The Law Commission is reviewing the Misuse of Drugs Acts, the next time they do with will be in 25 years. So here’s my submission. Submit yours here

The time to act to protect the public from hard drugs is now. People talk about cannabis being the gateway drug, when really, it is the current Misuse of Drugs Act that is gateway LEGISLATION.

Because cannabis is driven underground with all the other hard drugs, this means that the only way for people to get hold of cannabis is to go to drug dealers, who most probably want a customer for their more expensive, and more addictive drugs.

With 51% of the population having tried cannabis and up to 15% of the population actively using cannabis that makes for a lot of people to potentially have exposure to hard drugs. It also shows that despite the illegality of cannabis, people are willing to smoke it.

We need to take control of cannabis out of the hands of drug dealers and gangs. These unregulated distributors sometimes adulterate or lace their cannabis with harder drugs, or harmful substances such as lead particles (to make it weigh more) or microscopic glass beads (to make it look more potent).

This makes the drug a significantly more hazardous to the health of the people that choose to smoke it (regardless of the legality), because the government doesn’t provide a means of safe access.

Cannabis has been scientifically and anecdotally proven to be beneficial for over 300 ailments and diseases. Making cannabis a class D drug would open up the doors for research on it, allowing scientists to extract the chemical cannabinoids and make newer, safer, and natural drugs.

It is a little known fact that in the human body there are four types of cannabinoid receptors (that have been found so far). Cannabinoids are produced in three ways. Naturally by the human brain (endo-cannabinoids), naturally by the cannabis plant (phyto-cannabinoids) and artificially in labs.

I would also like to compare the situations between the Netherlands and the United States. The United States Government is vehemently opposed to drug tolerance, treat drugs as a criminal issue and as a result have very high drug use rates. The Netherlands on the hand, regulate the use of soft drugs, and treat drugs in general as a social health issue – I.E. providing easy access to education and rehab for those that want it. The Netherlands drug use rates are half that of the United States. These figures can be found within 5 mins on google.

Do I need to mention what happened when the United States prohibited Alcohol?

To put cannabis into the class D category is to take a step in the right direction. It is to take a step into governmental control of drugs, instead of governmental restriction. This is what is needed to protect our citizens from hard drugs.

I found this article from the Dominion post and wanted to debunk it because it is absolute shit.

First of all the articles states two different figures for hospitalization for cannabis users in 2005. $32m and $35m.. which one is it? We’ll take the figure of $35m and divide that by the 400,000 users in the country (as reported by the DHI in the NZ herald here) and you have health costs of approximately $80 per user. With an estimation of only half of people surveyed admitting to smoke cannabis you have a figure of 800,000 user in NZ, this equates to around $40 per user. Is this really an issue? And what constitutes an admission for cannabis use? It is my bet from stories I have heard that these admissions are from first time users, having too much and freaking out as can be seen in the documentary “Should I Smoke Dope”. In the documentary the reporter freaks out when she smokes a whole joint at a cannabis shop. First time users should not smoke a whole joint. Its not a danger to their life or bodies at all, however they can freak out and think they are overdosing. But at least cannabis users who freak out and think they are overdosing still have the piece of mind and ability to go to the hospital. Lets see someone with alcohol poisioning or a heroin overdose admit themselves to the hospital.

Now lets look at the alcohol figures quickly. 4700 people a year die from alcohol use with an estimated $1.5b to 2.4b of social harm as reported here in the NZ Herald.

“Cannabis-related hospital admissions exceeded the numbers admitted for opiates, amphetamines and cocaine combined. “

They say there are more admissions to hospital for cannabis use than any other drug. HELLO!!! This is because more people use cannabis than any other drug! This is a good thing, would you rather your kid smoke a harmless herb, or get cooked on Pure Methamphetamine? Approx 95,170 people admitted to using other drugs than cannabis compared to 400,000 cannabis users who admitted to using. I think however times both figures by a factor of two because how many people are going to admit to using illegal drugs?

“The majority of patients were suffering from a psychotic disorder, followed by cannabis poisoning, harmful use, dependence and acute intoxication.”

They say people admitted had a psycotic disorder. Could it be that these people were self medicating with cannabis? So they were using cannabis to fix the psycotic disorder rather than the cannabis causing the psycotic disorder? Treatment of depression and bipolar disporder with cannabis has been proven to be beneficial.

There are over 300 medical uses for cannabis.

“The majority of patients were suffering from a psychotic disorder, followed by cannabis poisoning, harmful use, dependence and acute intoxication.”

It also states that people got marijuana poisoning. This is not possible. Cannabis is not POISON!!! You IDIOTS!!! Do some research and you will quickly find that the chemicals in cannabis are naturally produced by the healthy human brain. These chemicals, known as cannabinoids are produced in the cannabis plant and called Phyto-cannabinoids. The cannabinoids produced in the human brain are called Endo-cannabinoids. There are so far 4 known cannabinoid receptors in the brain and body cells that when stimulated help with pleasure, brain cell generation and neuroprotection among other functions. Cannabis is far from poison.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said he had not yet read the report, but suspected the cost to the health system would be “significantly higher than that, when you consider its contribution to accidents and family breakdown”.

Contribution to accidents? Which? Where? What accidents? And how can cannabis breakdown a family? I think you mean alcohol and its prevalence for causing domestic violence?

“A new breed of powerful cannabis and ballooning costs in treating its health effects have led to calls for urgent action…”

The final beef I had with the article was this opening line. First of all more potent cannabis IS BETTER!!!! It means you have to smoke LESS to get the desired effect. This means there IS LESS SMOKE ENTERING THE LUNGS. And any smoke, even cannabis smoke which has had cancer links disproven, is still not good to inhale. There are better ways to consume cannabis than smoking.

OK, I like Obama… he looks like a dude you could trust to runa country, and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt here. If he’s not corrupt then he is definitely a pawn for the big corporations.

I don’t understand why he got a peace prize? For taking troops out of Iraq and putting them into Afghanistan? That doesn’t really equal peace does it? Especially because doing this is completely self serving for OPEC and other corrupt organisations.

You see, now that they have stopped Saddam drilling his own oil to use for his own country (like he watched the UAE do), they need to secure Afghanistan to allow a oil and gas pipeline to run through the country.

To run a pipeline through the country they need to get rid of the Taliban because they’re not really down with a pipeline. That is one of the supporting factors of 9/11 being a false flag operation. Talks with the Taliban about putting a pipeline through were breaking down before 9/11. A war on terror (and the Taliban) was a perfect excuse to take out those standing in the way of the pipeline. Not to mention the fact that the Taliban had destroyed all the poppy fields slowing the supply of heroin into America, and thus slowing the need for drug war spending (this is bad, the law enforcement agencies would lose their jobs with no drugs/users to confiscate/apprehend).

So back to the point of the of the story… it would seem Obama is sending US troops back into Afghanistan to make sure the Taliban are kept down. This in turn allows for a stable country for a pipeline to carry oil and gas from the resource rich countries north of Afghanistan, down to the sea for American ships to take as they please.

The problem here is that the country is not stable. Even if the Taliban are kept down, the country is in pretty bad shape since America invaded. Infrastructure and housing are needed and all promised aid has not arrived. This makes for desperate people living in poverty, and they are going to grow up angry at America because they dropped bombs on their houses and didn’t repair them.

Which is completely understandable right? If America invaded my country I would be fighting back. Some would label that being a terrorist, but I would label that being terrorized. America are the real terrorists in this world.

So basically it all comes back to greedy oil companies taking valuable resources from smaller countries that can’t protect themselves, with the help of the American Government/Army (aka Terrorists/Bullies), under the veil of The War On Terror. With utter disregard for the deaths of soldiers and civilians – they just want their money.

You got that? The only terrorist threat comes from America… everyone else is just a desperate patriot trying to fight back against the military industrial complex that has targeted their country and is stealing their resources.

Patriots exist in places other than the USA you know…

Continuing on with why the game is rigged, I went from hemp to cannabis and checked out the two major components. THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol (which I have explained before how we have receptors to process) is the main one, and then there is Cannabidiol which can be up to 40% of the plant.

Now get this. Cannabidiol has been studied by many research groups and this is what they have found:

It appears to relieve:

• convulsion
• inflammation
• anxiety
• nausea

And it appears to inhibit cancer cell growth.

HELLO!? Appears to INHIBIT CANCER CELL GROWTH!!

Why aren’t they researching this shit more? Further top this they also say that it reduces growth of aggressive human breast cancer cells in vitro (in a test tube) and reduces their invasiveness. Thus it represents the first non toxic chemical that can make tumours less aggressive! You’d think this would be big news right? Wrong. Did you know “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”? Can’t be having that now!

It is also a neuroprotective antioxidant, which means it can stop neurons in the nervous system dying or being damaged after a brain injury or or as a result of chronic neurodegenerative diseases.

Thankfully Canada now has a product called Sativex which is cannabidiol and THC in a mouth spray to treat multiple sclerosis.

And even though the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy still says that marijuana can cause Schizophrenia, initial research shows that cannabidiol has an effect in reducing schizophrenic symptoms in patients.

Plus they have found the receptor for this chemical, called the GPR-55, common all over the brain, especially the cerebellum. They want to call it CB3 (Cannabinoid receptor 3), already having CB1 and CB2. But there is another possible candidate for CB3 that has been found in the hippocampus. So thats 4 cannabinoid receptors found in our bodies now, 3 of which are in the brain. Anyone tend to think we are supposed to consume this drug, cannabis?

So you have this chemical, cannabidiol, it has the potential to stop nausea, inflammation, Schizophrenia, neuron death/damage, anxiety, convulsion and the aggresiveness of breast cancer. There are no psychoactive effects and no known abuse potential and guess what..?

It is a Schedule 1 drug under United States law.

This hints to me population control. The game is rigged people. Enjoy your cancer.

OK so first post for the new year, guess what it is? It should be my trip to Pakiri the other day but I found something way more interesting.

I was looking through wikipedia as I do and I was looking at hemp production (the non-drug type of cannabis). In 1916 it was found that 1 acre of hemp can produce as much pulp for making paper as 4.7 acres of wood over a 20 year cycle. Also to break down the fibres 1/4 the amount of sulfur-based acid chemicals are needed for hemp (or none with soda ash). Also Chlorine bleach is not needed to bleach the paper, instead hydrogen peroxide can be used.

There are more environmentally friendly ways now but wood paper pulp production is still the second highest CO2 producing industry.

Did you know they use hemp fibre to strengthen concrete? Yeah, its called Hempcrete among other names and acts as an insulator and moisture regulator. Plus it is lighter, less brittle and doesn’t need expansion joints.

Some other random facts from the wiki article:

• It is reported to produce 250% more fiber than cotton and 600% more fiber than flax when grown on the same land.
• Hemp seed oil is reported to have anti-inflammatory properties.
• Hemp seeds contain all the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life.
• Mercedes-Benz uses a “biocomposite” composed principally of hemp fiber for the manufacture of interior panels in some of its automobiles.
• It is sometimes used in the manufacture of oil-based paints, in creams as a moisturising agent, for cooking, and in plastics.
• Biofuels such as biodiesel and alcohol fuel can be made from the oils in hemp seeds and stalks, and the fermentation of the plant as a whole, respectively – and it is reported to produce more energy per acre per year than corn, sugar, flax, or any other crop currently grown for ethanol or biodiesel
• Every industialized country in the world, excluding the United States, produces industrial hemp including Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Great Britain, France, Russia and Spain (although Canada only grows hemp for seed and oil, not fiber).
• Hemp Plastic is a new technology based on 20-100% hemp fiber-based plastics that can be molded or injection molded. Demand for fiber-reinforced composites and other natural plastics could become more popular as oil prices rise and environmental awareness increases.
• It is used for non-dairy milk somewhat similar to soy and nut milks, and for non-dairy hemp “ice cream.”
• Hempseed is an adequate source of calcium and iron. Iron deficiency is the leading nutrient deficiency world wide.

So as you can see, hemp has a lot of applications, that are better for the environment, and sometime of much better quality and quantity.

The problem is, hemp is grouped under marijuana and is condemned thanks to people and companies who had various interests in competing industries. Such as forestry (William Randolf Hearst), nylon (Dupont), and cotton plus competing industries to all mentioned above. Then there was the intense racism (which was suitable for this time ~1930) by Hearst, and Harry J. Anslinger, the first head of the Narcotics Bureau in the US. And finally the misrepresentation of the cannabis drug (which hemp is grouped under).

The game is rigged. Companies just want money and more money so they are gonna try and keep this stuff down.

A brief history of the criminalization of cannabis

So I voted for the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party.

So what? I’m not a druggie. I don’t actually want to see cannabis legalized. As Jason at work pointed out, if it was legalised then you’d see burglaries, and meth labs and stuff rise because, the same crooks who were growing weed are now out of job, and they probably won’t be wanting to get a real job, so their going to keep doing criminal acts that make them money.

But my thinking was if there was enough people voting for them (7,589 voted for them out of 373,000 dope smokers in NZ) then maybe they’d at least look at making it legal for medicinal use. And then, hopefully we could open the door to actually researching the drug.

It has so many uses. It is a wonder drug.

Here is just some of the people who can benefit from it:

• Arthritis sufferers: On the normal prescription drug for Arthritis; Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), something like 70,000 americans per year are admitted to hospital, and 7,600 die from the adverse affects.
• AIDs sufferers: Chronic Pain.
• Cancer sufferers: Chronic Pain and depression.
• Crones disease sufferers: It hurts these people to eat. And the stuff they do eat, their bodies don’t get much nutrition from it. So why not get stoned? It gives you the munchies, and soothes pain. A perfect remedy.
• Idiopathics: My mother is an idiopathic but unfortunately she is too much of a prude to try marijuana. Idiopathics suffer from a condition where their own immune system destroys the white blood cells, meaning the blood is really thin and doesn’t clot so easily so if they get cut, they don’t heal easily. Cannabis soothes the immune system which would stop the immune system culling all the white blood cells.
• Smokers: Obviously if you smoke, its your own fault, however the THC in cannabis is thought to kill aging cells before they turn cancerous, as studies have shown that there is no link between lung cancer and smoking of cannabis. Plus, people who smoke cigarettes and cannabis have shown to be less likely to get lung cancer.

So who are the authorities to tell us what we can and can’t put into our bodies? As long as it isn’t done in a public place it should be fine. Obviously its not ideal for these people to walk around all day stoned, but thats why we need to research this drug; to split up its components for the different uses available, cutting out the ‘high’ factor.

But honestly, at the end of the day, when did a bit of euphoria hurt anyone?

So here’s a story for you.

A good friend of mine is the occasional cannabis smoker. However he is also an asthmatic. He said that if he’s had a joint recently and he goes to the doctors to get a peak flow meter reading, he gets a higher reading than if he hadn’t been smoking.

His doctor, a respected (and christian) practitioner, upon seeing the reading fluctuations asked, “Are you a cannabis smoker?”. He said “No,” and the doctor told him that the cannabis smoke actually helps the lungs expand more, and also that the resin can be coughed out. Unlike the residue from cigarettes, which the lungs absorb.

My friend went on to say that went he was busted with cannabis at school, his mum said to his laywer, “But, I didn’t think [my son] would be able to smoke cannabis because of his asthma?” to which the laywer replied “Well, actually, the cannabis can help it.”

I think this again points to the fact that cannabis needs to be researched, as it holds a lot of uses. But because it can be grown by anyone in the back yard, the pharmacuetical companies won’t produce it because of the lack of revenue when people realise they can make their own remedies with it.

Governments won’t subsidise it because they don’t want to fluctuate in their normal “dangerous drugs” scams. And what does it all come back to?

Money.

This is the perfect example, an effective, safe, natural way to treat multiple ailments, but because it cannot be easily monitarily harnessed, no one wants to invest time in it.

Cannabis is not a dangerous drug. It is simply a victim of Capitalism.

I’ve read a story about how cannabis tops the list of illicit drugs sending people to hospital (see also: this and the public veiws on that).

Cannabis use is causing more admissions to publicly-funded hospitals than all of the other illegal drugs combined, a police drugs specialist has found.

373,310 people (83% percent of whom don’t use regularly) use cannabis, 143,280 people (51% of whom don’t use regularly) use drugs other than cannabis. So thats under half (38%) the amount of that people use drugs other than cannabis.

More cannabis user than any other illegal drugs combined = more cannabis-related admissions that any other drug combined.

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