NZ Herald
4:00AM Sunday Apr 12, 2009
By David Fisher

A club for cannabis smokers has been openly flouting the law for months, with hundreds of people a night turning up to buy and smoke dope.

The "Daktory" has been operating from an Auckland warehouse since November and boasts having 400 people on a busy night.

Those behind the scheme are involved in efforts to have the drug decriminalised, and say they accept arrest by police is a possible outcome of their provocative club.

One of those involved, Brian Borland, has taken a further tilt at authority by registering a business through the Companies Office called the Roaring Lion Cannabis Shoppe.

He says he will pay tax on any cannabis he sells through the business.

As a promotional stunt, Borland has delivered cannabis plants to the electorate office of Prime Minister John Key, and also to TVNZ and TV3.

New research out of Spain suggests that THC -- the active ingredient in marijuana -- appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells.

The finding is based on work with mice designed to carry human cancer tumors, as well as from an analysis of THC's impact on tumor cells extracted from two patients coping with a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.

Explaining that the introduction of THC into the brain triggers a cellular self-digestion process known as "autophagy," study co-author Guillermo Velasco said his team has isolated the specific pathway by which this process unfolds, and noted that it appears "to kill cancer cells, while it does not affect normal cells."

Velasco is with the department of biochemistry and molecular biology in the School of Biology at Complutense University in Madrid. The findings were published in the April issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

One year on - files finally found for perjury probe
4:00AM Saturday Mar 28, 2009
By Wayne Thompson - NZ Herald

A top lawyer investigating claims that a former undercover policeman lied in court to wrongfully convict at least 150 people has finally obtained the 1970s court files - one year after the inquiry began.

Police hired Wellington lawyer Bruce Squire, QC, to investigate Patrick O'Brien's confession that he tampered with evidence and committed perjury by lying as a Crown witness in drugs trials in the 1970s.

Mr Squire was appointed last March and wrote to Mr O'Brien asking about the nature of his lies and the names of the defendants.

Police HQ denied Mr O'Brien's request for the names of his targets and Mr Squire was also unable to obtain the information until recently.

For the past several years, I've been harboring a fantasy, a last political crusade for the baby-boom generation. We, who started on the path of righteousness, marching for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam, need to find an appropriately high-minded approach to life's exit ramp. In this case, I mean the high-minded part literally.

And so, a deal: give us drugs, after a certain age — say, 80 — all drugs, any drugs we want. In return, we will give you our driver's licenses. (I mean, can you imagine how terrifying a nation of decrepit, solipsistic 90-year-old boomers behind the wheel would be?) We'll let you proceed with your lives — much of which will be spent paying for our retirement, in any case — without having to hear us complain about our every ache and reflux. We'll be too busy exploring altered states of consciousness. I even have a slogan for the campaign: "Tune in, turn on, drop dead."

Great Granny Dawn Danby's dope dealing could see her kicked out of the same house she's been sentenced to serve home detention in.

On Friday the 71-year-old was sentenced at Tauranga District Court to a year's home detention and 300 hours community work on charges of growing, selling and possessing cannabis for supply between October 2006 and February 2007.

Now police want to take her Paeroa home a cute hillside house surrounded by well-kept gardens and littered with pot-plants which Danby says was bought legitimately and has been mortgage-free for more than 15 years.

Police have a restraining order on the property and want it forfeited to the Crown at a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

Danby a typical grandmother with walking stick and glasses told Sunday News the prospect of losing her home was "like a bad dream".

"I love it here.

"This is my home," she said.

by Ian Gillies (Editor), (Source:Gisborne Herald) - March 7 2009

A strong warning about trivialising the dangers of cannabis has been voiced by the International Narcotics Control Board in its latest report, just released.

Board president Hamid Ghodse says cannabis has become more potent and is associated with an increasing number of emergency-room admissions.

Cannabis was frequently called a gateway drug, often being the first illicit drug taken by young people.

"In spite of all these facts, the use of cannabis is often trivialised and, in some countries, controls over the cultivation, possession and use of cannabis are less strict than for other drugs" he says.

Mr Ghodse concedes regulations are not a panacea, and cannot alone eliminate drug trafficking and abuse.

"I can therefore understand that the following question is often raised: Would it be more economical to do away with all drug regulations and leave it to market forces to regulate the situation?

http://www.cndblog.org/2009/03/false-consensus-of-un-negotiations.html
Friday, 13 March 2009
False Consensus of UN Negotiations Exposed

At the adoption of the political declaration by the UN, the German delegation raised their flag and made the following statement:

'I have the honour to speak on behalf of the following states, Australia, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, St Lucia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, and of course Germany.
The aforementioned states declare that they will interpret the term 'related support services' used in the Political Declaration and the plan of action as including measures which a number of states, intergovernmental organisations and NGOs call harm reduction measures.
Madame Chair, I request that this statement be annexed to the report of this meeting.'

Found this on public address by an anonymous public service manager. Mentions Cannabis policy in one paragraph...

Mar 10, 2009 10:06
GUEST: A public service manager writes
You don't often hear from us. I'm one of the people who manages the machine that digests forms and sends out cheques (and takes your money, of course).

The reason you don't hear from us much is because we aren't allowed to talk to you much. We're only allowed to speak through our "corporate communications" in case we say something the wrong way. Because if we fumble our message a bit, The Media tend to leap on our every stuff up and blow it up into a Big Deal. So I'm afraid that means you get a bland, partially digested diet of wank words and bullshit most of the time. But I'm sure most of you realise that.

The 52nd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will take place in Vienna from the 11th to the 20th of March 2009. The commission is responsible for determining global drug policy and has for many years enforced a strict prohibition regime for cannabis and other drugs internationally. However in recent years the commission has become more open to evidence based research regarding the harms of prohibition. As such they are now investigating a Harm Reduction model as advocated by Norml.

The NZ Law Commission, who are currently reworking the failed Misuse of Drugs Act (1975), have voiced strong reluctance when it comes to defying the CND's authority. Therefore any relaxation of UN mandates regarding cannabis are likely to be reflected in more liberal drug policy in New Zealand.

Jim Anderton

23 June, 2005
Address at Dunedin forum on alcohol & other drugs

SPEECH NOTES 7.30 p.m.

P, alcohol & other drugs forum, Fullwood Room, Dunedin Centre, Harrop St

Apologies: Mayor Chin, Hon David Benson-Pope, Katherine Rich MP.

On the panel with me tonight are:

Simon Williamson from the New Zealand Customs Service
Detective Inspector Ross Pinkhamwho is the Southern District Crime Services Manager, (accompanied by Detective Sergean Kevin Anderson-Officer in Charge: Drug Squad Dunedin Police)
Alison Locke, Student Support Development Officer, at the Ministry of Education
Deb Fraser, Manager, MirrorYouth Counselling Service.
Paul Stanley, Community Action Youth And Drugs.

There is going to be a panel discussion shortly, and we will hear from the panellists and then answer your questions.

Every month I host a meeting like this one.

To me these forums are a symbol of hope.