Canvassing for Opinion - Blairs Brain on CannabisCanvassing for Opinion - Blairs Brain on CannabisFor your Liberty, Pleasure, Health and Safety Articles
What Issues? Democracy's Litmus Test
2007-09-22 01:06:00 What Issue s ? Democracy's Litmus Test Christchurch's Mayoral aspirant Blair Anderson was 'disappointed' to read the trite and specious analysis provided in recent days by Canterbury hard copy media. (in particular but not limited to the STAR and PRESS). "It is one of the primary reasons I co-founded the Canterbury Issues Forum, an e-democracy initiative engaging new media and the need for the truth to be out there." says the second tilt candidate.Following last Tuesdays Town Hall debate, the PRESS reported that Anderson and fellow candidate Peter Wakeman 'spoke about climate change'. This is about as truthful as if it had been reported that Anderson said "it had been a warm day on Tuesday". Even sillier, was the observation that Anderson was the only one who came out 'from the podium'. This factoid rhymed with odium. Lets not mention that Anderson's climate change initiative (contraction and convergence) is only endorsed by Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, head of the G8...
Alcohol = Hate, Cannabis = Love
2007-09-21 01:36:00 During the civic elections "Mayor Blair" has been repeatedly asked "how is cannabis a local body issue?""Are we rendered silly by our inability to have the required discussion?"The candidate's reply notes that city plans approve bar after bar in inner city revitalisation while other candidates wax lyrical about crime and 'broken glass' usually while they prognosticate in an alcohol free zone.British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, reported: "Cannabis differs from alcohol in one major respect. It does not seem to increase risk-taking behavior. This means that cannabis rarely contributes to violence either to others or to oneself, whereas alcohol use is a major factor in deliberate self-harm, domestic accidents and violence."That's WHY we need a SAFER community. "Don't vote to reward failure" on the crime and 'get tougher policy' front, demands the mayoral aspirant.The Canadian Senate in 2002, determined: "Cannabis use does not induce users to commit other forms of cri... More About: Love , Hate , Alcohol
Andrew Johns honesty about alcohol and performance - he prefered something
2007-09-19 14:38:00 New Matilda: "In the wake of the Andrew Johns affair, calls for an honest debate on drugs by Sydney Morning Herald Opinion Editor Lisa Pryor and columnist Michael Duffy are laudable. But any real alternative needs to be one where Government can place real controls on the drug market ? and for that mere decriminalisation just won?t cut it. " More About: Performance , Alcohol , Honesty
Listener makes the case, P = moral panic
2007-09-16 00:42:00 P goes middle classHorror stories about violent crimes committed by offenders on P ? or methamphetamine ? have made headlines in recent years. But the truth is that many users are well-educated with mid-level incomes.http://www.thelistener.co.nz--'Ma yor Blair' Anderson ?(?¿?)?http://blairformayor.blogspot.comh ttp://blair4mayor.comph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219 More About: Case , Moral , Panic , Mora , Listener
So cannabis can save lives!
2007-09-13 01:49:00 Marijuana-smoking troops banned from Afghanistan 250 soldiers tested positive for illegal drugs CanWest News ServicePublished: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 OTTAWA -- Some 250 soldiers who tested positive for drugs were not allowed to serve in Afghanistan, the Canadian Forces confirmed yesterday. According to documents obtained by CBC News, the army has tested almost 7,000 soldiers since mandatory drug screening of troops headed to Afghanistan began in 2006. The results were for the period September 2006 to last May, which show that most of the soldiers who failed tested positive for marijuana. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/st ory.html?id=fe950025-0001-46bb-bf02-cbb6d 4ee6faa More About: Lives , Save , Cannabis
Australian Press gets behind Contraction and Convergence (C&C)
2007-09-12 13:47:00 APEC's agreement is a good start to tackling climate change.September 11, 2007 Contraction and convergence's answer to this problem is that every person should be given an equal share, that is, emissions should be distributed at a national level on a per capita basis.A per capita allocation is the only allocation principle that is likely to be accepted by India, China, Indonesia and other developing nations with large populations. http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/ape cs-agreement-is-a-good-start/2007/09/10/1 189276630657.html THERE are positive aspects to the Sydney Declaration on climate change. It helps re-establish Australia as one of the good guys working to solve the global warming problem, and essentially re-aligns Australia's position with that of progressive nations including the European Union. Admittedly, much of the declaration simply recommits APEC countries to the principles and aims of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. But this achievement will be wa... More About: Press , Australian , Convergence
Merkel revives emissions proposal to unite world
2007-09-05 12:38:00 ... but they can't knock it down, it's bullet-proof in its methodology," he told Reuters on Friday of the idea, which he terms contraction and convergence . ...Reuters UK - 31 Aug 2007 Merkel revives emissions proposal to unite world-- 'Mayor Blair' Anderson ?(?¿?)?http://blairfo rmayor.blogspot.com http://blair4mayor.com ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219 More About: World , Proposal , Emissions , Prop
NZHerald on "blame for addiction"
2007-08-25 19:28:00 The evidence that drug consequences are a matter of the brain deeply questions what is right about putting people in prison. The injustice of illicit drug 'of prevalence' - Cannabis with its acclaimed medpot utility makes parliaments failure to resolve those tensions 'a bloody disgrace'. Politicians are to blame for this mess.read more | digg story More About: Addiction , Blame , Lame , Addict
NZHerald: What can be done about school violence?
2007-08-25 14:13:00 Deviancy amplifying behavior; youth alienation from societal norms and disrespect for rule of law has been dealt with from a policy analytic 'social ecology' perspective. The findings show that gravely flawed drug policy is the culprit. Ipso facto the solution, necessary drug law reform has been espoused many times to select committee's, ministers, ministries and law makers.In jurisdictions where this debate has been held teen misbehaviors have been substantially mediated. The Netherlands is one such example. Teen Pregnancy, STDs, Bullying, Tagging, and a raft of other biopsychosocial indicators (not the least drug use) are not just a fraction of ours, they are orders of magnitude less than ours. Dutch Parents are empowered. Dutch schools are, well, just schools.The drug war [is] against local control and parental responsibility "There may soon come a time when conservatives ask how national drug policy became a proxy war on parental rights" Doing it for The Children:Independence... More About: School , Violence , Viol , Done
NZHerald on "blame for addiction"
2007-08-25 13:14:00 The Blame for Drug Addict ion lies in two specific areas of responsibility.(ref:Addicted to drugs? Blame your brain, say scientists)The first and most important is with the individual. While the pharmacology of some substances can be dangerous to some individuals, removing 'self will' from the equation is a recipe for treatment failure. Addiction is not a disease, nor is the model of it being like 'a sickness' useful. When we remove 'self- will' [ie: autonomy] we create an impediment to overcoming what is nothing more than a behavior, a choice, an option.Secondly, blame for prevalence of 'addictive behaviors' rests with current prohibitive' drug policy. Its failure to be an effective 'harm minimisation' strategy is an indictment on both the Ministry of Health and where the consequences are 'criminal' (drug laws are exacted under the warrant of the health minister) with flawed Justice 'crime prevention'.The evidence that drug consequences are a matter of the brain deepl... More About: Lame
Every Man and His Dog runs for Mayor
2007-08-24 08:50:00 media release: http://BlairForMayor .BlogSpot.Com Every Man and His Dog runs for Mayor. Social Policy commentator Blair Anderson confirms that this day, the 24th August, registered his candidacy for Mayor of Christchurch. With some ten odd candidates lining up for the governance of one of the finest municipalities in the land, the mayoral race is looking more like an 'every man and his dog' race. "I earnestly hope that the 'meatspace' media give some equity to all the good candidates and stop pretending this is the 'Megan and Bob Show'." says the second tilt candidate. "Mayor Blair" Anderson is the only Mayoral Candidate to be sponsored by a dog. Yes, 'Holmes' who featured on the front page of the PRESS (May 2006) for catching a 'drug' burglar flogging tobacco from the Wainoni Dairy (opp Christchurch's Porritt Park) has, in the interests of full di... More About: Runs
LTE: Tough sentencing advocate deluded
2007-08-22 10:01:00 Forget the Milton Hilton. Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar has been to see prisons so bad no-one wants to come back. see http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4173001a6 427.htmlIn Arizona prisoners are put up in tents, chained together and made to work outdoors in all weather. McVicar thinks the idea is "fantastic" and, after visiting the US state to study the regime, thinks it could work in New Zealand.In Arizona prisoners are put up in tents, chained together and made to work outdoors in all weather. Letter to the editor: Christchurch Press Mr McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust has visited the same US industrial estate that is releasing more than 600,000 disaffected folk this year, many of whom have crowded prisons since Nixons War on Drugs filled the penitentiaries to the gunnel's using mandatory minimums. McVicar's eyes are turning selectively myopic if he thinks the USA has anything to teach us by its world record example of seven million citiz... More About: Tough , Advocate
Changing the Debate
2007-08-18 13:18:00 Changing the Debate [By Lee]What makes me optimistic is that the numbers of those speaking up about the damage being done by the drug war is growing - and coming from more and more unexpected places. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is an organization, founded in 2002, of current and former law enforcement officials that now has over 5000 members, including former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper. The (Seattle based) King County Bar Association commissioned a Drug Policy Project, led by now-State Representative ( WA/Blair) Roger Goodman, that produced a well-researched report calling for an end to drug prohibition and a transition to having government regulate and control currently illegal drugs, instead of simply handing their distribution to criminal gangs who bring violence to our cities to protect their profits. Countries like Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, Canada, Holland, and even Russia, have taken steps to decriminalize drug use. Recently, the UK drug law reform... More About: Changing , The D , Chang , Chan
Alcohol, Drugs, Sandals and Footwear.
2007-08-16 04:21:00 Alcohol, Drugs , Sandals and Foot wear .Media Release - MildGreensWhen we remove self will from the equation 'then we get problems' says Blair Anderson of the MildGreens, commenting on the recent ADANZ Helpline report on Scoop and InfoNewsThe ADANZ concerns of cannabis problems amongst young people must be laid at the feet of governments abject failure to remove the double standards surrounding drug and alcohol policy. Cate Kearney of the Alcohol Drug Helpline 'user data' highlights what happens when we ask people questions who are suffering the ignominy of prohibitions constraints on informed consent, knowledge and self determination.Young people are particularily at risk, and here we are amplifying alienation in a society increasingly 'anti-youth'. The youth response to Alcohol Drug Helpline indicates a pattern of labelling teenage behavours, particularily by family and where the existing 'Alcohol Drug' law is so clearly unhelpful, indeed history and evidence shows it to be c... More About: Alcohol
Peer-reviewed 'Daily Mail' on cannabis
2007-08-15 07:28:00 What we've recently learned about cannabisListed here the latest scientific facts about cannabis. Most of the information is taken from that well respected peer-reviewed scientific journal, The Daily Mail *, whom I would like to thank for their valuable contribution to rational debate and responsible, well balanced reporting. It is now 30 times stronger than that smoked in the 1960-1995 period. A single puff on a cannabis cigarette can mean catching life-long schizophrenia.Using cannabis increases the risk of catching schizophrenia to 41%. Since reclassification, mental health wards have been overloaded with over 30,000 cases of schizophrenia amongst schoolchildren each year. Children as young as SIX are being treated for cannabis addiction. Research has proved that 30,000 people die a year through lung cancer caught by smoking it.Smoking one cannabis reefer is as damaging to the lungs as smoking 5 Capstan full strength cigarettes. Cannabis intoxication is responsible for at least 1... More About: Peer , Daily Mail
Season of the Weed - Will Policy follow Art?
2007-08-10 02:38:00 Because WEEDS is brutally honest it reveals that which we otherwise refuse to acknowledge. That cannabis is a remarkably normal culture set in a sea of hypocrisies.With season two in full swing, and our own culturally iconic television series of a Westies family also exploring 'cannabis culture' within a very human truth telling dynamic it leaves me thinking that there is hope that reason will prevail in that policy may yet follow art. More About: Season , Policy , Weed , Poli , Seas
Ooohhh Dear, what have we here, a contrarian opinion!
2007-08-09 04:02:00 Job hunters perfecting their resumes for that dream job are being urged to also polish their online profile - and clean it up if needs be, with a new breed of companies emerging to help mold Internet images. (see Experts to clean up your online image ) Recruitment experts advise job hunters to Google themselves before stepping out into the competitive job market to see if a search pull ups that blog entry written about legalizing marijuana or drunken party photos with friends. (and Select Committee after Select Committee have failed to understand that the law is driven by prejudice. Opinion s, political or otherwise are a Bill of Rights/Human Rights Issue /Blair)--?(?¿?)? "Mayor Blair" Andersonph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219
BLPs, FLPs, and the Biology of Democracy
2007-08-08 00:14:00 Anyone who has used marijuana medically knows that it is effective medicine. As a scientist, I can assure you that there are numerous peer-reviewed articles that support what patient's claim. However, what I want to talk about today is that marijuana not only promotes the health of individuals, but of our democracy and possibly mankind. Fundamental physical laws of the universe are responsible for all creative forms, from galaxies to humanity. Even man's economic, political and social systems have evolved by a common underlying process. Intrinsically, the yin and yang of ongoing creation may be found in; capitalism vs. socialism, conservatives vs. liberals, democracies vs. fascism. In all manifestations of life, a tension between opposites is the functional reality.All levels of life must maintain balance between the nourishment extracted from the environment and the waste returned to the environment in order to create and maintain health. The production of free radicals is a comm... More About: Biology , Democracy , Ology , Biol
Sex and drug education - does it work?
2007-08-03 14:26:00 02/08/2007 - credit: Communitycare.co.uk - the website for social work and social care professionals (this is remarkably close to the mildgreen hypothesis - creating in ever younger children the illusion that all their peers are doing it, and they cant b******y wait!. What is fundementally broken are the artificial redlines surrounding 'age of consent' issues. We need to enable and not mask self responsibility. /Blair) Children as young as eight years old are taking drugs. Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. So how effective is our sex and drug education?There are reports in the press this week that according to experts, children as young as six are being treated for addiction to cannabis and are presenting symptoms including paranoia, anxiety, depression and even schizophrenia.It also emerged last September in Scotland that children aged 10-years-old were dealing drugs.Dr Michael Fitzpatrick will suggest in Community Care next week that the rise of drug a... More About: Education , Work , Drug , Duca
Election Problems? Take Incarcerex as recommended by your physician
2007-07-28 04:15:00 Essential for meditating election success..... More About: Elections , Election , Problems , Physician
The Pot Epidemiology doesn't support the headlines.
2007-07-27 20:52:00 Re:Lancet cannabis research review and NZ media response It appears that Cannabis can also make you go to University (CloseUp TV1), become Prime Minister and even tell the truth. Pot 20 times more powerful?... if this were so, where is the 20 times increase in nutters. Based on UK data for Alcohol, Psychosis* and youth exceeding 100,000 admissions makes Cannabis look patently benign. I advised TV1/RNZ that on the strength of the argument put by this latest scaremongery Alcohol is about 2 orders of magnitude greater risk of mental health issues, and in which the relationship is entirely causative I suggested that where alcohol displacement is occurring cannabis use 'on the evidence thus far' is reducing the Mental Health system burden leaving it more accessible to the at risk cohort of journalist, editors and other social commentators with stakeholder interests that are chronicaly addicted to moral panics and sensational crime stories. (*not measured, even ignored i... More About: Support , Headlines , Headline , Ology , Demi
Chemical Uncle Tom's!
2007-07-22 04:03:00 Following a sudden out pouring by MP's in UK after talk of upgrading of cannabis to Class B [with we've heard it all before arguments and absent any discussion as to how erroneous the Classification system is], I note:"By an unusual coincidence, almost all the politicians who have admitted to trying cannabis said they tried it only once, did not like it, or that it made them sick."The connection between politicians and cannabinoids has been made by Prof Melamede, chair Biology:ColoradoU, where (and I paraphrase) it because excess cannabinoids in their physiology 'made them sick' or was disagreeable, and is the reason they became fervent 'anti-pot' oriented politicians. That they tried it, and broke the law escapes them. Its white privilege, and the same logic as apartheid...I'm not black so I'm endowed with the rules! Yes, the science suggests politicians who regale against cannabis are genetically alienated. Chem ical Uncle Tom's!--?(?¿?)? Blair Anderson
Politicians hide behind smoke screens
2007-07-21 14:23:00 "I'm not proud about it. I did the wrong thing,"Jacqui Smith now says of her dope-smoking days. "I've learnt my lesson," she adds ... One day politicians will credit the moral intelligence of the general public, and their own integrity, enough, to stand up and say: "I took drugs. And I loved it." After that, a proper conversation can startNow there would be a refreshing bit of social debate.... /BlairPoli ticians hide behind smoke screens [Telegraph, UK] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.j html?xml=/opinion/2007/07/21/do2105.xml More About: Smoke , Cree , Hide
NZSIS Amendment Bill (#2) regurgitated
2007-07-20 06:22:00 NZ Security Intelligence ServiceAMENDMENT BILL (No 2)Paper prepared for (the people of New Zealand as represented by) Intelligence and Security Committee - Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet,PO Box 55WELLINGTON,NEW ZEALANDby:Kevin O'Connell [now ALCP President] and Blair Anderson ( [former deputy leader] Policy Committee, ph 03-389-4065) on behalf of the Christchurch Branch of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, 50 Wainoni Rd, Chch.http://www.alcp.org.nzIn this submission weInformally analyse state and public security concerns affected by the amendments proposed in relation to core legislation, introducing wider areas of honest and appropriate governance and protection of the people.Isolate problem areas (especially vested interest driven exploitation) embodied in International ?anti-drug? Treaties and associated foreign socio-economic manipulation. Advise modifications relating to definition of foreign threats, authority of warrants and application of the intelligence serv... More About: Amendment , Bill , Amen
Candor Drug Fetish a ' train wreck'
2007-07-18 05:16:00 Candor Trust is deluded beyond belief.The following press release is yet another uninformed presumption of guilt before due process. It characterises much of what Candor says in its legacy of press releases. Lets not let facts get in the way of some merchandisable prejudices to willing and receptive ears.In the absence of any evidence of driver impairment due to substance misuse, Candor's long straw linking cannabis to recent tragic rail crossing circumstances perpetuates, indeed invites youth rejection of the value system. Candor is now part of the problem.If they want to educate folk, Candor should start from a factual position, anything else endangers the prophylactic message. (see impediments to health promotion elsewhere) . Setting aside the research that shows cannabis consumers are no more likely to be culpable drivers in accidents (Australian qualitative Research on who causes accidents and who may have consumed cannabis or alcohol or any other drug) and that on balance (in... More About: Fetish , Train , Drug , TRAI , Wreck
John Key blamed druggies for burgling house | infonews.co.nz New Zealand's
2007-07-18 04:27:00 John Key blamed druggies for burgling houseAUCKLAND CITY ? Opposition leader John Key says drug users probably burgled his Auckland home to get goods to feed their addiction.Mr Key and family were on holiday in Hawaii this month when burglars smashed a window and took jewellery from the main bedroom.The $8 million house in Parnell has a large fence and gate controlled by a keypad.The burglars were thought to have scaled the fence before breaking a bottom floor window.'I suspect they were getting stuff to sell for money for drugs -- that's what a lot of burglars would do,' Mr Key told the New Zealand Herald.The burglars were thought to have been in and out in minutes, before police arrived and as the burglar alarm sounded.(Of course the linking of aquisative crime to the policy base 'creating the mayhem' has not been made. Why? Could this be explained by political expediency or nonfeasance? /Blair) More About: House , John , Ouse , Blame
US Mayors Anti-Drug War "bottom line"
2007-07-13 04:53:00 Common Sense for Drug Policy: Drug War 's Impact On The Family, Young People, Students, And The Poor US Conference On Mayors Adopts Anti -Drug War Resolution, Calls For "New Bottom Line " The US Conference of Mayors held its 75th annual meeting June 22-26, 2007 in Los Angeles, CA. One of the resolutions they adopted at the conference urges an end to the status quo "war on drugs" and calls for a "New Bottom Line" in US drug policy. The drug war resolution runs from page 47 through page 50 of the resolution packet. The major text of the resolution is as follows: "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors believes the war on drugs has failed and calls for a New Bottom Line in U.S. drug policy, a public health approach that concentrates more fully on reducing the negative consequences associated with drug abuse, while ensuring that our policies do not exacerbate these problems or create new social problems of...
Make drugs legal and regulate like mad
2007-07-08 13:01:00 Make drugs legal and regulate like mad, says the Laws, MICHAEL LAWS that is, Mayor Michael Laws.One of the worst things about parenthood is the instinctual wisdom that some day, somehow, somewhere, something will go wrong with your kids. (snip) Prohibition did not work with alcohol. It won't work with drugs. Instead we need to separate the good from the bad, the less harmful from the pernicious, and then regulate, regulate, regulate. Besides, anything the government is involved in is always boring. Take the fun and frisson out of dabbling with drugs. Make them legal. More About: Drugs , Legal , Make , Late , Like
On graffiti, pride and due process
More articles from this author:2007-07-06 12:50:00 re: "If citizens took pride in their surroundings and painted over tags immediately,it would disappear." / (as seen on the Canterbury Issues Forum here) At the root of the 'problem' of graffiti is a culture. It cannot be painted over.A culture poorly understood by administrators, politicians and media commentators. The question one needs to ask to have insight into graffiti, is why, what engenders this response?Painting it out is, as many will attest, simply preparing a blank canvas for the next graffiti. It is, as it were, solving a territorial problem for whom ever wishes to either claim or reclaim that space. Just as advertising hoardings have a commercial value associated with mind share, so to does graffiti have a social value. It is an indicator, a signal, and it is yelling out 'we reject your value system'. Ratepayers are forking out big time yet we choose to know nothing and there is the first clue. The community wrongly characterises the problem domain clouding an... More About: Graffiti , Pride , Process 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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