in the first month more than 30 people have been charged for drugged driving since a law change. but police expect those numbers to increase dramatically.
The compulsory impairment tests (CITs) came into effect on November 1 after police were given greater powers to test suspected drugged drivers.
The first person to be caught was a woman in Tauranga who drove into a compulsory police check while smoking a cannabis joint an hour after the law came into effect.
In another case police found a man, whose car was running, slumped over the wheel with a syringe sticking into his arm.
Police have yet to collate national figures but Wellington highway patrol sergeant Tim Crum said one to two people were being prosecuted nationally for drugged driving each day.
The numbers were small compared to 98 people charged nationally with drink-driving daily, but that would change, Mr Crum said.

Some of the Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days last year smoked cannabis smuggled to them by their families, a new book claims.

But the drug, hidden in letters dropped down the communications shaft, “created more tension than it relieved”.

The trouble was caused because there was not enough to go around.

One miner, Samuel Avalos, suspected his colleagues were sneaking off to smoke cannabis and complained that they never offered him any.

New York Times journalist Jonathan Franklin’s book, 33 Men, also reveals how another source of potential conflict was avoided when rescuers, acting on a doctor’s advice, rejected a donation of ten inflatable sex dolls for the men.

It was thought they could end up arguing over them unless there was one for every man.

High Court judge has sentenced a Central Otago father-of-five to 21 months' jail for dealing cannabis and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Tony John MacDonald, 30, shearer, of Tarras, was remanded for sentencing when he appeared in the Queenstown District Court in December.
He appeared for sentencing on three charges in the High Court in Dunedin last week before Justice Christine French.
MacDonald entered guilty pleas to possession of cannabis for supply, cultivation of cannabis for supply and unlawful possession of a firearm.
In a written judgment, the summary of facts said police found 18 $50 bags containing up to 7g of cannabis, eight three-quarter ounce bags containing up to 28g, one bag containing 223g and another bag containing 455g of the drug.
Police also found 10 plants in a grow shed, cash, paraphernalia and seized a .22 rifle and 190 rounds of ammunition.

this is another one of those fear mungering stories.
 
A woman at the centre of rape allegations admits she and her partner are heavy cannabis users who smoke in front of their four children.
The recorded testimony of Maureen Samantha Iti, 33, was played to the jury at the High Court in Hamilton yesterday as she was questioned by Detective Chris McRae.
Iti, 33 and her long-term partner Jason Jones, 38, are on trial, jointly charged with raping three women in Hamilton. Jones and Iti face a further charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and an alternative charge of indecent assault.
Jones is also charged with doing a indecent act in public.
Iti told Mr McRae her cannabis habit – three to four joints a day – was not as heavy as her co-accused and partner of 17 years, Jones, who she says smoked cannabis like cigarettes, and was "pretty much" always stoned. "I'm not counting, they're not my lungs," she states in the interview.
She said their relationship was "not perfect ... I have just always loved him and always will".
The statement was taken one hour after her arrest at their Cambridge Rd home on February 5 last year.

Today I watched the docomentry "In Pot We Trust". I thought it conveyed a strong sense of how the political system gets in the way of people (legally) having happy lives and how the whole brutal war is fought over blind asumptions.
 
If you want to watch it: watch it online at (no bullshit web site stuff just the film)= http://www.phillynorml.org/videos/aaf-ipwt.avi ; or find a site that can download internet videos for you (as I did, it was only 250mb approx).

Here are the links from our show on Feb 4 2011

J Star herbalist mix on soundcloud:

http://soundcloud.com/jstar-1/ganjamix1

http://soundcloud.com/jstar-1/ganjamix2

NORML Australia News Magazine first issue:

http://issuu.com/normlaustralia/docs/norml_magazine_1st_online_edition

and a link for the show audio:

http://otagonorml.com/uploads/modernshow/log-110204_22.mp3

enjoy

Plant identification was not the strong point of the well-meaning truck driver who reported a woman driving into Timaru with a car full of cannabis plants.
The nurserywoman was driving north between Waimate and Timaru when she passed a truck, allowing the driver to see into her vehicle.
Then she saw a police patrol driving towards her – flashing its lights to get her to stop.
She did.
"I wasn't speeding," she said defensively.
"I know," the officer replied, stating he wanted her to open up the back of her stationwagon.
"What are these?" he asked, of the tall, tightly packed plants.
"Swan plants," she said.
"But they have an aroma," he replied, not certain he believed her story.
Reluctantly, the officer accepted that perhaps the truck driver had mistaken the legitimate for the illegal of the botanical world. What the woman had was not a stationwagon full of dope plants but simply tucker for hungry monarch butterfly caterpillars.

We need to start 420 art days in which a group of creative individuals get together and create signs, props and utensils.

It would be ideal to start this before O week. This would mean we could start the academic year armed with visual aids for the message we are promoting.

This would not only help people identify our cause but it would show people we are organised and commited to this protest.

I will try speak to people at 420 about it and will also contact friends for assistance.
So if you are interested in being appart of 420 art day let me know by commenting on this blog or the forum I just posted about O week. Alternatively talk to me at 420 :D

Equipment:

Stirring device (for stirring on stove top); pot (idealy crok pot (definitely not aluminum!)); Fine strainer (coffee filter, cheese cloth or sieve); Bowl (fits in fridge).

Ingrediants:

Butter, prefferably pure non salted butter (the fat bonds with cannabinoids); water, prefferably pure (stops butter from burning); buds and/or other plant material (leaves/ stalks).

Proportions:

5 grams of good bud = 1/2 oz - 1 oz of plant matter (leaves and stalk).

Per 5 grams (or 1/2- 1 ounce of cab) = 250g of butter = 2 cups of water.
 

Directions:

1. Set the stove top to low heat and put your water in pot.

2. Place your butter  in with water and let it melt together.

3. Grind up all the required plant material as fine as possible (coffee grinder ideal but scissors work just as well if you have the time)

4. Pour plant material in to pot and place lid on.

I have been deeply addicted to revolution. Got shown this, I'm surprised that windows is even stable enough to not just crash all the time.