December 2012

Cancer Cure?

Daktory Raided

Waimate Weed

Waikato Hemp

www.norml.org.nz

Kindle Edition

NORML News

Editorial: p3

Global J-Day: p4

Law Commission: p6

Branch Reports: p7

Hemp Project: p8

Cr Mulqueen: p11

Operation Lime: p12

Billy McKee: p14

Ann Vernon: p15

Petition: p15

Weed Science: p16

Liberty Party: p18

Daktory Raid: p19

Court Protest: p19

Buzz Davis: p20

Stephen McIntyre: p20

Breaking Taboo: p21

Dutch Cafes: p22

World News: p24

U.S. News: p26

Lebanon’s War: p29

New Forums: p30

Social Media: p30

Bushlawyer: p31

Contents:

2

Editorial:Welcome to the first elec-tronic edition of NORML News. Like many maga-zines Norml News was too expensive to print and distribute but thanks to the wonders of modern tech-nology, New Zealand’s fa-vourite cannabis culture and activism magazine is back on Kindle, Android, Apple and Windows. International evi-dence of the benefits of regulating cannabis is growing by the day. From the numerous medical ben-efits to the profound eco-nomic and social benefits, the cannabis plant never ceases to be as useful as it is controversial. It may seem like the government is unwilling to budge on the cannabis issue but an anonymous statement leaked from a state-sector manager dur-ing the height of the reces-sion in 2009 demonstrates the reason government de-partments won’t speak out on the cannabis issue. “We have noticed that times are getting hard, most of us do actually give a shit. But we have hit a problem, we are drowning in well meaning law and process that has had bad outcomes. The reason you don’t hear from us much

is because we are only al-lowed to speak though cor-porate communications in case we say something the wrong way.” “This means that no one in the New Zealand police can ever write down an argument that might be true but is a bit conten-tious. The statement ‘Were illicit drugs decriminalised in a carefully regulated way, it would free up 4000 police officers, halve the prison population and de-stroy the power-base of or-ganised crime in New Zea-land’ would never be put in a document even if just for discussion, because it contradicts policy and the media would have a field day with it. It becomes an unwritten truth, one of those things that we Can’t Do Anything About, so we roll our eyes and carry on beating our heads against an impossible problem.” However, times are slowly changing with the vote to legalise in Colorado and Washington (p28) and the rejection of the weed-pass in Holland (p22). The New Zealand Government will be rewrit-ing the Misuse of Drugs Act in the next few years open-ing up plenty of opportuni-ties to lobby MPs.

By Julian Crawford

Do not hesitate to get in touch with NORML if you would like to

write for future issues of NORML News.

Send an email to NORML President:

julian@norml.org.nz

Or Email NORML Vice-president Abe Gray:

dunedin@norml.org.nz

Private correspondance should be sent to NORML Secretary

Phil Saxby:

phil@norml.org.nz

And for medical advice email NORML medical co-ordinator

Billy McKee:

medical@norml.org.nz

(c) 2012 NORML NewsNORML New Zealand Inc

3

J - Day2012

Thousands of people enjoyed the annual joint day in May. The interna-tional celebration of cannabis culture and protest against prohibition is held in over 200 cities around the world. J-Day is on the first Saturday of May every year. This year Bulletproof, Jah Love Sounds, Exile, Locksteady & Prospect, JRed, Jafa Mafia, Jah Red Lion and Silva MC en-tertained the Auckland crowd.

200 CitiesWorldwide

Norml extends a big thanks to all the volunteers, artists, sponsors and organisers who

make J Day happen.

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5

Government Vs Law CommissionWhile the government has adopted many of the Law Commission’s recommen-dations from its review of drug laws, it has ignored the recommendations re-lating to cannabis. So-called synthetic cannabis may become le-gal if it passes a $1-2 mil-lion testing regime but sub-stances already banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 cannot even be considered for approval. As a result, new laws which were supposed to replace outdated legisla-tion are instead tied to the same prohibitionist logic of the previous Act.

The Law Commis-sion called on the Gov-ernment to initiate clinical trials of cannabis but As-sociate Health Minister Pe-ter Dunne said it was not the Government‘s role to undertake such trials. However, no pharma-ceutical companies have lobbied for clinical trials ei-ther becuase the cannabis plant cannot be patented. Once again medi-cal users of the plant have been left in limbo waiting for adequate access to their medicine. It has been left up to district court judges to is-sue lenient sentences to

medical marijuana users, sending a message to the government to stop ignor-ing the Law Commission. The Law Commis-sion also called for leni-ency for social dealing of cannabis and a system of three warnings before any arrest for personal use of cannabis. However, the police are still able to make ar-rests for personal amounts of cannabis and their warn-ing system is more often used for rich white kids, lending weight to the claim that the war on cannabis has been a war against Maori and other minorities.

6

Otago NORML ReportBY ABE GRAY

Our branch meets twice weekly at 4:20 on Wednes-day and Friday with usu-ally around 35 people per meeting on average. The 420 weekly gath-erings have been happen-ing continuously for eight years in a row now with not a single week missed. A news story got into the local media earlier in the year that the University installed a sophisticated security camera to moni-tor our meetings, and how we thwarted their efforts by building a mini Waihopai spy-dome. We were in the media a few other times this year with the highlights being a response to the Dunedin Study claiming that you lose IQ points if you smoke too much weed too young.

An interview on TV One was picked up by ma-jor international media in the US, Europe and Asia. In addition we still do the Overgrown ra-dio show every Friday from 9-11pm on 91 fm in Dune-din and streaming live on www.r1.co.nz. We passed our 200th show and 5 years on air milestones this year. We also had a rul-ing in our favour from the Broadcasting Standards Authority in relation to a complaint against us. A rural GP from Aus-tralia was listening to our show on the internet and took exception to us incit-ing our listeners to smoke cannabis during the show. But the BSA de-scribed our advocating people to smoke weed as an act of protest as “high value speech”.

WellingtonNORML ReportThe Wellington branch have continued to hold regular white flag meetings at Parliament. Earlier in the year Wellington NORML repre-sentatives meet with oppo-sition MPs. Kevin Hague from the Greens and Iain Lees-Galloway from Labour were optomistic about a Select Committe’s implementa-tion of the Law Commis-sion’s review of the Misuse of Drugs Act. We hope to build on this communication by holding an event at parlia-ment, involving a range of groups, early in 2013, J-Day continues to be held at Frank Kitts park.

Auckland Branch Continue ProtestsIt has been an active year for law reform in Auckland with a number of protests taking place. Vocal protests out-side the Waitakere District Court have become a reg-ular occurrence, being held every time a Dakta appears in court. The police have continued to harass the

Daktory forcing Auckland NORML to seek new head-quarters for 2013. Monthly protests have also been held at Pot-ters Park, where signs and banners are displayed at a busy intersection, attract-ing a lot of tooting. Regular pro-pot gath-erings have also begun be-ing held in the central city

allowing different groups from the law reform com-munity to meet each other. As well as protest-ing, the Auckland branch has been involved in a fort-nightly community clean-up called Project Twin Streams. Litter and weeds are removed from a stream in Henderson by the group.

7

Waikato’s Ten Hectare Hemp Project

BY JULIAN CRAWFORD

Located amongst rolling farmland east of Hamilton, the Waikato Hemp Project is the jewel in the crown of New Zealand’s emerging hemp industry. Last March, ten hect-ares of flowering 8-foot sativas covered the land-scape, producing a pun-gent sweet odour. The Waikato Hemp Project was the brain-child of Dave Jordan who is li-cenced by the Ministry of Health to grow low-THC cannabis varieties. “One hectare of hemp can produce over one tonne of highly nutritious seed and 10 tonnes of biomass in less than 100 days, liter-ally eating CO2 from out of

the atmosphere,” Jordan told NORML News. “We wish to help in-dustry transition to the use of organic, infinitely re-cyclable feed stocks that regenerate air, water and soil.“ Jordan believes In-dustrial Hemp could trans-form New Zealand’s slug-gish economy. “We can develop ma-terials that sequester mil-lions of tonnes of CO2 into consumer products that are later composted,” he said. “Hemp food, clothing, shelter and fuel is possible now and we want to do it with like-minded people.” Jordan harvested the crop at the end of march and has collected the seed to press for oil.

“Hemp seeds were collected fresh from the plant. Some will be replant-ed at the hemp farm and the rest pressed for oil,” he said. Hemp seed contains Omega 3, 6 and 9 oils in ideal ratio for human con-sumption and are high in protien. Jordan sells hemp seed oil from his website www.hempfarm.co.nz to help fund his ongoing re-search. Hemp seed oil retails for $20 for a 250ml bottle and $38 for 500ml. The oil is also available in 500mg and 100mg capsules. The rest of the plant has also been utilised by Jordan, with the stalks baled for later use.

8

Waikato’s Ten Hectare Hemp Project

“The bales will be used for hemp building projects, loads of people are asking about them so we plan to offer our first hemp building course in the very near future.” Hemp construction is becoming an increas-

ingly popular way to build. A hemp-crete mix is made from hemp, lime-stone and water. When the mix sets the hemp petrifies into concrete making it an ideal material for insulating walls.

9

Hemp buildings have lower energy costs compared to conventional houses and are significantly cheaper to build. Jordan hopes to turn his bumper crop into some dream homes built with modern hemp-crete tech-niques. He has received some high-level assistance for his research from the University of Waikato. “Waikato Hemp Proj-ect are collaborating with Waikato University’s Mate-rials and Engineering fac-ulty to begin designing the future,” Jordan said. Asscociate Professor Dr Kim Pickering is working with PhD students to de-velop advanced polymers from the Waikato hemp. “It makes sense to incorporate these fibres within other materials to produce a composite mate-rial. This enables fibres to

be used in structures, and modification of mechani-cal and physical properties can be made,” Dr Pickering said. “Composites will in-creasingly replace con-ventional engineering ma-terials to give improved performance. Technology learnt with advanced com-posites like carbon fibre, can be applied to natural fibre composites.” Pickering said hemp could also be a natural re-source used to make plas-tics. “Waikato University research has been involved in development of polymer matrices from bioderivable materials,” she said. “With New Zealand’s natural fibres resources, there is a great potential to tap into composite design and technology to produce improved structural materi-als that are cost efficient.”

Waikato Hemp Proj-ect have also been re-searching the potential use of hemp as a source of bio-fuel. The New Zea-land Biogas company has been working with them to extract hemp fuels in the form of Bio-Ethanol, Bio-Charcoal and Bio-Diesel. Jordan said he was able to grow hemp thanks to legislation introduced by former Norml News editor and MP Nandor Tanczos. In 2001 Tanczos’ Bill was adopted by the Labour Government. “This bill is an elegant piece of legislation,” then Greens leader Rod Donald said. “This initiative is long overdue recognition of the fact that industrial hemp is not a drug. It is a potentially lucrative crop that should be treated alongside oth-er arable farming revenue streams.”

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Mulqueen: Waimate needs WeedTake a small South Is-land town with a strug-gling economy and a lack of prospects for youth and you have a district which could benefit from legalis-ing cannabis. Waimate District Councillor Sandra Mul-queen introduced a pro-posal to the council’s ten-year plan which would have seen Waimate trial the le-galisation of cannabis. Not only did her mea-sure get opposed by the mayor and voted down by council, she also upset lo-cals who had police moni-tor the launch of her We Desire Change campaign. The venue for the cam-paign launch even had to be moved following local harassment. Unfortunately, at the same time as one of four local police was busy keep-ing an eye on the cannabis campaign, a local psycho-path went missing and was desperately sought by oth-er cops in the hours before he killed a hitch-hiker and himself in a remote forestry block. The efforts of locals to prevent the town getting a reputation for cannabis were over-shadowed by a reputation for violent of-fenders. Many offenders are released from Roll-

eston Prison and relocat-ed to Waimate by Correc-tions. This is a town that drastically needs to turn around its prospects for youth and Cr Mulqueen’s proposal would have done just that, bringing money to the area and creating nu-merous jobs for residents. “It could help provide the district’s young people with the sense of respon-sibility they needed to straighten up and fly right,” Mulqueen said. Local farmland could be used to grow cannabis and workers would be em-ployed to tend to the crops and harvest them. They would have to be dried, manicured and stored, be-fore being delivered to retail outlets who would package

the buds and sell them to visitors to the area. Other companies could begin developing medical products and ed-ible forms of cannabis for pharmacies. Mulqueen is already one the most successful business people in Waim-ate, managing the Waim-ate Knitwear shop. She is also responsible for large signs promoting the turn off to Waimate on State High-way 1. She has now moved to Milton to continue her work and has resigned from council but she says her resignation has noth-ing to do with the rejection of her cannabis proposal and she will keep fighting for cannabis law reform in Milton.

Councillor Sandy Mul-

queen courted controversy when she

admitted on live radio

that she used to drive pas-senger buses in Auckland

while high on cannabis.

11

Switched on Gardener not a GangA two-year police under-cover operation against Switched on Gardener re-sulted in two convictions at a nine-week jury trial. Owner Michael Quin-lan and general manager Peter Bennett were found guilty in December of 17 representative charges of supplying equipment ca-pable of being used for the cultivation of cannabis at stores nationwide. The jury found them not guilty of being part of an organised criminal group.

Senior Switched on Gardener staff, business manager Ricky Cochrane, distribution manager An-drew Mai and South Is-land manager Paul Barlow were found not guilty of all charges. The five men faced up to 19 charges each, in-cluding two charges of par-ticipating in an organised crime group, one of pos-sessing equipment and material used to cultivate cannabis and up to 16 charges each of supplying

the equipment and materi-als used to cultivate can-nabis. The organised crimi-nal group charges failed because it requires three or more people to be involved in the criminal enterprise. They were arrest-ed when the undercover phase of police Operation Lime closed on April 27, 2010 with the arrest of 250 people. Quinlan and Bennett are on bail until February, despite Crown opposition.

12

Operation Lime Charges DismissedA hydroponics shop owner, targeted by undercover of-ficers during a nationwide cannabis operation, is happy charges against him were thrown out of court, but is angry he’s $100,000 out of pocket. Easy Grow hydro-ponics was charged in 2010 with knowingly sell-ing equipment to cannabis growers as part of the po-lice crackdown, Operation Lime. But in September, all charges against the com-pany were thrown out by a judge who said the crown case lacked vital evidence. Easy Grow owner Keith Millar told NORML he was relieved the case had been dismissed but was unhappy it cost him two years of his life and a ton of cash. “We were pretty con-fident of being acquitted by the jury, and I was looking forward to taking the stand

to give evidence, but a se-ries of mistakes by police led to a mistrial.” Millar said. “It is a relief to have it over and done with, but it cost me $100,000. I had to pay for all our staff’s legal fees.” Millar said his shop does not sell equipment to people who ask about growing cannabis, but he does offer advice on grow-ing tobacco. “Undercovers asked silly questions like ‘how much smoke will I get’,” he said. “When I replied, they thought that I was talking about marijuana, but I was talking about tobacco. “We are breaking the law if we knowingly sell equipment to be used to grow cannabis, and we have had to turn people away from the store if they ask for cannabis growing equipment.”

Millar said police also tried to get a convic-tion based on the fact that Easy Grow advertised in NORML News magazine. “I had been advertis-ing with NORML for over six years without police saying it was wrong,” he said. “Police were alleging that we were trying to at-tract cannabis growers. “NORML News had a print run of 50,000 and it’s a political magazine rather than a grow guide.” Millar’s lawyer ar-gued that NORML News was available in Whitcoulls and other mainstream magazine retailers, and therefore not illegal. A ruling by the Chief Censor in 2010 also stated that NORML News was le-gal but had an R18 age re-striction on some issues. NORML welcomed the outcome of the case but feel justice should not be so expensive.

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BY METIRIA TUREI

Sick and injured New Zea-landers deserve respect and dignity, but the prohibi-tion laws on cannabis per-secute and punish. The Green Party highlighted this before, put legislation up to fix the sys-tem and to make it possible for people to use cannabis as a medicine. Thousands of New Zealanders agree with a compassionate law, but not yet the politicians. But the issue is urgent because people are being convicted for medicinal use. The most recent high profile case is that of Billy Mckee. Billy should never have been arrested let alone convicted. There is a growing campaign to support him. Billy McKee was convicted by a jury on five charges and sentenced to 12 months Home Deten-tion. Billy McKee, who

hosts the GreenCross NZ medical cannabis users website, was arrested in 2010 on charges relating to his medical cannabis use. Billy campaigns for legalisation of cannabis, and considers that it is one of the best medications to deal with chronic pain. Billy lost a leg be-low the knee when a drunk driver deliberately rammed his motorbike over 30 years ago. The incident resulted in him being confined to a wheelchair and in constant pain from nerve damage to the stump as well as suf-fering from post traumatic stress disorder. The pain medica-tions he was prescribed by doctors caused intolerable side effects where even driving was considered unsafe. He found that the only thing that controlled his pain, depression, irrita-bility and other symptoms, while still allowing him to function, was cannabis. This led him to study

the medical benefits of can-nabis, become a counsel-lor and form GreenCross, an organisation devoted to helping sick people obtain relief through the medicinal use of cannabis. McKee potentially faced jail time for running GreenCross and helping sick patients obtain their medicine. He was entrapped by an undercover police officer posing as someone suffering from severe mi-graines. McKee said that mi-graines can indicate the early stages of brain tu-mors and many people have found that cannabis relieves the symptoms of migraines and allows them to function normally. McKee accepted the young man as being a gen-uine sufferer. The under-cover cop appealed to his compassion in asking Billy to supply him with canna-bis. Billy said, “I was really worried about him.”

Billy McKee found guilty by Jury

14

Speaker sends petition to committeeA medical marijuana peti-tion which was tabled in Parliament on November 27 has been sent to a se-lect committee for further consideration by MPs At the start of ques-tion time speaker Lock-wood Smith said “a petition has been delivered to the Clerk for presentation”. The Clerk of the house addressed all MPs to draw their attention the petition “The petition of Wil-liam Joseph Rea request-ing that the house give ur-gent attention to the Law Commission’s recommen-

dations regarding medical cannabis use and know that 2765 people have signed a petition support-ing this request,” she said. The announcement was followed with a deter-mination from the speaker:

“that petition stands re-ferred to a select commit-tee allocated by the Clerk.” This means that MPs will once again have to consider the Law Commis-sion’s recommendation of clinical trials for cannabis.

Ann Vernon has chronic intractable pain and had been charged with can-nabis cultivation after po-lice found cannabis at her house. In November she was discharged without convic-tion when she appeared in the Waihi District Court. The charge of culti-vation was not proven, so the charge was amended to permitting premises to be used for cultivation and when the judge heard miti-gating medical evidence from her doctor, she was discharged without a con-viction. Ann has been suffer-

ing chronic pain for many years after being trampled by horses when she was quite young. “I received back in-juries. Then later on I had an unrelated surgery and severe emotional trauma

which caused PTSD. “I have pain pretty much throughout my whole body. Two and a half years ago, a medical specialist suggested she try cannabis to help relieve her pain.

No Cannabis Conviction for Vernon

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Cannabinoid stops spread of cancer

A compound found in can-nabis could halt the spread of many forms of aggres-sive cancer, scientists say. Researchers found that the compound, called cannabidiol, had the abil-ity to ‘switch off’ the gene responsible for metastasis in an aggressive form of breast cancer. Importantly, this substance does not produce the psychoactive properties of the cannabis plant. The team from the California Pacific Medical Center, in San Francisco, first spotted its potential five years ago, after it stopped the proliferation of human breast cancer cells in the lab. Last year they pub-lished a study that found a similar effect in mice. Now they say they are on the verge of publishing further animal study results that

expand these results fur-ther. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, study co-leader Dr Sean McAllis-ter, said: ‘The preclinical tri-al data is very strong, and there’s no toxicity. There’s really a lot of research to move ahead with and to get people excited.’ While he, along with colleague Dr Pierre Despr-ez acknowledge that they are some way off from turn-ing their finding into a pill, they are already developing human trial models. They hope to eventually test the drug in combination with current chemotherapies. Professor Desprez had previously found that a protein called ID-1 seemed to play a role in causing breast cancer to spread. Meanwhile Dr McAllister had discovered the canna-bidiol had anti-cancer po-

tential. The pair teamed up to see if they could treat a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer called ‘tri-ple negative.’ This form, which af-fects 15 per cent of pa-tients, doesn’t have three hormone receptors that the most successful thera-pies target. Cells from this cancer have high levels of ID-1. When they exposed cells from this cancer to cannabidiol they were shocked to find the cells not only stopped acting ‘crazy’ but also returned to a healthy normal state. They discovered that the compound had turned off the overexpression of ID-1, stopping them from travelling to distant tis-sues.

- UK Daily Mail

Dr Desprez (left) and Dr Sean McAllister say their early trial results are very promising

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Endocannabinoid fights off autism

Naturally occuring canna-bis-like chemicals in the brain may help combat the leading genetic cause of autism, research has shown. Scientists linked blockages in a signalling pathway dependent on the compounds, called 2-AG endocannabinoid trans-mitters, with symptoms of Fragile X syndrome. Correcting the fault with drugs led to dramatic behavioural improvements in mice with a version of the condition. Fragile X syndrome is the most common known genetic cause of autism. It results from a mu-tation in the FMR1 gene on the female X chromosome. Men possess one copy of the chromosome, paired with a male Y chromosome, and women two. Boys are much more likely to be born with Fragile X than girls. This is thought to be because with two X chromosomes, a defect in one may be compensated

for by the other. People with the syn-drome suffer mental impair-ment, learning difficulties, and may be hyperactive or impulsive. They also possess notable physical characteristics such as an elongated face, flat feet and large ears. The scientists, writing in the journal Nature Com-munications, stress that while their discovery may help people with Fragile X syndrome it will not provide a cure. “What we hope is to one day increase the abil-ity of people with Fragile X syndrome to socialise and engage in normal cogni-tive functions,” said lead researcher Professor Dan-iele Piomelli, from the Uni-versity of California at Ir-vine in the United States. The study was the first to identify the role of endocannabinoids in the neurobiology of Fragile X, she said. Endocannabino id compounds are created

naturally in the body and share a similar chemical structure with THC, the pri-mary psychoactive com-ponent of the marijuana plant. Endocannabinoids are distinctive because they link with protein mol-ecule receptors -- called cannabinoid receptors -- on the surface of cells. For instance, when a per-son smokes marijuana, the cannabinoid THC activates these receptors. And be-cause the body’s natural cannabinoids control a va-riety of factors -- such as pain, mood and appetite -- they’re attractive targets for drug discovery and de-velopment. Piomelli is one of the world’s leading endocan-nabinoid researchers. His groundbreaking work is showing that this system can be exploited by new treatments to combat anxi-ety, pain, depression and obesity.

- www.nature.com

Retrograde signalling is per-formed by the endocannabi-noid 2-AG at the neuronal synapse.

17

Liberty party backs cannabis reform

A new political party based on personal liberty is mak-ing cannabis legalisation a core policy. Members of the Lib-ertarianz, ACT, True Liber-als and ALCP met in Auck-land in October to discuss forming a new right-wing party committeed to can-nabis law reform. The party will aim to fill the void left by former ACT leader Don Brash and attract ACT members dis-gruntled with John Banks’ opposition to cannabis law reform. Dakta Green was a guest speaker at the con-ference and he gave an

impassioned speech about the double standard be-tween alcohol and canna-bis laws. He told the story of his imprisonment for 23 months following his politi-cally motivated prosecution by the Solicitor General in 2010. Former broadcaster Lindsay Perigo also spoke at the conference about us-ing the internet to develop a free-market. He said the internet had given rise to the great-est example of personal liberty and tax-free trans-actions in modern times. Auckland City Coucil-

lor Dick Quax spoke about council debt problems. The Liberty Party plans to stand candidates in the 2014 election and could offer National an al-ternative coalition partner if elected to parliament. To gain political expe-rience the Liberty Party will also launch a nationwide local government party to contest local body elec-tions in 2013. As well as support-ing the right to grow, buy, sell and advertise canna-bis, the liberty party wants to focus on tax reductions, balanced budgets and less regulation.

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Dakta Green faces 14 years in jailJust days after being re-leased from a year in pris-on Dakta Green was again arrested and now faces the prospect of up to 14 more years in prison. Police swooped on the Daktory in June, seiz-ing cannabis, $3000 cash and a ‘’large assortment’’ of drug paraphernalia at the New Lynn property. Police arrested two men and a woman who were charged with drug-related offences including possession of cannabis, possession for supply and possession of a class B controlled drug for supply. Charges were also laid for allowing the Delta Ave premises to be used for offending against the Misuse of Drugs Act and possession of drug related utensils.A police spokesman said

The Daktory was raided again around 8.20pm on June 22 after police wit-nessed a car leaving the clubrooms. One of the car’s two occupants told police he had bought and smoked cannabis at the premises, prompting police to search the Daktory. The bust was the fourth on The Daktory in three months. Since Dakta Green’s arrest in June he has had 14 visits from the police at the Daktory, doing “bail checks” that Dakta consid-ers harassment. Police have made it clear that they want the Daktory to stay closed and Dakta Green to leave town. “The Daktory still gets visitors from out of town and out of the country

and it is sad to have to turn them away.” Dakta Green said. “To purchase canna-bis, see your local gang. They are still in business and not bothered by the police.” While the Daktory cannot continue in its pres-ent location, the concept behind it is not going to die. Plans are being made to re-establish the Daktory in a new location with a new format. Green said New Zea-land remains stuck in the dark ages of prohibition. “The government steadfastly ignores any at-tempt to even discuss an alternative to the current regime but inevitably prohi-bition will fall like the Berlin wall,” Dakta Green said. “A corrupt and broken system won’t last forever.”

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Golden Bay activist Victo-ria Davis paid tribute to her husband of 36 years, Buzz, who died in September fol-lowing a heart attack. “I’m so so grateful that he lived through all of his hardships and I got to have him for this long. I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful soulmate. It’s made my life very rich, and I will miss him immensely. “He was a lovely man, he was very kind, generous and helpful. “Even though he was

disabled he helped me as much as he could. People would always come up to me and say what a positive attitude Buzz had.” Mrs Davis was dis-charged without conviction after being caught growing 62 cannabis plants which she said helped Mr Davis relieve terrible phantom limb pain She said the police investigation and court ap-pearance had been very stressful but Buzz was re-lived at the outcome.

Buzz Davis was a kind, helpful man

Former President was gentle activist

Obituaries:

Former NORML president and Director of Auckland GreenCross Stephen McIn-tyre died suddenly in July Stephen apparently took his own life while on bail awaiting trial for alleged

involvemnt in the supply of medical cannabis. His wife Reiko Ya-nai said McIntyre was ini-tially upbeat about fighting the charges but his mood changed after police offi-

cers turned up at the family home to check on bail con-ditions, eight days before his death. Yanai claimed McIn-tyre, who was teaching gui-tar lessons at the time of the police visit, was threat-ened by the officers. She said the officers told her husband they could smell cannabis. Police also asked McIntyre how he was go-ing to plead and told him he could face further charges. “His security and pri-vacy was unjustifiably vio-lated. He felt scared and intimidated.”

20

Starting the Cannabis Conversation

Celebrities are Breaking the Taboo

Celebrities and former world leaders are “Breaking the Taboo“ by calling for an end to the war on canna-bis and other drugs, a new documentary reveals. Former U.S. Presi-dents Bill Clinton and Jim-my Carter, Virgin founder Richard Branson and ac-tors Morgan Freeman and Kate Winslet are among

those speaking out on the issue. The Breaking the Taboo documentary was made by Richard Branson’s son Sam Branson and was released in December to international acclaim. The documentary follows the high powered Global Commission on Drug Policy as it tries to

correct the failures of the War on Drugs. It makes the case that escalating violence by drug cartels in Central America was caused by a military style approach to the Drug War. “If all you do is try to find a police or military so-lution to the problem, a lot of people die and it doesn’t solve the problem,” Bill Clinton said. Policies which were pushed by the US and the UN have had devastating impacts on countries like Mexico where the cartels are arming themselves to combat the military. In New Zealand the same Drug War has fuel led massive black-market profits for gangs.

A new website has been set-up to encourage New Zealanders to start a na-tional conversation about cannabis. The website features exclusive video content which the site plans to play on TV once fundraising

goals have been reached. “The debate in this country has always been very polarized, and it can get pretty extreme on both sides,” the group said. “Some would have you believe that cannabis is an evil drug, destroying the minds of our society’s youth. “Others contend that it’s a miracle plant, sent down from the heavens to solve all of earth’s prob-lems.”

All New Zealanders, regardless of whether they support legalisation, are encouraged to contribute their views about cannabis online Conversation has a dedicated Youtube chan-nel, facebook page and twitter account. The site encourag-es users to post video re-sponses on its Youtube and comment on social media. Visit the website at: www.conversation.org.nz

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Thousands march in The Netherlands against introduction of Weed-Pass

Amsterdam, for decades renowned as the European haven for cannabis smok-ers, was cracking down big time this year. The Netherlands de-criminalised possession of less than five grams of cannabis back in 1976. But plans for a weed-pass would have meant casual tourists would no longer be able to buy joints in the city’s famed coffee shops. It will come as a shock to many that, in these supposedly “enlight-ened” times, a Western na-tion should get tougher on cannabis. But in reality, this has been coming for years. As visitors have

known for a long time, Amsterdam’s Schiphol air-port is the one place in the country you would not want to be caught with even a small amount. In 2006 alone, as part of the Dutch zero tolerance policy on airline passen-gers carrying drugs, there were nearly 21,000 pros-ecutions. Three years earlier than that, then-Justice Min-ster Piet Hein Donner re-vealed government plans to stop coffee shops from selling soft drugs to non-Dutch residents. Then 18 months ago the European Court of Hu-man Rights ruled that the Dutch government were le-gally able to do this.

In October strong cannabis was reclassified as a hard drug, amid con-cerns about its potentially psychotic effects. The move forced cannabis coffee shops to remove the more popu-lar, stronger varieties from their shelves. Amsterdam has been the last bastion of drug availability within Holland, and the city’s businesses - especially in the hotel and food sector - know that in-come will be badly affect-ed. It’s believed that up to one-third of visitors to Amsterdam come because of cannabis. The coffee shop own-ers themselves estimated

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Thousands march in The Netherlands against introduction of Weed-Pass

the proposed rules would cost them up to 90% of their business. In May last year, the Dutch government an-nounced that tourists would be banned from Dutch cof-fee shops, starting in the southern provinces. Justifying this in a let-ter to parliament, the coun-try’s health and justice min-isters said it was: “In order to tackle the nuisance and criminality associated with coffee shops and drug-traf-ficking.” The city had to give in, and make plans to issue ‘weed passes’ to residents over the age of 18. Under government rules, coffee shops were to become members-only

clubs, with each club only being allowed 2,000 mem-bers. There has been widespread opposition to the new laws from among the cannabis community. Marc Josemans, who runs a coffee shop in Maas-tricht, told the BBC the new law - designed to cut crime - will actually be counter-productive. He said: “People come here because they know they can buy canna-bis. After the ban they will still come but when they find they’re not allowed in-side then they will go out-side and the dangerous criminal drug dealers will be waiting for them with open arms.”

Mr Josemans says his cafe, along with many others, will boycott the new law. Even Amsterdam’s mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, is opposed to the proposal. Thankfully a change in government in Holland has seen the weed-pass plans abandoned Protesters were suc-cessful in challenging this proposal and now have turned their attention to challenging the rules sur-rounding cannabis that is more than 15% THC. Unless they can re-verse the proposals for banning skunk cannabis, Amsterdam still risks los-ing tourists to other weed friendly destinations.

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Worldwide Cannabis NewsAUSTRALIA:

The Western Austra-lian government’s new $400,000 anti-cannabis campaign is urging drug users to “grab a hammer and smash their bong to pieces.” One of the govern-ment’s print advertise-ments reads: “By getting rid of your bong, you will be less likely to be tempted to use - out of sight, out of mind.” Other suggestions include going for a run or cooking a meal to fight the urge to smoke. The West Australian reports that the state has the second-highest can-nabis use in the nation, be-hind the Northern Territory. The adverts are part of the “Cannabis Messes With Your Mind” campaign, in response to statistics showing 13.4 per cent of people were cannabis smokers.

Surveys have given mixed messages about Austra-lians’ attitude to drugs.More than half of Austra-lians support reduced legal penalties for use of drugs such as cannabis and ec-stasy, according to a fed-eral government survey.But a Herald/Nielsen poll published the previous day showed two-thirds of peo-ple opposed decriminalisa-tion. Alison Ritter, who heads a drug policy model-ling program at the national drug and alcohol research centre at the University of NSW, said the results were influenced by the way questions were asked. The Herald/Nielsen poll had simply asked: ‘’Do you support or oppose de-criminalising drug use?’’

Cannabis still tops the charts as the most-seized drug in Australia, with 72 per cent of drug seizures by number. The Australian Crime Commission says there were nearly 70,000 sei-zures in the 2010-11 finan-cial year, the biggest num-ber in a decade. Cannabis accounted for nearly 70 per cent of arrests. Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare says the re-

port’s findings do not mean drug use is on the rise. “When you dig into the data, you find that the price of drugs and the num-ber of users has remained stable,” he said. “[That] indicates that you’re not seeing an in-crease in the total num-ber of imports; what you’re seeing is an increase in the number of seizures.”

UNITED KINGDOM:

A juror who smoked canna-bis during a break in a rape trial has been fined. Shezad Hussain, 26, was outside Bolton Crown Court when he was seen smoking a joint by a juror on another case, who re-ported him to police. The juror collected the discard-ed stub as evidence. The trial was halt-ed and Hussain was dis-charged from the jury and fined $942 for contempt of court. His lawyer said “There’s no suggestion that his demeanour was

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such that he was not able to comprehend what was being said. “He accepts that he was smoking cannabis whilst carrying out a very serious duty, whilst so proximate to the court that it could disturb and upset other jurors, witnesses, defendants and general members of the public.” The judge told him: “I could not take the risk that somebody considering the evidence and in due course the verdict would be adversely affected by cannabis. “You have em-barrassed yourself and brought shame on your-self.“

A university lecturer be-lieves hemp fibre could re-place carbon fibre in auto-mobile bodywork. James Meredith and colleagues at Warwick Uni-versity reported that hemp composite material per-formed as well as expen-sive carbon fibre compos-ites in impact tests. His research backed up the work of Canadian company Motive Industries Inc, which has created a prototype car built from hemp composites. The car is called the Kestrel, and designers are looking for manufacturers to get the vehicle into pro-duction.

A Devon man with a his-tory of drug offences was given a lecture - but spared a prison term - after being caught with canabis. Shannon Trott, 32, pleaded guilty of posses-sion and was given a sus-pended sentence and a $1,000 fine. Archibald Warner, senior magistrate, told him: “The core issue for you is mentally you refuse to ac-cept that marijuana is dan-gerous for you. “It’s the root that led you to other drugs and it’s illegal for a good reason — you’re telling me that marijuana makes you feel good?” Trott replied: “I’m just being honest.” Mr Warner told him he was sparing him a jail term to give him “another chance for you to get your thinking right.”

The national Daily Mail newspaper reports that some air passengers en-tering Britain with canna-bis had been let off with a warning. The government im-poses a jail term of up to 14 years for anyone caught with the illegal Class B drug in their luggage. But the newspaper reported that in some cas-es, inspectors at Gatwick airport had given an oral warning, confiscated the

drug and allowed the pas-sengers to continue their journey. The newspaper said this had happened in four cases over two months, in April and May last year. The paper wrote: “The revelations have prompted fears that canna-bis laws are being widely ignored across Britain’s airports, leading to a virtu-al ‘open door’ situation for drug smugglers who know they have every chance of escaping any punishment even if caught.”

IRELAND:

A man who was promised 5,000 Euros ($8,400) for storing cannabis worth over $2 million has been jailed for 13 years. Jason Keogh, 45, was described as “an intel-ligent man” by the judge.Keogh admitted posses-sion of 100kg of cannabis with intent to supply. Judge Michael O’Shea said Keogh was a good man who “took a gamble, took a risk, and the gamble did not come off.”

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US Newswire:

A boater off the coast of California alerted harbour patrol to what turned out to be nearly $5 million of mar-ijuana floating in the sea. Authorities off the coast of Dana Point, south of Los Angeles, fished out almost 3.6 tonnes of the drug, in some 160 bales. The bales were seen bobbing about 15 miles from the shore. One investigator said: “Generally in these cases we’re aware they’re being dumped. What’s more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight.”

A Supreme Court justice from New York has told how medical marijuana helped him with his Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer. Gustin L. Reichen-bach told the New York Times that smoking mari-juana was “the only medi-cine that gives me some re-

lief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep. “Rather than watch the agony of my suffer-ing, friends have chosen, at some personal risk, to provide the substance. I find a few puffs of marijua-na before dinner gives me ammunition in the battle to eat. A few more puffs at bedtime permits desper-ately needed sleep. “This is not a law-and-order issue; it is a medical and a human rights issue.”

The New Jersey Assembly is to vote on a bill to decrim-inalise possession of small amounts of cannabis. But those who are caught with up to half an ounce would still be in trou-ble. Possession would be made a civil offence, with fines of between $100 and $500. Governor Christie has proposed mandatory treatment rather than jail for nonviolent drug offend-ers.

A clinical study at the Uni-versity of California shows cannabis may be an effec-tive treatment for multiple sclerosis. The study of 30 adult patients showed it lessened spasticity - a common and disabling symptom of the disease. Professor Jody Corey-Bloom, said: “We found that smoked canna-bis was superior to place-bo in reducing symptoms and pain in patients with treatment-resistant spas-ticity, or excessive muscle contractions.” The current study is the fifth clinical test of the possible efficacy of can-nabis for clinical use re-ported by the University of California Center for Me-dicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR). Four other human studies on control of neu-ropathic pain also reported positive results.

United States of Cannabiz

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San Francisco Delivering

BY ANDY MORRIS

“Hello, welcome to Medi- thrive, this is Judy.”

“Hey Judy, I’d like to order some cannabis products please. Do you have any deals on right now?”

“We sure do. Four grams for the price of 3.5, and we pay your 8.5% sales tax. And there’s a complimen-tary joint with every deliv-ery.”

“Delivery?!”

“Yes, we deliver free and you can pay by cash at the door or by card over the phone.”

Welcome to San Francisco. The year is 2012, the sun is shining over the Golden Gate Bridge, the surf is up at Ocean Beach...and can-nabis is free delivery. This is a state so health-conscious that den-tists must display warnings that chemicals within the amalgam have been known to cause cancer. Same for

soft drinks like Sprite. Marijuana is legal for medicinal use. Which in practice means if you have a slight cold and $50 in your wallet, you can walk into any “ap-proved and licensed doc-tor” and be issued with a medical cannabis card. My partner went in, ready to tell the full story of all her aches and pains and her psychological con-ditions. The doctor interrupt-ed her after five minutes and said: “Here is your medical cannabis card, please sign it.” This was (I am dead-ly serious) a Dr Toke. Dr Anitha B. Toke, to be exact, but you have to believe he was born for the job. Once you have your medical marijuana card, you can go to any of the many dispensaries in the city and buy any cannabis products you like. Medithrive is a busi-ness that is showing the way forward. When the city gov-ernment ordered that all

dispensaries within a mile of a school be shut down last year, most closed for good. Medithrive went “on the road”, and quickly be-came known as the best cannabis delivery service in the city. Their menu is cat-egorised by flowers, pre rolls, concentrates, edibles, seeds and clones. No more trial-and-er-ror when it comes to finding the right strength for your needs. You will find the Northern Lights X Bubba Kush listed as “strength: 3, type: I, Flavor: Sw, Density: C”. So you really do know what you are getting - and there are six reviews giving it an average of four stars out of five. If smoking is not your thing, there are many who would recommend edibles like the $7 chocolate chip cookie or peanut brownie, each made with “a sativa dominant canna-butter.” I would make room for a tub of canna-butter in my fridge.

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Colorado & Washington LegaliseHundreds of marijuana enthusiasts huddled near Seattle ‘s famed Space Needle tower at Midnight on December 7 with pipes, bongs and hand-rolled joints to celebrate Wash-ington ‘s new status as the first state in the US to le-galise pot for adult recre-ational use. The new law, passed by voters on election day, could set the state up for a showdown with the federal government. Initiative 502 re-moves criminal sanctions for anyone 21 or older possessing 1 ounce (28.5 grams) or less of pot for personal use. Colorado voters like-wise chose to legalize pot for personal recreational use, but that measure is not due to take effect until 2013. Both states are among 18 that have al-ready allowed for medical use of marijuana. The Washington law also legalizes possession of up to 16 ounces (0.45 kg) of solid cannabis-infused goods - such as brownies - and up to 72 ounces (2.4 kg) of weed in liquid form. But driving under the influence of cannabis or imbibing in public places, where the consumption of

alcohol is already banned, remain illegal. The new law ulti-mately will permit cannabis to be legally sold and taxed at state-licensed stores in a system to be modeled af-ter those in many states for alcohol sales. The state Li-quor Control Board, along with agriculture and public health officials, have until December 2013 to set up such a system. For now, it remains a crime to sell, cultivate or even share one’s own stash, even though the law allows individuals to pur-chase a limited amount for personal possession. Ironically, the first known court challenge of the law came from a medi-cal marijuana patient in Olympia, who filed suit last week seeking to block en-forcement of a new stan-dard for marijuana impair-ment while driving, similar to the blood-alcohol stan-dard for drunken driving. The plaintiff, Arthur West, says the new le-gal limit, 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood of THC, would unfairly subject him to prosecution for a THC level at which he routinely drives without impairment. Little if any of the law’s finer points seemed to matter to the mellow

group of about 300 people - from college-age tokers to middle-aged Baby Boom-ers - who assembled at the Seattle Center fountain, a short distance from the Space Needle. Convivial laughter, laid-back conversation and occasional coughing filled the air as the pungent smell of marijuana wafted through the crowd, many wearing sweatshirt hood-ies to ward off the chill, on a cold, crisp evening. Carrying a sign, “marijuana is safer than alcohol,” Jared Allaway, 30, described the night as “iconic.” “Seattle’s always been friendly to cannabis,” Allaway said. “Hopefully this will spread to eastern Washington. You get out-side of Seattle, it’s a differ-ent world.” Seated in a wheel-chair that sported a “God-dess” sticker, medical marijuana patient Penny Si-mons, 52, said she traveled with friends from Renton, Washington, south of Seat-tle, to attend the smoke-in. “It’s history,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about the people across the country who are jailed for this. It’s nice to see things change.”- ABC news

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Lebanese Fighting War on Cannabis

On Guard: Marijuana growers in Lebanon protecting their crops from government forces.

Marijuana farmers in Leba-non’s Bekaa Valley wielded weapons much stronger than pitchforks when gov-ernment security forces threatened to destroy their crops in July. The government sent tractors and armored ve-hicles to flatten the illegal cannabis crops but farm-ers retaliated with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars, ultimately forcing security forces to back down. There was an ex-change of fire but no ca-sualties were reported, although two security vehi-

cles were bombarded with bullets. The Lebanese gov-ernment has often tried to wipe out cannabis farms, but the farmers, many of whom rely on the lucrative crop to support their im-poverished communities, are known to respond with aggressive defense tactics, most likely backed by well-funded drug traffickers. During Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, Be-kaa Valley produced up to 1,000 tons of cannabis and 50 tons of opium annually, but it was eradicated under a UN program in 1993.

Since that effort, the valley has re-emerged but the government are re-grouping and organising a new plan to take down the crop. Farmers say they are fed up with the area’s deprivation and the failure of various governments to develop the region. A member of one of the area’s cannabis grow-ing clans, believes poverty forces residents to depend on cannabis. Ten dunums of can-nabis can earn $20,000 a year, paying tuition for chil-dren and living costs.

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Join the New Norml Forum Today

Norml on Social MediaDue to popular demand the Norml forums are back online and ready for you to use. To access the forums go to www.norml.org.nz and click on Join the Dis-cussion. Then you will be able to browse a range of topics from activism to can-nabis culture. To start posting sim-ply click on register and supply a username, email and password. Once your account is set-up you can start posting. The Norml forum has only just been re-started recently so we need as many posts as we can get to restore the forum to its former glory.

From NORML’s website www.norml.org.nz you can link to a range of social me-dia and connect with our campaign Like our facebook page to get regular updates from: www.facebook.com/normlnz You can also keep

up-to-date with NORML by following us on Twitter. Find our profile at: www.twitter.com/normlnz Send us a tweet or a message about your views on the cannabis laws and make a suggestion on how to end cannabis prohibition in New Zealand.

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No Comment is best defence in bustDespite the criminal prohi-bition of cannabis remain-ing in force, the ability to avoid cannabis charges from police and convic-tions from judges appears to have increased Police now have an official cautioning scheme available for low level of-fenders including those in possession of personal amounts of cannabis. This involves po-lice exercising discretion and issuing what is called a ‘pre-charge warning‘ in cases where the offender is not known to police and shows remorse. So if you encounter the police try to be polite in the first instance and see if they will let you off. If the police do choose to arrest you, the best option is to physically cooperate but remain si-lent. If the police do try to elicit a statement from you, politely respond that you would prefer not to make a statement until you have had the opportunity to speak to a lawyer. By not making a statement you retain the maximum amount of free-dom to clarify the details of the situation in front of a judge, without being influ-

enced by police suggestion and intimidation. For the justice sys-tem to deal with the sheer volume of cannabis cases put before it, the police rely on defendants self-incrimi-nating, pleading guilty and not requesting full disclo-sure of evidence. By avoiding these three pitfalls, you can max-imise your chances of a more favourable outcome in court. Self- incr iminat ing can be easily avoided by remaining silent at the time of arrest. Avoid pleading guilty until you have had every opportunity to discuss al-ternatives with your lawyer. This may require entering no plea at your first ap-pearances in order to give yourself time to have prop-er legal consultation, but this cannot be held against you later in the case. The first step in mak-ing sure that you are re-ceiving robust legal advice is to see that your lawyer requests ‘full disclosure‘. This allows you to see ev-ery piece of evidence and documentation that the police plan to use to make their case. If all the documen-tation is not included or

appropriately filled out, or if the police evidence leaves room for a reason-able doubt that the offenc-es alleged were actually committed by the person charged, then the case is likely to be dismissed or result in acquittal. For example, if a cannabis plant is found be-ing cultivated in the com-mon area of a shared ac-commodation and no one makes a statement to po-lice as to who the canna-bis belongs to, then it is im-possible, without additional evidence, for the police to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the cannabis was cultivated by any par-ticular resident. In this type of situ-ation pleading not guilty and defending the charge would be worthwhile. Another avenue for leniency is discharge with-out conviction. If the conse-quences of the punishment would be out of proportion to the seriousness of the offending, a judge may dis-charge the defendant with-out conviction, and this is becoming more and more common in medical canna-bis prosecutions. If you are a medical user and you have a doc-tor’s note, you may get off.

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