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I'm sure many of you have seen the numerous stories about this 16 year old piece of shit who stabbed an elderly woman to death 25 times back in January.
As if his lawyers claims that he "blacked out" and feels really sorry aren't disgusting enough, I should have predicted the NZ Herald's favorite scapegoat would play into this somehow:
"Justice Venning said Trevithick's parents believe the attack was totally out of character.
However Trevithick had been regularly using cannabis since he was 12 or 13."
Well that settles it then. Top-notch reporting guys! Did he also eat cookies too? - maybe that had something to do with it. I mean as long as we're pulling things out of our fucking asses without any regard for even the weakest scientific correlation, let's have at it.
What really burns me about this stuff is NZ really does have a violent crime problem, and the way the Herald reports this stuff it's actually creating and maintaining a ready-made argument for defense attorneys, not to mention demonising all of us to the fullest. They create this idea that cannabis causes psychosis, and reinforce it every chance they get. Then when some scumbag is caught for an atrocity like this all he has to do is say "well i did smoke pot" and we all say "Oh yeah, it'll do that.. Maybe he's not so bad after all".
I'm sorry to rant, but it seems like this country is really under the spell of reefer-madness hysteria in a way that I never would have imagined still existed prior to coming here. The pot laws in the US are bad, but the "pot causes psychosis" idiocy that I regularly read in the NZ Herald has been gone for decades. Astounding.
Joined: Oct 31, 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Christchurch
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:20 am
It's probably easier to blame it on cannabis than to blame it on the fact that he probably lived in poverty his whole life and he was beaten up daily by his alcoholic, dole bludging parents.
Joined: Aug 20, 2006 Posts: 958 Location: h=6.626x10‾34 Mood: sisyphustic
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:04 pm
And yet with other news outlets (TV/Radio), there's no mention of cannabis, however they do say he was drinking beforehand, but the Herald has deemed that as unimportant.
Nearly every week there's something about the Herald that disgusts me. Last week is was them out-ing that women who then topped herself, now it's this. I've refused to buy the POS rag for years, wouldn't even wipe my arse with it... F'n hacks. _________________ IF 25 YEARS OF SMOKING DOPE HAS ADDLED MY BRAIN, I MUST HAVE BEEN AN INTELLECTUAL GIANT IN MY YOUTH ~Tim Shadbolt
It's seems like rather than push the "cannabis is a gateway to harder drugs" line here, people are actually still trying to sell the idea that cannabis IS a hard or dangerous drug. That's what never ceases to shock me.
Believe it or not, NZ actually ranks highly in terms of press freedom, which I take to mean the government is not at all forcing these kinds of messages in the press. It may be that the police have a big influence, but for some reason the Herald definitely acts like they're part of a crusade against cannabis smokers.
You think there would be a desire to stay within some distance of the facts, but it appears that isn't so when it comes to cannabis. It seems there is an "ends justify the means" mentality - that if something is believed to be morally bad, then the right thing to do is say horrible things about it whether they're true or not. Sticking to the facts may "confuse the youth".
Joined: Jan 29, 2006 Posts: 400 Location: Wellington
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:51 pm
Some of the most factual cannabis material I've read in New Zealand is the stuff they have at the Community Alcohol & Drug Services. Which is funny since they're generally anti the use of any substances, but the material is honest. It lists every possible bad side effect but admits that there's no evidence marijuana is a gateway drug, or that it is truly addictive, or that it is particularly harmful, etc. But they grasp the fact that if you want to change things you have to address the reality and not make up stories. _________________ Remember, what the dormouse said...
Quite frankly,,,,, Capitalism,,,, is a seriously addictive drug affecting/effecting all parts of our "society"...look at the fine Mr Ritchwhite's company.... Modavia Railway got without admission of liability...just a mere $20 million....that partea peeps was...back in the day...a public asset...and here is some hick company paying pennies for the meth-fueled insider trading!!
did you read that right...yes you did partea peeps...that's white collar crime..the clean sort...the sort that ain't nothing to do with cannabis
Always keeping right "on-track" and walking down that Jonny Cash line and of course.....always.... making postive contributions
Joined: Apr 20, 2008 Posts: 54 Location: On an Island
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:13 pm
I actually know the Trevithicks...I dated one of them, they're not really upstanding community leaders thats for sure...I dumped him because he punched me, he then got a knife and said if I didn't take him back he wouldn't know what he was going to do- I thought he was just upset but now that his brothers been done for that kinda freaks me out.
And that defense lawyers will always try to blame anything else but the criminal! _________________ Our lives are full of ethical dilemmas...
When Maryjane the Cannabus arrived in Invercargill for a protest rally on Tuesday, police made at least one interesting call. They didn't collar any puffing protesters — instead taking the "run along, sonny" approach — and they chose not to seize a cannabis plant conspicuously placed inside the bus, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.
By contrast, police in Palmerston North had made two arrests for cannabis use, and in Picton a plant was seized. Generally, the public takes the view that what's illegal at one end of the country should be equally illegal at the other; or that what's of insufficient consequence here should be equally so there.
Invercargill police say they decided "for operational reasons" not to undertake a search of the bus. Search? In this case it would have amounted to reaching in and grabbing it. And the rather pompous term "operational reasons" invites a three-worded translation, the first two words being "couldn't" and "be" ...
The inconsistency of the police approach is, in a small way, testament to an uneven but widening sense of exasperated tolerance for the widely used drug.
It is misplaced. The Maryjane tour spokesman Dakta Green (actually Ken Morgan) disregards research saying cannabis has harmful effects. Those reports, he says, were written by opponents of cannabis use. Well so much, then, for the study published less than a year ago in The Lancet medical journal, analysing the world's best and most recent studies linking cannabis use and psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia and manic depressive illness. It concluded that cannabis smokers were 40 percent more likely to develop psychosis later in life, with the most frequent smokers between 50 percent and 200 percent more vulnerable to these conditions.
All written by opponents, see? If anything, all that's really in doubt is the point at which Mr Green's description becomes true, because if they weren't opponents when they started the research, it seems great numbers of them were by the end.
In truth, we shouldn't lightly dismiss the view in documents released in March showing health authorities support the use of cannabis on compassionate grounds under tightly controlled conditions.
Or that statistics suggest almost 20 percent of New Zealanders aged 15 to 45 have used cannabis during the past year — a figure that can legitimately be seized by those who argue that a controlled system of harm minimisation, as with the also-damaging alcohol and tobacco, is the way to go.
But Dakta Green and his jolly band of stoners are rather too celebratory about a hideously damaging substance that peer-reviewed science strongly connects to memory damage and decline in other intellectual skills, increased risk of cancers of the aerodigestive tract, increased risk of leukaemia and birth defects in offspring exposed while in the womb, and an impaired immune system, ovulation, sperm production and libido. Socially, evidence shows a marked decline in occupational performance in adults, and more educational under-achievement in children.
Nostalgists should note, too, that the careful attentions of the growing industry present us with dope that is much, much more potent than it was in the supposedly hazy 1960s.
By all means, debate on harm minimisation should be undertaken.
But the celebratory, wa-hey approach of the Norml (National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) protesters isn't helping.
my letter
Cannabis users of Invercargill will have been laughing over their morning tea.
The amount of cannabis research done in the last 50 years is vast and for both users and non-users can be confusing. But calling cannabis a 'hideously damaging substance' (1 May) and listing a slew of frightening claims is inexcusable prohibitionist hyperbole at its very worst. A single letter will not do it justice.
Distinguishing chronic (long term) from acute effects of cannabis is problematic. It is often the case in THC (the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis) research that interpretation is in the eye of the beholder.
A possible reason for this may be the sources of funding for cannabis research. As most money comes from government coffers and most governments are in opposition to cannabis use, it is logical to assume that researchers will attempt to minimize findings which do not satisfy the views of their funders in order to ensure future support.
This may seem harsh - if one accepts the myth of scientific objectivity - but scientists are as competitive as any other group in their attempts to stay 'in the game' and to win.
Your editorial grandly overstated your case and did absolutely nothing for a factual, rational and sane discussion. On the other hand NORML is committed to encouraging the debate, and to do so in a reasonable, informed and calm manner. It would be more useful to spare your readers such extremist claims and therefore be taken seriously.
I would expect The Southland Times to have a comparable percentage of casual cannabis users within it ranks as other such similar organizations .
Gareth could well get a shock if Fred ordered random work place drug testing to take place next week.. now that might have Fred sit up and reconsider .
especially when he see's just who fails the cannabis test.
see if he still stands by
quote
Socially, evidence shows a marked decline in occupational performance in adults,
end quote.
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 3278 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:48 pm
You gave me an idea. A friend just sent this one in.
Sir,
Nasty fumes from the Southland Times !
I would expect The Southland Times to have a comparable percentage of casual cannabis users within it ranks as other such similar organizations.
Perhaps you should order random work place drug testing to take place next week, and we'll could see whether you still stand by "Socially, evidence shows a marked decline in occupational performance in adults"
Anyone familiar with using cannabis knows that cannabis only impairs occupational performance (including driving) in those who are either inexperienced cannabis users, or inexperienced in their occupation.
This was pretty bad too. I sent them a letter (below) just before 5pm so guess it won't be in the feeble rag tomorrow.
paula,
Just thought I'd let you know that your letter got printed in The Southland Times on Saturday May 2nd, along with your friends and another shorter letter from a Canadian. I'm not sure if they were edited.
There were also two good pro-cannabis law reform letters on Friday May 1st as well, one from Ken Wuschke and another from NZDF's Ross Bell.
Interestingly, today's Southland Times had a wee picture of Toronto's J-Day (I think) on the front page as its advert for its "World" news, and its coverage of the Toronto J-Day also had a big colour picture.
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 3278 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 8:22 pm
Thanks potshots, glad they were printed, but no letters from any locals ?
Um, what do you mean about those tests FascistAnderton? Or am I just having a 'thick' moment . . .
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did you read that right...yes you did partea peeps...that's white collar crime..the clean sort...the sort that ain't nothing to do with cannabis 
