Posts by paulalambert
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If anyone of virtually any age wants to get hold of pot they can already, admittedly sometimes after a bit of faffing around. Removing criminal sanctions surrounding pot use would likely not permanently increase the number of new regular users, though in the short term it may while some indulge their curiousity.
As the breweries are aware, many current users prefer it over alcohol. However booze is still the drug of choice for the vast majority of Kiwis, as Jim Anderton always acknowledges at the beginning of his presentations on substance use/abuse . . . and thats always just before he goes on to talk ad infinitum about illegal drugs.... I've been to a few meetings in his electorate and his voters are definately aware of his view on banning alcohol 'if he could.' They know he can't, so its no matter to them.
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Anyone who's read Ganja in Jamaica, a two year medical anthropological study, would realise its a moot point whether decrimanalising pot would have any significant negative social/health effects. The social and medical outcomes they measured were virtually the same, whether there was pot use or not. Its widely acknowledged by anyone with genuine expertise on the issue that those who are heavy users from a young age are at the highest risk of a negative life/health outcome, although there is some disagreement regards defining 'heavy use'. The NZ 'experts' seem to define mere daily use as heavy use, whereas Australian colleagues appear to consider daily use of up to 20 cones (small pipes) as heavy use.
The countries of the world with the highest pot arrest rate and worst penalties also have the highest youth uptake. Go figure. Russell has nailed the BERL report for what it is. Good luck to the police, I don't begrudge them resources, just part of what they waste it on.
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LOL
I was like this before I joined NORML -
Yes I am.
And I'll handle the cracks about having lala in the middle of my name, it serves me right for not using a falsie.
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At Tues night's public meeting re alcohol disorder on the streets of Chch organised by Brendon Burns (running for Tim Barnett's Chch Central seat) in that lovely old St Michaels church, MP Lianne Dalziel and mayor Bob Parker both emphatically made the point that alcohol is a drug, a mind altering substance, and should be viewed in context of 'alcohol and other drugs', instead of ubiquitous 'alcohol and drugs'.
The Press reporter took it all down - she sat on pew directly in front of me - but in today's report of the meeting the paper mentions neither that nor Canterbury district commander Superintendent Dave Cliff beginning his speech 'you've probably all heard the headlines lately about p. Well we haven't got a big problem with p, its with alcohol."
After that they discussed all sorts of angles without mentioning the alcohol production industry and its influence. So much for the full monty of a context. It was party buses, youth, supermarkets, 24hr convenience stores, community attitudes, mental health, possible bylaw this and that, current Queenstown legal challenge to council bylaw closing late-opening bars, other law changes and criminal sanctions.
There is a Law Commission review of the MOD Act on the horizon, but I've never noticed that there is a NZ equivalent of the Guardian.
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One nice thing: wine tasted lovely, but you could spend an hour yarning over a single glass.
That sounds amazing, good luck to Matt Bowden. Anything would be better than yawning over a single glass, as per my usually embarrassing track record.You may not be demanding a lung transplant but you will probably want some tax payer funded pain relief if you are one of the people who end up with lung cancer and some hospice care unless you think that your family deserve having to watch you die and care for your every need as a reward for putting up with the costs and invasiveness of your smoking?
Whoa girl ! Maybe, maybe not, who can say in advance ? I hear heroin available on prescription would be SO much cheaper and more pleasant than any pharmaceutical rubbish. I felt very sorry for both my parents who went through so many expensive legal drugs and their thoroughly awful side effects, all to no avail.
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Point taken, thanks. They've also said they don't write their own media releases, the university does.
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I agree about the freedom/responsibility thing too, and having fun with your kids is the ultimate 'good buzz'. Its the quality and context of the public debate I'm concerned about . . . eg. this is hot off the press but don't expect it to be printed in the MSM. And yes, I am well aware it says 'currently'. Having said that, the debate here in this forum is about as good as it gets in NZ.
Pot Potency Claims Unfounded, Study Says "Claims ... about a 20- or 30-fold increase in cannabis potency and about adverse mental health effects are not supported by the evidence"
Sydney, Australia: Allegations of a dramatic increase in worldwide marijuana potency are not supported by available evidence, according to a literature review to be published in the journal Addiction.
Investigators at the University of New South Wales, National Drug and Alcohol Research Center, conducted a meta-analysis of worldwide trends in cannabis potency. Researchers reviewed nine international studies, which analyzed the potency of more than 100,000 marijuana seizures over a period of three decades.
"Increased potency has been observed in some countries, but there is enormous variation between samples, meaning that cannabis users may be exposed to greater variation in a single year than over years or decades," authors concluded. "Claims made in the public domain about a 20- or 30-fold increase in cannabis potency and about the adverse mental health effects of cannabis contamination are not supported currently by the evidence."
The study criticizes a 2006 United Nations" report that claimed, "[T]oday, the characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin."
A previous study of European marijuana potency trends published by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction reported: "There is no evidence of a significant increase in potency. ... [The] effective potency of cannabis in nearly all EU countries has remained quite stable for many years, at around 6-8 percent THC."
Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Parliament to recriminalize pot possession, alleging that the potency of cannabis had increased to "lethal" levels.
Full text of the study, "Cannabis potency and contamination: a review of the literature," will appear in Addiction.
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Shep until we can ascertain where the Uni of Otago get their funding for those studies I will consider there may be a problem with their credibility. Academics are just as competitive as anyone else. Powerful vested interests in maintaining the legal/illegal drug status quo spend billions on pr and studies. Your Otago Uni can claim all they like, but it seems in the UK they've just found thatschizophrenia incidence rates actually haven't risen, despite all the media scaremongering there about stronger weed. Otago Uni students ran a Cannabis Awareness Week recently and the head of the Pharmacology Dept banned his staff from taking part. Go figure.
Andrew you can get as la-de-da about it as much as you like, I deal in the real world. Context is everything, and whenever people get on their high horse about recreational cannabis use the context disappears down the toilet and people just shout past each other. There has never been a credible factual debate in New Zealand. Drug use only sells newspapers if there is either something awful or stupid as the context. I know plenty of people who've had lifelong use, and their children and grandchildren are still safe and well. I am concerned at the senseless suppression of a valuable plant, that pharmaceutical and alcohol industries certainly don't want anyone to be able to grow legally in their back yards.
As for my respiratory tract, as a lifelong fag smoker, thats my problem. I won't be expecting a lung transplant for free anytime soon. In return I think mountain climbers, and other dabblers in extreme or dangerous sports shouldn't be expecting free life-saving surgery and treatment either LOL
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Shep
risk and knowledge
for whom ?Cannabis and mental health - to B or not to B (again)
http://ukcia.org/wordpress/?paged=3Cannabis Smoking Not Linked To Lung Cancer, Case-Control Study Says
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6912Study: Smoking Pot Doesn't Cause Cancer--It May Prevent It!
The Greatest Story Never Told
http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner05032008.html