 | Press Releases: Health Warning: Marijuana poisoned by police may be offered for sale |
 Toxic spray program shows police have forgotten the aim of drug laws is supposedly to protect people
NORML has received reports that cannabis poisoned by police has been offered for sale, and is advising consumers to beware of cannabis that has a copper-blue colouring.
The police seem to not care that the poisoned cannabis is being consumed, and that this could have severe health effects. Their spokesperson said only that "If you are going to buy or consume illegal drugs that is the risk you take."
The Police's cannabis "helicopter recovery programme" has for the past four years used a blue-dyed poison believed to be based on Round Up (glyphosate). Officers spray the plants and leave them to die where they are. The problem is that some unscrupulous growers, probably attracted to the industry purely for profit motives, have sold their poisoned crop anyway, and most consumers have no idea to even look out for the spray.
We have heard of dodgy types using yellow food colouring to turn the blue weed green again, or making oil, or just trimming off parts that have been splashed with herbicide. For consumers, the confusion is made worse as many potent and popular strains of marijuana such as Blueberry or Te Puke Thunder are naturally blue or purple tinged.
So far this year we have only received reports from the Coromandel region, but we believe that since the spraying is nationwide consumers in other areas also risk being poisoned. NORML strongly advises anyone who suspects their marijuana to have been poisoned not to consume it, and contact us and their local media. Please keep any samples as we would like to get them tested.
Marijuana smokers buying poisoned dope
New Zealand Herald 28 July 2004
By AINSLEY THOMSON
email: letters@nzherald.co.nz
Marijuana users are being warned about poisoned cannabis being sold on the Coromandel Peninsula.
A pro-marijuana group says the cannabis has been sprayed by police with a herbicide, a process which turns the drug blue. Unscrupulous growers are disguising the poisoned cannabis with yellow food colouring to make it look green.
The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) said the affected marijuana could cause people to cough up blood and suffer nausea and headaches.
Police confirmed that when they found marijuana plots they sprayed them with herbicide.
Waikato police spokeswoman Kris McGehan said the police would not disclose any operational information such as when or how the plants were sprayed.
Ms McGehan said she had not heard of people getting sick from smoking poisoned drugs "but we are probably unlikely to for obvious reasons".
"If you are going to buy or consume illegal drugs that is the risk you take. Obviously it is a criminal activity that we have no control over."
Norml spokesman Chris Fowlie said most growers were "legitimate and ethical people".
"But there is a section who are attracted just for the money and if they lose their crop through spraying they are going to want to recover it some other way."
Mr Fowlie said those growers were disguising the poisoned marijuana by covering it in yellow food colouring to make it look green. They were also turning it into cannabis oil, where the blue colour was harder to detect.
Mr Fowlie said the poisoned marijuana was mostly being bought by teenagers who were likely to buy from sources such as tinny houses.
"We are getting reports that these kids are buying pot and smoking it and getting sick or coughing a lot. Coughing up blood in some instances."
Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos said the police should let the public know exactly what they were spraying so the health risks could be determined.
Toxic weed
What the marijuana sprayed with herbicide looks like:
* Chris Fowlie of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws says the poisoned marijuana is a copper-blue colour.
* Some strains of marijuana, such as Te Puke Thunder, are naturally blue, which could confuse people.
* But the poisoned marijuana looks like the blue colour has been splashed or painted on.
* When the stalk on a poisoned plant is broken, blue dye should be visible down the middle of the stalk.
(c) New Zealand Herald
Nandor to police: stop poisoning pot users
Press Release: Green Party of Aotearoa/New Zealand
Green MP Nandor Tanczos said today that police were making a mockery of their duty to protect the public by poisoning outdoor-grown cannabis, which was still then available for distribution on the black market.
Reports today suggest that some cannabis users have fallen ill to the poisoned pot - normally painted blue - after unscrupulous distributors either repainted it green or made it into cannabis oil and then sold it on to unsuspecting users.
Nandor, the Green Party’s spokesperson for Drug Policy, demanded that the police reveal what substance it sprays cannabis plots with in order to study the health risks of the chemicals they use.
“The police have consistently refused to tell the public what’s in the spray,” said Nandor. “It’s not just the poison itself, which is probably glysophate, but the other additives and compounds that are added to make it stick.
“Have the police done any research to see the effect of these chemicals when smoked?” he asked. “It would be ridiculous to be poisoning cannabis users in order to ‘protect’ their health.
“But it is not enough for the police to say that it has nothing to do with them if people still sell it. The law is apparently to protect people’s health and the stated aim of New Zealand’s drug policy is harm minimisation. How can it be right to put their health at risk to achieve that aim?
“I have been concerned about this issue since the spray program began. Over the years I have heard a number of stories that sprayed cannabis was still being sold, or made into cannabis oil, by some unscrupulous dealers.
“I have also heard stories of people suffering headaches, throat damage and coughing blood. There needs to be proper research, but we can’t achieve this until police come clean on the chemicals it uses.
“The real solution is cannabis law reform. Allow adults over 18 to use cannabis and grow it for themselves,” Nandor said.
“Then those adults who choose to smoke cannabis can be confident that they have an organic supply.
“Until cannabis prohibition ends, the cannabis supply will be contaminated by unscrupulous people who don’t care about inflicting harm on others in the interests of making money,” he said.
NORML Claims Rejected By Police
28/07/2004 06:24 PM
NewstalkZB
http://xtramsn.co.nz/
Police are rejecting claims that their poisoning of cannabis plots is endangering the health of illegal drug users.
The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is concerned at the problems users are suffering if they buy poisoned cannabis.
Police say they spray marijuana plots with herbicide, turning the plants blue.
A police spokesman says the spray does contain a dye which is used to show which plants have been sprayed.
NORML wants the spraying to stop, saying it causes some users to cough up blood and suffer nausea and headaches.
The Ministry of Health says it cannot say how dangerous the herbicide is unless police tell them what is in it.
New Zealand Party Laments Pot Spraying
Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand's Green Party, which supports legalization of marijuana, said Wednesday police are endangering pot smokers' health by using poison spray to kill illegally grown cannabis plants.
Police have confirmed that when they find illicit crops of cannabis they spray them with a herbicide that turns the plants blue and kills them.
Green Party lawmaker and confessed cannabis user Nandor Tanzcos said there have been reports that unscrupulous dealers have used food coloring to turn the dyed dope back to green so they can sell it.
"I have heard stories of people suffering headaches, throat damage and coughing blood. There needs to be proper research but we can't achieve this until police come clean on the chemicals it (the herbicide) uses," he said.
The situation made a mockery of the police duty to protect the public, with people's health being placed at risk by the spray program, he added.
Tanzcos, an adherent of the Rastafarian faith, has said he uses cannabis as part of religious observances.
The lawmaker is the Green Party's leading advocate for reform of the nation's laws banning marijuana use.
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