Judgement prevents understanding, which in itself is a barrier to preventing unsafe behaviour. Are different approaches to harm reduction in the Rainbow community needed? Sex. Drugs. Carly Rae Jepsen. This is the iconography that tends to be massaged into mainstream conceptions of gay culture. Depictions in TV/film see us railing lines of MDMA and sniffing … Read more
In August, Ngāi Tūhoe invited experts and community leaders to come together in Rūātoki to declare war on drug dependence. Don Rowe was in attendance. You know you’re on a marae by the laughter. Contagious, unreserved laughter, brought up from the belly. Laughter irrespective of circumstance. Laughter in the face of historic tragedy. In the … Read more
For nearly 25 years Dr Fiona Measham has documented how and why humans do drugs. She spoke to Simon Day about how helping people know what exactly they’re taking is making doing drugs safer in the UK. For all of human history we’ve loved getting intoxicated. Almost every society, tribe and culture has taken drugs … Read more
Alison Holcomb is known as the architect of marijuana legalisation in Washington state and was labelled ‘pot momma’ by the press. She spoke to Simon Day about leading Washington state to legalising cannabis. Because the government wasn’t going to do it, lawyer Alison Holcomb had to convince the public of Washington state to legalise cannabis themselves. … Read more
In July 2018 Canada will become the second country in the world to universally legalise cannabis (Uruguay took the plunge earlier this year). Former Canadian deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, who led the task force advising the government on what a regulated marijuana market should look like, was in Wellington earlier this month to talk … Read more
Former Canadian deputy prime minister Anne McLellan was in New Zealand last week to present at the NZ Drug Foundation symposium about her role in guiding Canada’s drug reform. She spoke to Simon Day about the road to legalisation, growing Canada’s ‘worst pot ever’, and the potential Baby Boomer weed market. In July 2018 Canada … Read more
New Zealand’s drug law is causing more harm than good. The New Zealand Drug Foundation has proposed a replacement that would decriminalise all drugs, and create a regulated cannabis market. Executive director Ross Bell outlines the foundation’s model drug law. New Zealand once led the world in social change, but we’ve really slipped behind when … Read more
Around the world the War on Drugs has failed; in New Zealand our aging drug law punishes and imprisons drug users. This week the New Zealand Drug Foundation has brought drug reformers to speak at Parliament to guide our laws into the 21st century. Simon Day asks if our politicians will finally listen. Tuari Potiki, chair of … Read more
The evidence is overwhelming: our current drug laws aren’t working. As governments worldwide admit defeat in the war on drugs, it’s past time for New Zealand to make drug law reform a priority, writes former MP Laila Harre. To my shame I voted for the Misuse of Drugs (Drug Paraphernalia) Amendment Bill in 1997. In … Read more