By LUKE PARKER - Western Leader

He calls himself Dakta Green.

The 59-year-old has been jailed in California and New Zealand for cultivating cannabis but has no plans to change his ways.

Dakta is a strong activist for law reform surrounding the drug and has been pushing for its legalisation since 1999.

He’s even set up a cannabis club in a New Lynn warehouse known as the Daktory.

Dakta says marijuana use is widespread and causes less harm in the community than alcohol.

“You have no idea how many people from all walks of life smoke cannabis in this country,” he says. “The youngest I’ve smoked with was 14 because his parents were present and the oldest was over 80 years old.

“We cannot call all these people criminals. It’s part of popular culture. The fact that everybody is doing it is a damn good reason to stop locking a few of us up.”

Dakta Green was born in Wellington in 1950 and attended high school in Taumarunui.

Are Cannabis laws a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990? (The Daktory)

Wed, 12/23/2009 - 10:25 — MR NEWS

In a legal first for New Zealand, The founder of The Daktory, New Zealand’s first Cannabis club will appear in court next Monday to argue that Cannabis laws are a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The Daktory has been operating openly for the last year and has over two thousand members.

Dakta Green, will appear in court to argue for a stay of criminal proceedings following arrests made during decriminalisation protests held in 2007.

“I want the whole thing thrown out” said Dakta Green. “Alcohol causes more harm than cannabis but alcohol users are protected by law. Cannabis users are persecuted. The laws are discriminatory. They don’t work and they are unjust. Police and the Courts have got better things to do than chase after the likes of me and the 800,000 other people who smoke cannabis each year in New Zealand.”

The founder of New Zealand's first cannabis connoisseurs club says he will fight every drug charge he faces.

Dakta Green entered no plea to four cannabis-related charges at the Waitakere District Court this morning.

The 59-year-old has been remanded on bail and will reappear in court later this month.

He changed his name from Ken Morgan to Dakta Green by Deed Poll.

Green was arrested after police learnt of his plans to expand the club Daktory nationwide.

The outspoken activist says he never pleads guilty to anything to do with cannabis.

He believes cannabis prohibition laws will not last much longer in New Zealand.

- NEWSTALK ZB

Keep up the good work.
Bert.

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:28a.m.
An appliance repairman sacked for supplying cannabis to a workmate has been awarded about $12,000 in compensation for distress and loss of income.

The Employment Relations Authority ruled that Corey Wilkinson was unfairly dismissed by Saxon Appliances in Christchurch last March after the discovery of a suspicious message on his company cellphone.

The message from a workmate asked if Mr Wilkinson was "able to get any stuff".

When Saxon general manager Geoff Trotter confronted Mr Wilkinson about the message, he said he had acquired two tinnies the previous year which he had either sold or given away to a workmate.

At a subsequent meeting, Mr Wilkinson asked if he was going to lose his job, to which Mr Trotter said there was a possibility, as set out in a letter two days earlier.

BY STEVE HOPKINS - Sunday News

Cannabis clubs – where users flout the law by meeting to smoke and buy the Class C drug – may soon open nationwide.

Next month founding members of New Zealand's first cannabis connoisseurs' club, Auckland's Daktory, plan to meet fellow users throughout the country to help set-up Daktories in other cities.

"We have demand from virtually every city in the country," Daktory founder Dakta Green told Sunday News.

" I would expect to see in the next 12 months Daktories in every major city in this country, every city should have at least one - 2010 is the year people within our culture are demanding changes throughout the world."

Auckland's Daktory, in New Lynn, plans to offer "degrees in Daktology" later this year – formalised study on all aspects of the cannabis industry including hands-on cultivation techniques.

By Simon Shepherd

A man who has been operating a cannabis club in west Auckland for the last year plans to set up similar clubs throughout the country.

He calls himself “Dakta Green”, and claims his members have been freely flouting the law until police raided his house last week.

Members of the “Daktory” club, run by Mr Green, pay a fee to smoke cannabis.

“The objective when we opened this was to show the people of New Zealand, and the members of Parliament, that it’s possible to have a group of people from our culture get together and there wouldn’t be any trouble in the community,” he says.

Mr Green, previous name Ken Morgan, has been running Daktory for more than a year. At one stage he sold almost 20 types of cannabis, and claims he had 2,000 members.

“Our oldest member is in their late 70’s and our youngest members is not past 18,” he says.

There are no drugs there now – police raided the property last week, and also charged Green with cultivation.

More than 50 arrests after police drug raids
Home » News » National
Wed, 16 Dec 2009
News: National

Police drug raids throughout the country today resulted in more than 50 arrests and the seizure of drugs, firearms and stolen electronic equipment.

The arrests came after three separate operations in South Auckland, Manawatu and Wanganui, and the Motueka district.

A three-month long operation has put 20 alleged drug dealers behind bars after more than 120 police swooped on 17 gang properties in Papakura, south Auckland, early today.

Police said the raids, mostly on Black Power houses, uncovered drugs worth up to $70,000, firearms and a lot of stolen electronic equipment.

They also revealed how the Black Power and Mongrel Mob gangs were working together on drug deals.

Issuing warnings for cannabis possession "effectively decriminalises" the drug, a campaigner says.

Under an Auckland police trial, warnings can be given for offences that carry less than a six-month prison term.

Eligible offences include shoplifting, disorderly behaviour and low-level cannabis possession.

The three month trial in the North Shore police area has been extended to the greater Auckland region for a further six months.

Canterbury's police district commander, Superintendent Dave Cliff, said Christchurch would consider the Auckland results before deciding whether to introduce a similar approach.

Waitemata police district commander Bill Searle said of those arrested during the trial period, 10 percent were warned rather than charged.

In the same period, the number of diversions for low-grade first offences granted in the district court fell 64 percent.

A Nelson man caught growing 180 cannabis plants out the back of his hydroponics shop says he was anticipating the legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes.

Kevin Yates, 46, was sentenced to five months' home detention and 200 hours' community work when he appeared in the Nelson District Court yesterday.

He had previously pleaded guilty to one charge each of cultivating cannabis, selling cannabis and possession of LSD.

In June, police searched Yates' Parere St business Indoor Exotic and found a padlocked area with a "sophisticated indoor cannabis operation", said Judge David McKegg. A total of 180 cannabis plants were recovered, along with 90g of dried cannabis heads and 40 tabs of LSD.

It was "naive and misguided" for Yates to say he had grown cannabis in anticipation of a bill in Parliament which aimed to legalise cannabis for medical purposes, Judge McKegg said.

Wanaka pupil (14) excluded for drugs

Home » News » Queenstown Lakes

By Matthew Haggart on Tue, 24 Nov 2009

Your Town: Wanaka | News: Queenstown Lakes

A 14-year-old Wanaka secondary school pupil has been kicked out of Mount Aspiring College for smoking drugs during a lunch break.

A group of 14-year-olds - two boys and two girls - faced a Board of Trustees disciplinary hearing last week after they were caught using marijuana on the college grounds on November 10.

Mount Aspiring College principal Wayne Bosley said the group had been temporarily suspended from school, pending the outcome of last Thursday's disciplinary hearing.

One pupil has been excluded from the college, while the three others have had their suspensions lifted.

The three suspended pupils were allowed to re-enter the school, subject to certain conditions imposed by the disciplinary committee, Mr Bosley said.

The incident was an unusual occurrence for the college.