The time for change is now. At Otago NORML we're working hard to raise awareness of the issue of law reform on all levels. So check out our latest news items, articles, and press releases.
Our twice weekly "4:20" protests are held every Wednesday and Friday at 4:20 PM on the Union Lawn at the Otago University.
Feel free to register and contribute to the continued discussion surrounding cannabis law reform or suggest new ways to make our point on our forums.
Also check out Overgrown - The Otago NORML Radio Show - Fridays 21:00 NZST, 91FM Dunedin (Radio One)! - New Zealand's only Cannabis Law Reform radio show!
Been busted for cannabis? Visit our friends at Bush Lawyer
Copy and Paste link to youtube video around (250mbs) 57.01 mins www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aTbnO9I-TU
A controversial Church of Scientology drug-awareness programme has received government funding to spread its unorthodox views through schools and community groups.
In the past six months, drug-free ambassadors linked to the church have circulated 130,000 drug education booklets around New Zealand, paid for in part by the Department of Internal Affairs' Community Organisations Grant Scheme.
The ambassadors claim at least 18 community groups – including their "partners" the Maori Wardens – plus at least seven high schools, endorse and use the materials.
Advice offered in the pamphlets is based on research by Scientology's controversial founder, LRon Hubbard, who did not believe in medical drugs or psychiatry but instead in purging oneself of painful experiences to gain immortality.
Getting behind the wheel after smoking cannabis will almost double your chance of having a serious or fatal crash, new research has shown.
This comes as more and more Kiwis are being caught drug driving following the introduction of roadside drug tests at the end of 2009.
Figures released to Fairfax Media recently showed since then, 514 people had appeared to be sufficiently impaired for police to perform a drug test – and 455 drivers were found to be under the influence of drugs.
More than half were under the influence of cannabis, with methamphetamine or BZP the next most common drugs.
Canadian research published recently in the British Medical Journal reviewed previous studies on the subject and found acute cannabis consumption could be linked to an increase in crash rates, particularly fatal crashes.
The research found cannabis significantly impaired the psychomotor response, or muscle activity linked to mental processes.
The yearly marijuana-lovers' pilgrimage to its marijuana Mecca in Amsterdam has been disrupted by more than a hundred police officers. For the first time in its 24-year history, the High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam has been raided by police.
Read more here
http://bigbudsmag.com/lifestyle/article/high-times-cannabis-cup-raid-not...
The Government pays about $5000 to test each product it suspects may be synthetic cannabis - a cost Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne says it is "prepared to bear".
"We currently have the Temporary Drug Class Notices regime which is focused on delivering safety first for young New Zealanders. This regime is specifically temporary."
Next year, a permanent law will be introduced which will require manufacturers to prove the safety of their products and pay for associated expenses.
On Saturday Enjoi Products released a repackaged and modified version of its Amsterdam Cafe synthetic cannabis to convenience stores across Auckland.
The Ministry of Health ignored advice from police and Customs that legislation to ban synthetic cannabis products was incomplete and could lead to the re-emergence of legal highs.
Yesterday it was revealed that a new legal version of Amsterdam Cafe, a synthetic cannabis product, went on sale on Saturday.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said yesterday that three new synthetic cannabinoid substances - the chemicals used to produce products like Kronic - had been banned.
Packages of all three were intercepted at the border by Customs. One of them was destined for Enjoi Products, the manufacturer of Amsterdam Cafe.
Mr Dunne said Ministry of Health officials had made contact with Enjoi Products to determine if the intercepted cannabinoids were used in the new version of Amsterdam Cafe.
If it was, the product could be off shelves by next week, otherwise tests would be carried out to determine its contents.
A synthetic cannabis product is back on the market - and others are on the way - less than three months after the so-called "legal highs" were banned.
Auckland-based Enjoi Products released a repackaged and modified version of its Amsterdam Cafe synthetic cannabis product to convenience stores across Auckland on Saturday.
The Long Island Tea blend has been slightly chemically altered from the company's former Havana Special product, which was affected by the Government ban that came into force in August.
But the new product, which sells for $20, has "quite a similar effect" to the old one, Enjoi Products managing director Zaid Muso said.
"There's nothing to really hide here, it is a synthetic cannabinoid."
LATEST: ACT's ticket to Parliament, Epsom candidate John Banks, and the party's president have both rejected leader Don Brash's cannabis stance.
In a speech on law and order to party supporters in Auckland yesterday, Brash said he had serious questions about New Zealand's current marijuana laws and gave his personal endorsement to at least a debate over cannabis law reform.
However ACT president Chris Simmons today said decriminalising the class-C drug wouldn't be the party's policy next year, in 2014 or even 2017.
Simmons said the party's board wouldn't support decriminalisation, which was a "step too far." But he said it was important for party members to be asking questions and raising new ideas.
John Banks, the party's Epsom candidate and a former police minister, today said he could not support cannabis decriminalisation.
Home » News » Dunedin
Wed, 21 Sep 2011
News: Dunedin
A man received almost $53,000 in benefit payments he not entitled to because he failed to tell Winz about large amounts of money he was making from drug-dealing, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
Leon Dean Michael Leech (37), unemployed, told an investigator last month he did not disclose the income because it was from illegal activities.
He admitted four charges of dishonestly using Work and Income documents for financial gain and one charge of wilfully failing to disclose his correct financial circumstances to the Ministry of Social Development between August 3, 2007 and June 16 this year.
On all charges, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll convicted and remanded Leech in custody for sentence on November 10.
According to UNODC amphetamine type stimulants like meth and ecstasy are now more popular than cocaine and heroin. None of these are good, but a shift in poularity towards meth is definitely bad. Synthetic stimulants are still only second to cannabis in overall popularity. The mainstream media of course will scare monger, but really just another argument to legalise cannabis as a safer alternative.
Below: google image search for 'stoner' and 'meth head'
