With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy. By the time Tricia Walsh … Read more
The New Zealand Drug Foundation has just released a proposed model for the legalisation and regulation of cannabis in Aotearoa. With the 2020 referendum fast approaching, what should the government be considering in their approach to this legislation? As the days tick down towards 2020 and the referendum on cannabis legalisation the NZ Drug Foundation … Read more
Former prime minister Helen Clark has called for New Zealanders to vote yes when they hit the booth in next year’s cannabis referendum. Former prime minister Helen Clark says New Zealanders should vote yes to the legalisation of cannabis and the wiping of minor cannabis-related convictions at the 2020 cannabis referendum. The recommendation comes off … Read more
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
Research shows young New Zealanders are stubbing out cannabis – and Māori more than most. Research released today shows kids are smoking less and less weed, with Māori and Pasifika in particular increasingly choosing to abstain. Academics from the University of Otago, University of Auckland, and Victoria University of Wellington cross-analysed three National Youth Health … Read more
A ‘health based’ approach to drug enforcement is one step closer to being written into law after the third reading of the Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment Bill. Don Rowe reports. The Misuse of Drugs Act Amendment bill has passed its third reading tonight in what MPs and harm reduction advocates are calling the most … Read more
As the referendum approaches and the road toll rises, the government is under pressure to deal with drug testing, but it’s more complicated than it first appears, writes Don Rowe. The government has announced a public consultation on drugged driver testing following rising road tolls, an impending referendum, and intense pressure from an opposition desperate … Read more
Students at the University of Otago will be able to separate the tinnys from the sinnyz this Orientation Week in a first-ever trial between OUSA and KnowYourStuff NZ. This article first appeared in Critic Te Arohi, the University of Otago student magazine. The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) will introduce drug testing for O-Week, the … Read more
It’s one thing to commit to ‘treat drugs as a health issue’, and another to put that pledge into concrete action, writes Ross Bell of the NZ Drug Foundation Jacinda Ardern refused to sign up to President Trump’s War on Drugs statement at the United Nations General Assembly last month. We applaud her for that … Read more
The benefits of a package of drug law reform measures will outweigh the costs – by tens of millions of dollars, finds Shamubeel Eaqub in a new report commissioned by the NZ Drug Foundation. Below, an excerpt from the economist’s findings. Our current criminal-justice approach to drugs is not working. Drug use remains widespread and, crucially, the … Read more
Some time in the next two years the public will be asked to vote on whether or not New Zealand should legalise the personal use of cannabis. But how exactly should that question be phrased? We went to the experts to find out. Manu Caddie, Hikurangi Cannabis My suggested referendum questions are: Should adults be … Read more
A freakishly potent opioid has been discovered at a music festival in New Zealand. What is it, and what does its presence in this country mean? What’s all this then? Fentanyl, a drug responsible for thousands upon thousands of overdose deaths in the US and Europe, has been discovered at a festival in New Zealand. … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ about the news of the moment – all the info you need to hold your own in a two-minute watercooler chat. Today, Don Rowe outlines the latest from NZ’s marijuana farming scene. What’s going on? The New Zealand Herald is reporting that a “bumper growing … Read more
The early signs are the coalition government is not afraid of making tough calls when it comes to healthier approaches to drug use. Stephen Blyth of the Drug Foundation lays out the challenges ahead, and reminds us it’s about more than running a referendum on cannabis. Late last Friday afternoon housing minister Phil Twyford reversed … 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