Friendly warning and disclaimer: These forums are provided for the thousands victims of prohibition who form the pot community of Aotearoa for discussion of marijuana-related issues. NORML reserve the right to delete off-topic posts. The views expressed in any forum are solely those of the contributor and not necessarily approved or endorsed by NORML New Zealand Inc.
Joined: Feb 28, 2003 Posts: 212 Location: Auckland, Aotearoa
Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:57 pm
this is going round in circles... we're all on the same side, remember?
I'll just repeat my original point, and leave it at that:
Quote:
We've got to get over it. Or like me accept it as part of the movement. But either way, move on and cherish and celebrate the differences. At the end of the day we're all a bunch of grumpy old buggers who think we know best. The trick is to turn our energies where it matters - prohibitionists and their allies, not attacking each other or sulking because we think we may have been slighted.
Chris _________________ "when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty!"
as co-author and editor of many ALCP releases in the past that subsequently showed up to have bugs (eg one or two paragraphs too many) i should be throwing my toys out of the sandpit as well and leaving the list. however i only just got here so that would be dumb
hopefully we learn from mistakes and just do better. i find it quite gutting seeing a gremlin has crept into a press release, usually only seen when its too late to fix. on the occasions when alcp gets it right, then we can be proud....
i looked at steveoh's draft - it scanned ok and made sense and a valid point, plus it was timely, so if newspaper editors cant sort that, theys really not interested anyway - afterall prohibition is jolly handy for that endless supply of crime 'stories' nz media love so much.
incidently, the govenment CAN issue its own referendum if it wants, it doesnt have to be citizens initiated with300,000 petition signatures. I recall winston peters had some superannuation referendum about 11 years ago, not the result of any particular petition, just something that needed sorting. it failed.
if anyone can write any draft for the ALCP campaign (current) it is most welcome, as normally no-one writes anything in the press release format....i am hoping to lift my game in this department, with the benefit of hindsight and helpful editors - the tricky thing is finding a hook, and then getting agreement from the 'group' is often difficult. some of my drafts have failed to get approval, because i put the boot into Helen too much...!
i also want to mention that i keep reading brilliant and inspirational comment on the norml forums. rock on!
attacking labour Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:06 pm
too mean on helen and labour(?) (or just too rabid, badly written, or maybe just ahead of its time!)...read on
Press release(draft): 23 June 2005 Aotearoa Legalise
Cannabis Party
‘Tax cuts’ - yes we can
-----------------------
Prime Minister Helen Clark described the prohibition
of cannabis in 1994 (great Marijuana debate) as 'poor
public policy'.
However, 6 years after being elected on a 'liberalise
cannabis law' ticket, Clark stated this week that she
"cannot look the taxpayer in the eye and say that tax
cuts are affordable, while maintaining spending in
critical areas."
But why is the govenrnment still squandering money on
the 'poor public policy' of criminalisation, ask the
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party?
There is no evidence criminalisation limits use (fact
established in two Parliamentary Inquiries). Instead
crime and alienation are generated, and rule of law is
terribly undermined, as acknowledged in the past by
Clark and her Ministers.
"Existing policy is harm maximisation." says Aotearoa
Legalise leader Michael Appleby.
Taxpayers are funding a bureaucratic (incl Police and
Prison Building) protection racket, "duped into
believing that the money spent on prohibition it is
protecting their community".
Analysis by the Premiers Drugs Advisory Council
(Victoria, Aust 1996) with Ray Kendall (then secretary
general of INTERPOL) stated that the dollar spent on
harm prevention achieves more that seven dollars spent
on law enforcement. Kendall went on to describe
prohibition of drugs ‘obsolete and dangerous’.
Aotearoa Legalise say that by making cannabis policy
non-interventionist (health and education-based), we
are turning the money that’s been spent on failure
into $$$$$$$ in the taxpayers Pocket.
"and Empowering the community with consistent R18
policy"...
"Can we fix it – YES WE CAN".
ends===========
- alcp could change the date to 2008 and send it out as another draft for approval as people arent so favorable to labour now. only differnce is its now 9 years of crap government, and there has finally been some paltry tax-cut in time for election...
rgds,kevin
Dead cop 'victim of prohibition'
and after sending it to Scoop they amended it to
Dead cop tragic victim of prohibition
The killing of Sergeant Don Wilkinson during a South Auckland police anti-drug operation is a tragedy for his family and colleagues, and they certainly have the sympathy of the ALCP.
However, it needs to be recognised that prohibition as a policy has not worked anywhere in the world. Our police and customs officers concede that what they can do is only the 'tip of the iceberg'and they will never substantially succeed.
A modest step in the direction of legal regulation is needed to get NZ out from the shadows of gangs, crime and violence. How many more people have to die because of the failure to protect, promote and improve the public health relating to intoxicant use?
Prohibition was already a failed policy, but the National Party's 1991 Proceeds of Crime Act was passed and the resulting and now long-established 'tinnie house' networks - and rebellious culture built up around cannabis - have served as a 'p' marketer's dream. These networks have also provided a feeding frenzy for related prohibitionist interests, eg. the police, justice, corrections.
The domestic black market for 'p' is clearly far more dangerous and violent than the cannabis market ever was. What is officially ignored by all NZ political analysts, police and media is the logic of separating soft and hard drug markets, thus reducing the overall hazard for policing and the community. It would be wiser, safer and much less costly for everyone to adopt a genuine harm minimisation approach...by legalising and regulating cannabis as a first crucial step, instead of the current uncompromising 'criminalisation'.
As a community we need to take a step back and apply some equity and common sense, and learn from other countries where drugs are being managed more tolerantly and consistently, with far better outcomes.
The ALCP is determined to raise such issues during the 2008 election campaign.
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 2996 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 9:02 pm
. . . not a media release, but this article is in the Weekend Press. Any familiar with pot who's seen the Chalice often remarks on the resemblance. Its a metal sculpture made up of several styles of NZ leaves. I was told officially that the one that looks like pot was a titoki leaf but I'm not at all sure ... it was installed 4 days before 9/11. Theres a pic on this site somewhere, I just searched but couldn't find it. One of
In the murky airspace where a busker's voice mingles with the sound of the band playing in Christchurch's Cathedral Square stands the Chalice. During yesterday's lunch-hour rush on a clear, sunny day, people walked past with sandwiches in hand, eyes dead ahead, barely glancing at the 18m-high silver sculpture.
In the case of the Chalice, familiarity has not bred contempt. What was once a cone of contention seems to have ripened into an art work that, our tourists at least, appreciate. Despite being built in celebration of millennium year and Canterbury's 150th anniversary, delays meant it was finally installed in September 2001. Time for a seven-year itch?
In the years preceding its installation, critics denounced the filigreed steelwork as "an affront" and a "vulgarity". The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party claimed it resembled a giant dope reefer. Christchurch architect Peter Beaven called it "disgusting" and likened it to "the vent to an underground toilet". Supporters emerged later, once it was in place.
The Press yesterday spent an hour with the Chalice. A man with a wispy beard shouted" ice-cream cone" at it and briskly walked away. A man eating chips at the tip of its noon shadow called it "arty-farty metal crap", but Olive Voon, two, gave it a mighty hug while her father looked on.
South African Marilize Stoltz, 36, thinks New Zealanders take their public art for granted. "I like it," she said. "I can understand people being a bit upset that Christchurch is called the Garden City and this is a piece of metal, but it's different and quite beautiful. I see plants in it. I told a Kiwi friend that the new wheat sculpture (Flour Power in the City Mall) was awesome and he just said, `it's only wheat'."
Lee Russell chose to sit by the Chalice as he waited for noon to strike so he could pick up his working visa for New Zealand. "It was the first thing I saw when I came here because it's near the Immigration Office," he said. "It will always remind me of Christchurch. I like it."
Ryan Thompson, 22, was busy polishing the rubbish bins in Cathedral Square when The Press pointed out the Chalice to him. He got the fright of his life. "I've been living here all my life and never noticed it," he said. "It's very good, like a cup or something. Maybe it would look better with a bit of bronze or gold."
They crouched, they lay on their stomachs, and they aimed their cameras and camera-phones high. The Spanish couple liked it, the British couple liked it, brother and sister tourists from Australia had a family disagreement over it but they all took a snap anyway.
Chalice sculptor Neil Dawson told The Press yesterday that earlier criticism had been "absolutely insulting" but he never wanted to publicly respond "because I'd be in the gutter myself". However, seven years down the line, he is proud of his art. "It's grown within the city," he said. "You seldom see postcards of the Square without the Chalice. It's had a cultural value that's built over time."
HERE is a not very good pic of it in the background (sorry I've posted this pic on this site somewhere before too)
ALCP applauds Friday's announcement of the tiny move toward allowing patients to be treated legally with cannabis, though it must be said that an unsubsidised Sativex product will be a relatively expensive delivery device for administering THC and cannabinol from the plant, and it could still be delayed for years.
The cannabis plant actually contains over sixty chemicals, which have shown promise for medicinal applications, that are currently being researched by pharmaceutical companies. Even the US Department of Health has held several patents since 2003 (see http://www.patentstorm.us./patents/6630507.html). However the homegrown natural combination of all those chemicals has for years benefited sick Kiwis who have been using the plant medicinally.
The timing of allowing this Sativex marketing application to Medsafe is both an acknowledgement politicians have noticed the revitalised cannabis lobby effort and would like to shut it down, as well as that a majority of the New Zealand public understand cannabis prohibition is nothing more than an unjustified oppressive sham of a law.
ALCP spokesperson and candidate for West Coast/Tasman, Steven Wilkinson said "This is the first positive move forward in the cannabis debate for a while and it sure is about time. However, focusing on medicinal use ignores the fact that prohibition of this relatively benign plant cannabis, by the criminalisation of its users, is still ruining lives in our communities."
Legal regulation of the whole plant would recognise the harm of 'heavy' cannabis use by young people and respond to that. Currently prohibition still shamefully relies on public fear and ignorance in order to demonise a truly multi-purpose valuable plant. "Allowing Sativex right now smells like political manoeuvring; an attempt to claw back recent support that groups like NORML and Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party have received."
"Regulating cannabis alongside alcohol and tobacco would still allow medicines to be developed, rather than this current move merely allowing ill people to pay excessive amounts of money in order to be allowed to spray THC into their mouths. It has long been advocated that there are plenty of alternative safe methods for ingesting it than smoking."
Last edited by paula on Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total
Joined: Dec 01, 2003 Posts: 2996 Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:09 pm
Curiously that link to the US patent isn't working first time any more. I have to refresh/reload the page to get it to show. Anyone else have the same problem?
The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party have secured the shortest slogan in political history on this year's ballot paper - 'R18' (see http://www.elections.org.nz/maori/parties/registered-political-parties.html). This eye-catching option will sit with the equally eye-catching cannabis leaf as part of ALCP's listing on election day this November 8.
The Party expect the inclusion of the age limit will clarify their moderate regulatory stance on legalisation which is a responsible and equitable choice for New Zealand. It includes cottage industry, Dutch style cafes, adult-control home grow, and medicinal cannabis provision.
Party president and Auckland Central candidate Kevin O'Connell, who instigated the ALCP logo update, hopes the inclusion of R18 will also open up debate about an appropriate and consistent legal age for alcohol, tobacco and cannabis.
"The double standards have been dragging on. The powers-that-be still pretend that keeping cannabis illegal sends a strong message. However the only message being sent to young people under prohibition is one of extreme hypocrisy."
Partliament's Health select committee reported unanimously in 1998 that "the double standards surrounding cannabis are an impediment to effective anti drug education." It also found that prohibition of cannabis appeared to be completely ineffective in deterring cannabis use and uptake. This was verified by a follow-up inquiry (2000-2003) which still failed to deliver an improved health promotion status for cannabis.
ALCP believes this highlights a fatal flaw in health promotion. It accounts for poor outcomes also with alcohol and tobacco, and other areas where young NZers are too often not listening, and is something that needs to change.
Notably, the 1986 Ottawa Charter on health promotion states that effective measures require 'identification of obstacles to health promotion in non-health sectors'. "There is a clear indication here that the Justice sector has completely failed to deter cannabis use," says Mr O'Connell. "Health promotion professionals need to start adhering to the UN Charter which underpins their work."
Figures from official drug surveys put use of cannabis prevalence in NZ at a conservative 373,310 consumers, and 80% of youth experimenting with the herb. The Cannabis party points out that if one in twenty voters ticks the ALCP R18 leaf, a very poor piece of legislation - which is creating nothing but disrespect and dysfunction in NZ - will be expeditiously removed from statutes.
POLITICS 27 October 2008, 2:00PM
Strategic voting finally working
By Steven Wilkinson
5 views
WEST COAST
The West Coast-Tasman voters have the opportunity to have 4 representatives in Parliament this election.
Because of their party positioning Damien O'Connor, Chris Auchinvole, and Kevin Hague all would be in parliament through the 'party' vote allocation. So in reality a vote for one of these candidates is effectively a wasted vote.
If Labour, National, and Green supporters gave their party votes to their parties and gave their constituency vote to Steven Wilkinson, then West Coast-Tasman would be represented by 4 candidates.
Steven Wilkinson believes that being elected to represent the West Coast-Tasman seat, would be a great platform to begin the public debate on cannabis law reform without affecting his responsibility as a representative for the area.
"You can not have effective debate without firstly providing non-emotive, factual information on the issue. When government controlled regulation is explained, people tend to then realise how lacking prohibition really is." Mr Wilkinson said.
Having 4 representatives would cover nearly all of West Coast-Tasman's voters, allowing for Labour, National, Green and people who believe in social Justice to have a voice in issues affecting the area.
Steven Wilkinson said "If the 4 of us could not work together for the betterment of West Coast-Tasman, then we do not have the right to be standing for this seat. I think people are getting sick of this 'first past the post' attitude from the 2 main parties, and that voters want to see their vote working and having some clout in Wellington."
"I believe having 4 representatives in Parliament is what we need, our electorate covers the largest area. To date we have had no real voice and have had to stand quietly by as companies reap our natural reserves without any true concerns given to our needs. 4 representatives should be able to sort something out" he said.
Steven Wilkinson having stood for three elections is the second longest contester for the West Coast-Tasman seat after Damien O'Connor. He has a strong social justice belief, and says that his goals for the seat are not antibusiness or pro-green but rather ideas that ensure quality of life for all West Coast-Tasman people.
So this election will be interesting in the fact that: Will the West Coast-Tasman voters continue to vote for one or the other party. Or realise that with MMP strategic voting is the sensible choice ensuring they have a voice of 4. Only time will tell. _________________ Regulation will set cannabis free
Freedom's just a TICK away - VOTE Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party 2008 then everyone's a winner
Contact me: steven@alcp.org.nz Party website http://www.alcp.org.nz
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Login to check your private messages
Login
