 | NORML News: Welcome to Dun-sterdam! |
 NORML NEWS SUMMER 2008. BY ABE GRAY
Down in Dunedin we have been taking matters in to our own hands. On the heels of our successful hot-boxing
of the Dunedin Central Police station two J Days in a row, we’ve established a weekly mini-J Day on the
Otago University campus, Friday 4:20, which as you can imagine is held on Fridays at 4:20pm, on the Union
Lawn. This weekly event has become a safe zone, where cannabis smokers know they can come and smoke in
peace, safe from persecution and arrest, in a fun, social atmosphere.
In the middle of the year had to fight off
the new University security squad, Campus
Watch. We simply held our ground and
refused to be moved, and they left us alone
because they knew the cops wouldn’t care.
It was written up in ‘the Critic’ student
newspaper as well as the front page of
the Otago Daily Times, which quoted
the head of the Dunedin Police, Dave
Campbell, saying ‘It would be quite a
logistical exercise to arrest 50-60 cannabis
smokers, and to be honest, I think there
are a lot of people in this
town that would think that
we had better things to do’. We even appeared on TV
One’s Close Up program,
and were portrayed in a very
favourable light. The reaction
from the community that
followed really showed that
the tide is turning. We may
be entering a political climate
in which we can proceed with cannabis law
reform, at least in Dunedin.
This was particularly evident in the
candidates who were standing around
the country for the local body elections.
It seems being green has fi nally become
popular, with many candidates talking about
environmental and social sustainability. In
Dunedin, those who believed that the best
way to ensure Dunedin’s future was with
massive spending projects and subsidies to
big business were clearly in the minority
this time around, with most candidates
preferring to advocate for economic
growth based on sustainability. The general
consensus seemed to be that we need to
attract creative young people to the city
so that they may start business based on
creativity, and not resource exploitation.
We also need to grow the tourism industry,
but without impacting on the environment.
Sounds like a pretty daunting task, but what
ideas did the candidates put forward for
achieving this? A new stadium isn’t going
to do it. We have a fashion show, which is
great, but we need more than that. We need
something really audacious that will make
us stand out from the crowd. Something, in
the words of many candidates, that will ‘put
Dunedin on the map’.
Another city that has faced the challenge
of economic stagnation and population
decline is Invercargill. They are growing
again, but how? Well, they have heaps of
money from their Liquor Licensing Trust.
We can’t do that in Dunedin
because for some strange
reason we feel like we owe
our entire existence as a city
to the liquor merchants who
openly parasitise us, and we
even clean up after them.
And don’t forget, Invercargill
has an entertaining and
charismatic mayor who
openly admits to having
smoked massive amounts of cannabis.
This brings me to an idea I had when
thinking about creative ways to achieve
the collective goal of revitalising the city:
completely legalise cannabis within the
Dunedin city boundary! What better
way to simultaneously attract creative
young people and boost tourist numbers
without pouring money down the drain
on some ‘think big’ style vanity project?
‘But what about the central government?’
you say, ‘Isn’t it really up to them?’ Well,
in the past ten years we’ve had two select
committees investigating cannabis - one
under a National government and one
under a Labour government. Both of them
recommended changing the cannabis laws!
They haven’t done so because they prefer
to play the prejudice against ‘drug users’
for political expediency. I think it’s time to
show some kiwi ingenuity - and remember,
‘if you want something done right, you have
to do it yourself’!
So next year, leading up to JDay, we will
be presenting Cannabis Awareness Week,
during which we will host the First Annual
Otago Cannabis Cup, to showcase students
enjoying cannabis in a responsible manner
and appreciating it for its quality and subtle
fl avours. We are also extending the 4:20
sessions to twice weekly, on Wednesday as
well as Friday. We would like to invite every
cannabis smoker in Dunedin to come to our
regular event where you will be safe and not
have to fear arrest or persecution. We are
also beginning a wider community outreach
program to spread the message of cannabis
law reform, with a weekly radio show on
Radio One (91FM Dunedin) every Friday at
9:30pm, and streamed live over the internet
at www.r1.co.nz. In addition we also
have a website at www.otagonorml.com,
a presence on myspace (www.myspace.
com/otagonorml), and anyone can e-mail
us at dunedin@norml.org.nz if they have
any questions or comments.
The next step is to lobby the city council
to offi cially sanction our events, and get
them to request that police treat cannabis
possession as the lowest enforcement
priority within the city boundary.
Look at the Dutch, who have had legal
cannabis for decades and their society isn’t
crumbling. They have high education, low
poverty and low crime, something New
Zealand hopefully aspires to. Amsterdam
is a great city to visit. It’s clean, they have
great public transport, and hundreds of
thousands of creative young people from
all over the globe flock there as tourists
to sample the finest greens. After all, the
European name for our country comes from
Holland, so let’s embrace our Dutch history
and get this party started!
For more info please see:
www.otagonorml.com;
www.myspace.
com/otagonorml;
www.r1.co.nz
or email us at
dunedin@norml.org.nz
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