly the west) is in the midst of the most totalitarianised non-war period in recorded history.
Obviously these trends ebb and flow, but a mere cursory glance at one's surroundings indicates the reality that the freedom of 100 years ago bears very little resemblance with the countenance of the same concept today.
It is perfectly clear to those with the wherewithal that unless people are prepared to stand up in significant numbers, again and again and again, in the name of freedom, we as a society are dutifully sentencing our own children and theirs to lives in less free, more marginalized societies.
I'm saying nothing new. but the restrictions continue to increase with every addition to the body of legislation. The time must come for us to take responsibility and reassert control over these many aspects of our lives.
We must finally begin to truly and fully exert our fullest power to peacefully force the hand of the state to relinquish unsubstantiated controls over our lives.
and truly being the process of disenfranchising our emu.
If anyone's interested, there will be a meeting at Jol's house next Tuesday 7:30pm (bring a plate)
-
write a good book,
Easier said than done. Islander, any advice on where to start?
-
Is the "crime" in knowing to what use it will be put?
Excellent Questions Fletcher.
I was quite interested to read Jo Kerr's wikipedia link to Cannabis by country and then cross check with adult cannabis use by country, finding very little correlation between legality and use. Also
Why stop at 24?
Such legislation has more to do with ignorant wooden tops and free trade agreements than any rational policy in my experience.
The US state by state rundown of cannabis legality doesn't match the hypothesis that our laws are linked to any kind of potential NZ/US FTA. Our laws seem more in line with the Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States
More to the point
In Hawaii, Senate Bill 862 became law on June 14, 2000. Patients can possess a maximum of 3 ounces(84g) of usable marijuana and a maximum of 7 marijuana plants
And I've been trying to recall the name of the New Zealand celebrity who has a holiday home there of all places.
-
The answer to the emu of life is not sumo.
-
The answer to the ennui of life is not soma.
Were Whisky prohibited in Scotland I sense the shoe would be on the other foot. Suggestion, a holiday in Islamabad.
More to the point, this is a cliché. Making the connection between a person's Soma and and their ennui, is little more than a projection of the connections between one's own personal disposition and predilections.
Good luck in dealing with your ennui Peter; )
For some reason I'm reminded of this
-
Just because I can't handle my piss
the whole problem in a nutshell Craig. Recall the first time someone issued that challenge to you, and your subsequent actions in response. multiply by 4million. That's a loaded verb if ever I heard one.
-
I think that says more about the stupidity of the bottled water industry than it does about the alcohol industry.
Are people buying it? If it sells, it sells. Isn't it again simply a necessary response to illegal drug use.
-
I'd just like a healthy dose of fact-based "grow the fuck up"
You won't find much fact based "grow the fuck up" in either the general population nor the Government's approach to drugs in New Zealand in the foreseeable future. It's one of the least sober nations in Asia. Values passed from father to son. I don't think I'm too far out on leftfield to suggest that criminalizing the population can only breed further criminality. And that if one is looking to make a killing in NZ, the drug industry, legal or otherwise, is a surefire road to dollars. Is anyone here totally drug free? Enjoy that coffee.
-
Sorry for sounding like a scratched CD here, but when I was at Uni everybody (inlcuding the cops) knew all the "student pubs" where the only ID you needed was a tight top and big tits.
You wouldn't be suggesting that the whole thing is just a pantomime Craig; )
Why cross the line when you can stay the right side and still turn a dollar?
beer is sold for 5 times the price it could be profitably sold at.
“A can of beer or an RTD can be bought for one or two dollars in many retail outlets. This is less than we pay for bottled water,” Sir Geoffrey said.
And almost the entire population is already over one line or another.
"what's another line gonna hurt?" Sigmund Freud said.