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
Otago Student Harassed by Campus Watch for Taking a Study Break
Wed 21 May, 2008
otagonorml.com
Otago University - On Wednesday Otago University NORML recieved this e-mail from one of their members who is a particularly hard working student, while he was attempting to study for his exams in the central library.
"I'm in the library right now, and was just outside before having a smoke sitting where the ashtrays are immediatly outside the Link. This Campus
Watch guy came up and demanded I produce ID, and threatend to 'have me
arrested' if i didn't leave. I managed to be civil the entire time but he
was really angry. He said I would have to go and see the proctor at 8.30am
tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it was an empty threat because he only radioed
back my ID number and then made the threat about 30 seconds later without
having any more radio contact. Obviously he doesn't know the proctor's
Hey I just figured out how to make it so you can add comments to the nws stories, so now you can register your approval/dissaproval for whats been going on in cannabis current events.
Pot eased suffering, may have cost his life
Legal medical marijuana use bars transplant
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/361630_marijuana03.html?source=mypi
P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
The death this week of a musician who was three times denied a liver transplant highlights a new ethical concern: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they've used marijuana with a doctor's blessing?
Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House. He was the lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band.
His lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, said that although no one told him why Garon was turned down for a transplant, he suspects it was because he used marijuana with medical approval, as allowed under state law, to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C.
State Earns 400 Million Euros a Year from Cannabis Bars
Netherlands Info Services News Bulletin
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/030508_1.htm
AMSTERDAM, 03/05/08 - The Dutch state earns 400 million euros annually in tax revenues from 'coffee shops,' as the Dutch cannabis cafes are called. Sales in the sector total around 2 billion euros, according to conservative estimates by TV programme Reporter.
Reporter calculates that the some 730 coffee shops in the Netherlands sell around 265,000 kilos of hashish and cannabis annually. The bulk of this is grown in the Netherlands. Although coffee-shop owners do not have to pay VAT, the tax service does calculate income tax at the highest rate of around 52 percent.
In fixing the tax rate, the tax service assumes that the selling price of grass is twice the purchasing price. In Amsterdam, where coffee shops often have non-price-conscious foreign tourists as customers, the taxman actually applies gross profit margins of 150 to 180 percent.
Have meetings completely stopped? I know at least a few of us a still keen to meet up and discuss ideas for more protesting and events.
BROWN SET ON RE-CRIM
LONDON (Reuters) - Gordon Brown said on Tuesday
the government needs to send a message that
cannabis is "unacceptable," increasing
speculation he will decide to tighten drug laws.
Brown has received a report from The Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) on cannabis
and will decide soon whether to upgrade it to
Class B from a Class C, although a decision is
not expected this week.
Newspapers have predicted that Brown will
reclassify the drug even though the council has
reportedly advised the government to keep
cannabis in Class C.
"I don't think that the previous studies took
into account that so much of the cannabis on the
streets is now of a lethal quality and we really
have got to send out a message to young people --
this is not acceptable," Brown said.
"I have always been very strongly of the view
that cannabis is unacceptable and we have got to
send a message," he added.
Brown said he was particularly worried about the
After a blaze try checking out this youtube vidio/recording (URL below). It feels like your getting a haircut by sound.
On Monday 21st April I spoke to the weekly meeting of the Dunedin chapter of Rotary International, giving a presentation on "The Case for Cannabis Law Reform".
The CannaBus arrived in Dusterdam yesterday amid much fanfare. We all met at the oval at about 2pm and drove around the suburbs getting on the loudspeaker and encouraging people to come and join us for the 4:20 on the Union Lawn.
We drove through, Mosgiel, South Dunedin, St. Kilda, Andersons Bay, Princes St., The Octagon, George St., Clyde St., Polytech, Dundas St., Castle St., Gardens Corner, and the North East Valley before heading to the Union Lawn.
Unfortunately, because the University administration rescinded our permission to have the bus enter campus at the last mninute we had to park the bus on Cumberland Street, outside the OUSA office.
This had the effect of making our protest visible to every car driving by on State Highway 1, and probably did more to associate the University with our activities than if they had just let us drive the bus into the Union Lawn.
About 85 people attended the CannBus wecome ceremony.
video footage coming soon...
The Star - Dunedin
April 24 2008
Page 4 - News
Cannabis stigmas go up in smoke in study
By Brenda Harwood
The general perception of the average cannabis users as a "stoned 17 year-old surrounded by pizza boxes" should be re-examined, according to the results of a study of Dunedin volunteers.
The study, conducted by PhD candidate Geoff Noller, of the University of Otago's Department of Psychological Medicine, reveals that cannabis users can range in age from teenagers to seniors, are likely to be in full or part-time employment or study, and hail from all walks of life.
Mr. Noller, who submitted his PhD thesis in December 2007, will discuss his findings in an open lecture, entitled "Hidden Voices: Cannabis Use and Users in Dunedin", at 7pm Tuesday in the university's St. David St. Lecture Theatre.
Mr. Noller began the process four years ago...(article continued in PDF image below)
