Canvassing for Opinion - Blairs Brain on Cannabis

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Holmes & Co.: [on] the Marijuana Question
2009-03-02 01:42:00
Image by mfcrowl via Flickr"I've long believed the public is way ahead of the politicians on drug policy, especially when it comes to marijuana." The gutless wonders on Beacon Hill (Boston, Mass./Blair) couldn't even bring themselves to vote on the petition to remove all criminal penalties for simple possession of marijuana. Holmes & Co.: [on] the Marijuana Question . - Rick Holmes, see [http://blogs.townonline.com/holmesandco/ ]The funding contributions of G. Soros (even if at arms length via his funding of the wider goals of the Open Society Institute) his little to do with any argument rationalising drug prohibitions. If Soros had indirectly provided resources to UNESCO, would that make him a saint? He, nor the argument at hand is defined by the nominal contribution he made. His contribution, again indirectly, aided the "thru the maze" International Healthy Drug Policy Symposium held in Image via WikipediaWellington, New Zealand recently. It drew participation of those politi...

Potty Ideas Drives Jobs Summit into Ecstasy!
2009-02-27 12:26:00
Image by Cle0patra via FlickrPress Release: MildGreensPotty Ideas Drives Jobs Summit into Ecstasy !The appearance of the NORML "CANNABUS" on the Television Three evening news at the Jobs Summit created a lighthearted segway to the 'bad news' from the Reserve Bank Governor - however despite a great camera shot, the bus's presence or purpose at the event was not explored any further.Legal regulation of Cannabis would not only have an impact in the New Zealand economy, globally, it would bring back in to legal circulation about a trillion dollars that can be invested back into the community and towards trade. Such creative thinking is particularly targeted at EU and western economies who seem to need any and all leverage options and ideas to shorten and flatten this recession. The United States largest state economy, California, is considering legal regulation of cannabis very seriously.The UN Office of Drug Control is hosting a discussion this March on all drug prohibitions and h...

Medical Cannabis - defacto policy in USA
2009-02-27 04:10:00
Image via WikipediaDEA administrator confirms Obama's wish to 'cease medpot raids'. This is highly significant change in policy direction from the FED's and is consistent with Admininstrations appointment of the Chief of Police of Seattle (Christchurch Sister City) as the new administration Drug Czar. /BlairSpeaking at a press conference with DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart, Attorney General Eric Holder declared that ending medical marijuana raids "is now American policy."A reporter asked, "shortly after the inauguration there were raids on California medical marijuana dispensaries...do you expect these to continue?", noting Image via Wikipediathat the President had promised to end the raids in the campaign.Holder responded, "What the President said during the campaign...is consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement. He was my boss in the campaign....He is my boss now. What he said in the campaign is now American policy." !!!The question appears about 25 m...
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Police Racist Ageist and Naive
2009-02-21 14:54:00
photo: Blair Anderson of the MildGreens Initiative withSandeep Chawla, Director, Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, UNODCThe media hullabaloo around legalisers and drug policy in the lead up to the Te Papa "Healthy Image via WikipediaDrug Law" [mischaracterised as a] symposium was nonconstructive with National and Labour naively entrenching their positions and then Police issuing one of the most blatantly racist and ageist reports since they covered up 'Harvey Thomas'! (NZ Police: Illicit Drug Strategy to 2010).Why any government agency or NGO paid $850/pp to hear that unmitigated fraud (stating cannabis is bigger problem than Methamphatamine and is both a gateway drug and criminogenic) beggars me.Image via WikipediaWhile the two big players at the select committee tables (and Peter Dunne with less than 1% of the party vote) remain seemingly ignorant of the implications of the unintended consequences of a criminal policy that 'creates crime where there would be none' - we are d...
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Nutt on LSD
2009-02-13 22:43:00
Image via WikipediaNow Home Office drugs adviser wants to downgrade LSD from A to BLSD, the powerful hallucinogenic drug made famous by The Beatles, should be downgraded from a Class A drug, according to the Government's drugs adviser. (Actually, Professor Nutt made this known almost exacty a year ago post the Beyond2008 NGO consultations attended by yours truly, see NZ reference below /Blair as reported in www.telegraph.co.ukThe news has emerged after the Professor David Nutt was ordered to apologise by the Home Secretary for saying that taking ecstasy was no worse than riding a horse. Prof Nutt is chairman of the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which is set to recommend that ecstasy should be downgraded from A to B. In a radio interview last year, months before he became chairman of the council, Prof Nutt disclosed that he also favoured downgrading LSD from A to B. He said: "There are several drugs that are in class A and probably should not be there, like...

Police Powers - Nandor's observervations
2009-02-13 04:11:00
Former Green MP, Nandor Tanczos sent to my Bebo.....Two pieces of 'law and order' legislation are being debated by parliament under urgency. The first is the Gangs and Organised Crime Bill. Going by the press release, it seems like a typical case of throwing good legislative time after bad. Justice Minister Simon Power says ""By doubling the sentence for participation in a gang we are reflecting the culpability of those gang leaders who organise the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, and we are addressing the low rate of successful convictions".Eh? It appears that selling P is a worse crime if you are a Mongrel Mob member than if you are an evil sociopath with no friends. Not quite sure why. Nor am I sure why doubling the sentence will increase the number of convictions. (The release says that "of 339 prosecutions there were only 19 convictions" which I guess highlights either how poorly thought out the original legislation was or how incompetent the police are).They...
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Random Selection or Clinicians Falacy?
2009-02-10 05:09:00
Image via WikipediaStudy sheds light on youth drug abuse [NZPA](a) A study into youths attending alcohol and drug treatment services &(b) of those attending & drop out rate from treatment as high as 50 percent due mainly to disciplinary issues.(c) youths were referred by schools, health services, family or the justice system, with only a "very small minority" referring themselves(d) The study was drawn from the clinical records of 184 randomly selected peopleRandom sample or Clinicians Falacy?--Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›Tuesday, 10 February 2009Study sheds light on youth drug abuseA study into youths attending alcohol and drug treatment services has found more than half have mental health problems and 40 percent have been in state care during their lives.The study by Otago University's Christchurch National Addiction Centre found that males made up 62 percent of those attending.It found 56 percent of those referred had criminal convictions, 40 percent had been in Child...
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Police shot dead an innocent criminal!
2009-02-01 12:49:00
Image via WikipediaThis whole tragedy began with deviancy amplifying 'drug policy' and ended as it does in other jurisdictions where the rules are pretty much the same, in an atypical matrix of dysfunction for which someone paid the unbearable price. One life to many, sacrificed to maintain a silence closely resembling stupidity. This 'tragedy' was entirely preventable but none dare say it. To touch on drug policy is to fall on the third rail.Blair Andersonhttp://mildgreens.blogspot.comRel ated articles by ZemantaClean-Out Police HQ [Cactus Kate] (mildgreens.blogspot.com) Get Blairs Brain on Newsfeed... http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-C anvassingForOpinion
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Reflections on Social Ecology and Drug Misuse.
2009-02-01 11:59:00
Image via WikipediaReflections on treatment: Part 1… society must take an ecological approach to addiction recovery, which focuses on the inter-relationships amongst people experiencing serious substance use problems and their personal (physical, psychological), family, social and cultural environments [Professor David Clark Blog, Wired In]certainly looks like 'social ecology' to me! /BlairGet Blairs Brain on Newsfeed... http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-C anvassingForOpinion
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Collapse of the Capital Markets.
2009-01-30 04:02:00
Image by wallyg via FlickrOver the past six-eight years the MildGreens have often made the claim that were illicit drugs to be globally legally regulated, the capital markets would collapse. (cf: Narcodollars for Dummies, introduced to NZ's SCOOP by the MildGreens). While our comment was aimed at the fiscal risk created by pump and dump when black money is laundered, the destabilised banking markets we see today are inseparable.In a ringing endorsement of that claim the following headline substantially agrees.U.N. crime chief says drug money flowed into banksReutersSunday, January 25, 2009VIENNA: The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis...
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Clean-Out Police HQ [Cactus Kate]
2009-01-25 23:40:00
Image via Wikipedia Blair Anderson said... >We need a clean-out in Police HQ starting at the top and going a long way down.I would start with the twats that were behind the BERL drug harm index. They are self interested and thus dangerous. They are resource guarding. I would follow with a sideways 'amputation' of the arm they call national drug 'intelligence'. Why? Well, hell, what on their watch has been measurably accomplished, other than a palpable belief in a bottomless pit of money while clamouring for more resources, and a selfless disregard for reality endangering not only themselves but the public at large.So far the best we get is an attempt to redeem themselves with advertising real-estate. (so much for getting better work stories, like humping swathes of pot back to the helicopters).Thank Gawd, the new Class D regulations legalising recreational psychoactive soft drugs is administered by the Ministry of Health. (Nov6th 2008)That will do more to restore confidence ...
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[Dread Times] Another view on Obama.
2009-01-23 07:24:00
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, IRAQ - JANUARY 20: US Army Staff Sgt. Beverlee Burton of Cleveland, Ohio cries as she watches Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America...Image by Getty Images via DaylifeBlair Anderson has left a new comment on the post "Another view on Obama":BHO's references to unfolding the 'clenched fist' seems to have been interpreted as focused on foreign targets, whereas the problem resides at home with a legacy of rebellion from the African American sector still the target of racist policy (80% of Police stops with search in NY, African American/Latino!). That this leads to unintended outcomes including 'death by ballistic invasion' of otherwise law abiding citizens, and a massively disproportionate representation in the justice system.It is notable that NZ media never visit this question either. Such is 'white privilege'.My fear, despite an earnest 'hope to the contrary' is that BHO may yet be seen as the highest 'Un...
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Magistrate encourages his drug habit
2009-01-22 12:48:00
Man in court on drug possession charges Says marijuana eases burns pain Magistrate encourages his drug habit LIFE of pain ... burns victim Jason Bernard Young, of Queensland, says marijuana helps him sleep.see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/stor y/0,25197,24946461-5006786,00.htmlA MAGISTRATE has encouraged a regular marijuana user to attempt to get his drug usage legalised, because it was the only substance that numbed his pain after his whole body was badly burned.Image via WikipediaJason Bernard Young, 31, from Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast, appeared in the Maroochydore Magistrates' Court yesterday on two drug possession charges after he was found with 2g of marijuana at his home in December.Young was intoxicated when he fell off a train bridge in 1995 and sustained burns to 95 per cent of his body after he grabbed hold of the electrical wiring above the Bald Hills train station in Brisbane. The court was told Young had tried numerous drugs and pain killers but marijuan...
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Compassion, Health and Justice
2009-01-19 12:42:00
Maori traditional healers are being funded by the Ministry of Health at a cost of nearly $2 million a year.see http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4821162a6 009.htmlThey are the only alternative-treatment providers directly receiving public health dollars.Rongoa is a traditional Maori system of healing that includes rakau rongoa (native herbal remedies), mirimiri (massage) and karakia (prayer), as well as spiritual support.Image via Wikipedia"The mere fact that people use rongoa and go back to the practitioners is testament that the services they are given are contributing to their wellbeing."Healers were required to report to the ministry quarterly and submit an annual report, but the practitioners and their health outcomes were not reviewed. "It's not unusual to fund on outputs. It's extraordinarily difficult to report on outcomes," Wall said.Rakau rongoa herbal remedies were not covered by the Medicines Act and the ministry did not require them to be tested as part of its funding po...
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Judge, A Heartless Bastard "Beneath Contempt".
2009-01-19 04:22:00
Image via Wikipedia A cannabis campaigner [and ME sufferer/Blair] who admitted supplying the class C drugs to other pain sufferers has escaped a jail sentence - but received a stern warning from a judge. During sentencing at Plymouth Crown Court, Judge Francis Gilbert made it clear to Stuart Wyatt - who wants to see cannabis legalised for use in pain relief - that he was not above the law. During an exchange with Wyatt's advocate Ali Rafati, Judge Gilbert responded sharply to the news that the 36-year-old's "use of cannabis was ongoing" to mitigate the pain he constantly suffered. Judge Gilbert replied: "Well, that's his misfortune, isn't it? I'm afraid the reality is your client is or has been acting illegally and breaking the law.""You must understand cannabis is an illegal drug, whatever view you have about it," he said. "It's not your privilege to choose whether what you do is lawful or illegal. There is no excuse. You're subject to the law like any other person."He then...
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CAYAD Objectives and Ottawa Charter
2009-01-16 05:05:00
CAYAD Objectives to develop innovative grassroots action, including creative forums for expression that contribute to youth development with special focus on resiliency and community connectedness to work towards holistic development and strengthening of families as central for building social capital and addressing drug and drug related harm issues to raise community awareness on drug and drug related harm and increase their capability for responding to the issue to promote an intersectoral and collaborative response that facilitates better cooperation at local level and contributes to linking the local, regional and national level strategies and action to facilitate the development of policy, guidelines and commitment towards innovative initiatives that promote safe and healthy environments for young people. Sounds all a bit "MildGreen" to me.... but I hasten to add "Imagine all the treatment 'folk' who, in a post CLASS D world would loose the grift, ye...
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Reform, A Political Opportunity
2009-01-14 00:13:00
Image via Wikipedia While much of the discussion (and protest) for change is very US centric it must not be forgotten that on a global scale the US acts cravenly, often under arms but more subtly through 'international relations' and delegations. Uncle Sam's goal is to pervert the required 'resolving of the tensions' pushing its largely moral reformist (thus religious) policy position.Americans pay dearly for this ideology, but so to does the rest of the world."It is often forgotten that health is the first principle of drug policy." - Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Marijuana Law Reform No Longer a Political Liability, It’s a Political Opportunity January 13th, 2009 Voting ended late last week on the President-Elect¹s website Change.gov. As was the case in December, questions from the general public pertaining to marijuana and drug policy reform proved to be extremely popular.Of the more than 76,000 questions posed to Obama ...

The Touch Paper is of our Own Making.
2009-01-06 11:46:00
Image via Wikipedia There remains within and without the dialog over the Palastine/Israel question the unresolved contribution to the dysfunction created by the War on Drugs and all that it entails.With the cash crisis created by the non-payment of 70,000 Palastinian civil servants (it has only just been resolved.) the trade in easily concealable fungable commodities in exchange for essential supplies is tempting enough, but the 'drugs' linkage to the Hamas/Hizballah arms trade is endemic in [but not retricted to] the geography of the Middle East. The influence is much much larger."One of the most prominent regions where the drug-terror nexus is at its strongest is the tri-border area in Latin America, where the borders of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay join. Both Hamas and Hizballah are active in this region, where it is possible to make a profit of $1 million from the sale of fourteen or fifteen kilos of drugs, an amount that could be transported in a single suitcase."(see Drug...
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NZ Police Intel 'New Cannabis'
2009-01-05 01:26:00
The 102 page report is on the Police website at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources/2008/ Cannabis _Strategic_Assessment_Final3_2007 _mirror.pdfIt is written in the traditional Image via Wikipediaprohibitionist style, is poorly referenced, makes numerous sweeping declarations (one sample 4.2.4 below), and is effectively a call to arms against cannabis, and by implication, the cannabis law reform movement.It makes use of SHORE's data, cherry picks a little from others, but treats statements by the INCB, Kofi Annan, Mario Costa as data.Some sections, including some recommendations , are withheld , under the OIA act. (heads up thanks to BrandonH)4.2.4 Cannabis Hospital Admissions by Gender and Age The abuse of cannabis by young New Zealanders is a key focus of this assessment primarily because of the widely held perception that cannabis is a harmless drug. Many young people know national policies on cannabis vary from country to country that includes partial legalisation in some countrie...
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Drugs Schools and Testing
2009-01-02 06:00:00
http://www.ancd.org.au/publications/pdf/r p16_drug_testing_in_schools.pdfImage via WikipediaWhereas young folk in this town [Christchurch, NZ] tell me "cannabis is easier to score than beer" and that New Years eve was "get pissed, bait the cops....".Any wonder?Parents are declared incapable of youth education by fiat.... with constant calls by Police's National Drug Intelligence advocating "educate at Primary School". (presumably before Parents can be trusted with their kids education) The subtle inference is that any Parent who treats the situation in an adult manner is criticised and quite probably ostracised and sanctioned. see ('Gotta drink, it's part of growing up' )What happened to State separation from Moral Reform?Consider... Cannabis safer than alcohol or tobacco, says study (CANNABIS is less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, according to a major review published by the EU drugs agency.)If I was a 'today's' Parent I would be very very angry... Blair Anderson ‹(•Â...
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Sugar Addictive? Couldn't be?
2008-12-27 11:00:00
Image via Wikipedia Study Suggests Sugar May Be Addictive - "changes in the brain seen in people who abuse drugs such as cocaine and heroin""Our evidence from an animal model suggests that bingeing on sugar can act in the brain in ways very similar to drugs of abuse," lead researcher Bart Hoebel, a professor of psychology at Princeton University, said. "Drinking large amounts of sugar water when hungry can cause behavioral changes and even neurochemical changes in the brain which resemble changes that are produced when animals or people take substances of abuse. These animals show signs of withdrawal and even long-lasting effects that might resemble craving," he said. Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, added: "The big question has been whether it's just a behavioral thing or is it a metabolic chemical thing, and evidence like this supports the idea that something che...

Cannabis Intel, a "confident suppose" is the best we'll get!
2008-12-22 00:34:00
Getty Images via Daylife "We have never had anything to say what are we achieving ... I suppose this is giving us a measure." - NDIB on the Drug Harm Index(Note: it has taken our National Drug Intel ligence Bureau, since it was formed in 1972, to come up with a 'confident suppose' , go figure! /Blair )Mills also said, "That kind of information could also be helpful for appealing for funds in future police budgets.""If I wanted to ensure I got my fair share of the budget within police and I had to proof what I was going to achieve in various operations, then that's a very helpful tool." - Stuart Mills, NDIB (NZH http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article .cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10518236)And the difference you and yours have made is Mr Mills?Which goes a long way to explaining why the Police never took part in BEYOND2008, or blanket refusal to even 'chatham house' with Judge Jerry Paradis. These 'law' enforcers are not intel-gatherers, they are propaganda promoters and should be ...
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Drug Policy Rendered Down
2008-12-19 21:14:00
Blair Andersonhttp://mildgreens.blogspot.comGet Blairs Brain on Newsfeed... http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-C anvassingForOpinion
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Police in Disrepute
2008-12-17 04:09:00
Police 'disreputable' behaviors these past 4-5 years was predicted by visiting 'top cop' Det. Chief Super Eddie Ellison. He laid the responsibility for the emerging dysfunction at the feet of poor drug policy. Eddie had recently retired as head of New Scotland Yard. Image via WikipediaThe NZ Police are not as corrupt as some, but what's norm elsewhere is no standard to aspire too. Eddie addressing NZ Rotary's said that under existing drug policy 'give me a rookie cop and in three years I'll give you a compromised cop'. He also predicted that NZ's Methamphetamine prevalence and problems would get worse. Few Police believe the war on drugs is winnable. Visiting Judge Jerry Paradis [LEAP.CC] remarked on the death of Don Wilkinson in Sept. "An honorable man on a hopeless cause". The longer we fail to understand the social mechanisms that create this dysfunction we will continue to find Policing in disrepute. And that serves no one.(as seen on TRADEME Opinion Forums)Related art...
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Drug Sanity revisited, by Dave Currie
2008-12-13 10:47:00
Drug Sanity revisited 10/1/2009A very good afternoon to you. This programme is ‘Drug Sanity revisited’ and is presented for the Drug Policy and Education Council, DPEC. I’m Dave Currie. (also see previous post; 'Drug Sanity Revisited' by Dave Currie /Blair)One can only wonder why New Zealand governments have followed United States Drug policy for so long without question. There has never been a period of calm when the government has taken time to assess the outcomes of U.S. prohibitionist policy and decide whether it needs toning down.In Victorian Britain the free and open use of opium and cocaine was ended with the Pharmacy Image via WikipediaAct of 1868. Earlier there were no restrictions on self medication or recreation using opiates or other drugs. Opium was readily available at the corner grocers. However eventually some doctors and moralists became alarmed at the phenomenon of addiction and even tried to label it as a disease, which affected a person’s will. The book...
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Displace Alcohol Problems with Cannabis Benefits.
2008-12-13 09:33:00
Image via Wikipedia Cheers! We're killing ourselves with hypocritical double standards A massive hike in alcohol prices is the key solution to a national booze problem which kills nearly three people every day and injures many more, say doctors and counsellors.Just because something is affordable doesn't make it laudable....Creating an artificial difference by excise tax is an blatant admission of our systemic drug policy failure. The curtailment of adult choice by the creation of an artificial red line will be no barrier to access, only the choices will alter as they have done in Victoria, Australia. This is a harm maximising strategy masquerading as good policy from which nothing significant will be achieved.If politics is the art of the possible, this suggestion is the graffiti of the stupid.Do we really want to hand hard liquors over to criminal supply chains and add to our justice burden in so doing? And who is going to benefit from that?Alcohol is a contributing factor to 70...
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Nadelmann for Drug Czar
2008-12-12 23:26:00
To: President-elect Barack Obama We the undersigned request the appointment of Ethan Nadelmann to direct the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy ("Drug Czar") of the United States of America. http://nadelmannfordrugczar.com/node/2   Both activists and drug policy academics from NZ should (IMHO) support this 'petition' initiative.   Ethan has been to NZ a number of times and has contributed significantly at the highest levels. He knows well 'who is who' here and is well briefed on the importance of our upcoming Law Commission review. A good showing of support is both deserved and likely well appreciated.   Please forward within your networks. Blair Anderson  â€¹(•¿•)›Social Ecologist 'at large'http://mildgreens.blogspot.comh ttp://blairformayor.blogspot.com http://blair4mayor.comhttp://efsdp.orgph (643) 389 4065   cell 027 265 7219 Get Blairs Brain on Newsfeed... http://feeds.feedburner.com/...

Police Need Better Work Stories
2008-12-10 09:10:00
NZ Centre for State Propaganda and Crime Proliferation, otherwise known as 'Police College'."Yet the legend continues and the press repeats it daily, and today there exists an almost collective conviction that cannabis is specifically criminogenic." - United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, 1964New Zealand Police Alert 9:00am 8 Dec 2008 TasmanLocation of incident: WestportIncident type: Police terminate significant drugs operation.Police are this morning executing a number of search warrants in the Westport area in connection with the termination of a major cannabis cultivation and supply operation. Operation Marvel (all a bit comic, if it wasnt so serious, /Blair) O/C, Detective Inspector John Image via WikipediaWinter said that staff drawn from the 3 South Island Districts were involved in the operation which brought to an end a syndicate supplying significant quantities of cannabis into the supply chain. (note the language of prohibition, along with the pretense of success, /...
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Three guilty of brutal 'prohibition' killing
2008-12-05 02:04:00
Another prohibition murder accrues to the account of bad policy masked by good intentions. /BlairThree guilty of brutal killingNZH 05 Dec 2008Two men and a woman have been remanded for sentence after being found guilty of the brutal killing of a 26-year-old man in his home as his partner and toddler hid in a bathroom. Guy Nicholas Wilson, 36, from Otara, Paul Junior Grace, 24, from East Tamaki, and Annette Louise Elaine Heta, 27, were jointly accused of murdering Jason Noe Kai Chong Boon. Police National Drug Intelligence?Blue: no drugsYellow: some drugsGrey: lots of drugsAn Auckland High Court jury this week found Wilson guilty of murder and Grace and Heta guilty of manslaughter. Grace pleaded guilty of assault with intent to rob, and Wilson and Heta were found guilty of assault with intent to rob. They were remanded in custody for sentencing on March 5. Crown prosecutor Kirsten Lummis told the court that Mr Boon, who was known to the defendants, was involved in the drugs scene. [m...
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Ngati Dread.. The Ruatoria Rastafarians
2008-12-04 14:48:00
Image via WikipediaNgati Dread, Vol 1, by ANGUS GILLIESCurrent bid: $25.00 / Reserve met(as seen on TradeMe)When you talk about terrorism, most people in New Zealand think about problems overseas. But those in Gisborne and the East Coast merely cast their minds back twenty years to the Ruatoria Troubles. From 1985 until 1990 the township was terrorised by a Maori sect calling itself The Rastafarians. Their story is one of the most bizarre chapters in modern New Zealand history. Yet most Kiwis under the age of forty have never heard of The Rastas or their reign of terror until now. Carolyn Robinson, 3 News Presenter: "That Gillies has managed to get this information is astonishing. That hes painstakingly recorded it - incredible. Without him an important slice of New Zealand history would be lost."Cath Hallinan, Editor, Campbell Live: "Before Angus gave me a sneak peek at this book, I hadn't even heard of the Ruatoria Rastafarians. Now I find it incredible that these shocking events...