 | NORML News: Cannabis Culture Banned! |
 NORML NEWS SUMMER 2008. BY CHRIS FOWLIE
Customs have finally succeeded in having an issue of Cannabis Culture magazine banned. The May/June 2007 issue, imported from Canada and distributed by The Hempstore, was sent to the Office
of Film and Literature Classification. In a decision released in late October, the Office ruled the issue “objectionable”, meaning it cannot be sold or read in New Zealand.
Rulings on three previous issues
had said the magazine could be
sold as long as it was wrapped
and restricted to those aged over
18. These rulings were based in
part on a 1998 ruling on High
Times magazine, which had said
that the grow section was a small
part of the magazine as a whole,
and even though it encouraged
“criminal activity” it was not
the “dominant effect” of the
publication as a whole.
The Hempstore noted that no
complaints had been received
by any members of the public
and said it is “the test of a free
society that controversial topics
can be openly debated without
the suppression of information
from one side.” A ban would
represent a “gross intrusion into
the rights guaranteed by the Bill
of Rights Act”.
The censors did not agree,
largely because they said this
issue - which included interviews
with Stephen Marley and Tommy
Chong, art glass photography,
pot puzzles, and international
cannabis law reform news - also
featured an article about making
bubble hash.
They said the magazine
“promotes criminal actions
to a greater extent and degree
than issues previously classifi ed
... The magazine’s focus on
“profiling and promoting the
marijuana industry” includes an
extensive and prominent feature
on converting cannabis trim to
bubblehash ... It is this feature,
in particular, that influences the
dominant effect of the issue under
review. When encouragement to
break the law is the dominant
effect, readers are less likely
to interpret the magazine’s
support for currently criminal
behaviour as advocacy of law
reform and may be attracted to
experimentation with criminal
activities. In this context the
availability of the publication
is likely to be injurious to the
public good.”
While other issues of Cannabis
Culture and Norml News are not
directly affected by the ruling, it
sets a bad precedent and Customs
may decide to send all future
issues to the censors as they
arrive. The latest issue of CC
mag that is about to hit our shores
features an article on “New
Zealand’s Irie Activists”. That’s
sure to go down a treat with the
fun police.
For more info see:
www.cannabisculture.
com
www.pot-tv.net
www.
censorship.govt.nz
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