NORML Conference and Annual General Meeting Report 2002

Cannabis activists gathered at a Wellington marae recently to take stock of the post-election situation and make plans for the future. The gathering included Norml's annual general meeting and the election of the executive.

Chris Fowlie remains el presidente, Victoria Northfield and Alannagh Donegan are Joint Administration Officers with Phil Saxby on board as Executive Secretary, Adrian Picot is treasurer, and Stephen McIntyre the South Island Coordinator.

All the Kiwi cannabis groups were represented at the weekend talk-fest, including NORML, ALCP, Greens, Labour, DPEC and Mild Greens, some of whom had not met in a long time. It was great to meet people and get to know fellow activists better. We are united together for a common cause.

With any government initiative off the agenda, a new focus emerged on educating the public rather than concentrating so hard on lobbying MPs like we did last term. We'll refocus on building our branches, strengthening our activist networks, and laying the groundwork for significant reform next parliamentary term, while making what advances we can this term.

Labour MP Tim Barnett told us there was still significant room for manoeuvre within the existing law, and widespread goodwill within Labour in order to do it.

He said the cannabis inquiry restarting was an example of this. Cannabis could also referred to the Expert Advisory Group on Drugs for possible reclassification to C2 which gives the police much weaker search powers and judges less room to sentence people to jail terms. This would still require a vote in parliament but would be within the coalition agreement.

It was especially good to be joined by new Green MP and former Norml secretary Meteria Turei, as we realised Norml that now has two MPs in parliament, which is twice what we had before! Congratulations, Met, we get the feeling you will go far.

Pessimism from the election result was thus tempered by our victories (real and imagined), and the meeting spontaneously degenerated into an epic Cannabis Cup adventure (see p8). A good time was had by all.

Working for cannabis law reform: Back, from left: Brodie Andrews, Mike Finlayson, Alannagh Donegan, Victoria Northfield, Stephen McIntyre, Geoff Noller, Sarah Porter, Ben Knight, Dave Moore, Mike Harding. Middle, from right: Mr X, Keven O'Connell, Blair Anderson, Dave Currie, Nandor Tanczos, Tim Barnett, Judy Matangi, Tahu Wilson, Billy McKee, Irinka Britnell. Front, from left: Danyl Strype, Mr Y, Phil Saxby, Mike Appleby, Chris Fowlie, Brandon Hutchison, Kylie Irwin, Harry Cording, Jonathan Rennie.