MarijuanaNews.com : Reefer Madness in New Zealand Op-ed Says “We Are Killing Our Kids With Cannabis’.” And A Little Prohibitionist Humor.

Posted February 28, 2000
From The New Zealand Press
editorial@press.co.nz
http://www.press.co.nz/
By Bruce Logan
(MarijuanaNews note: I have no idea who Bruce Logan may be,
or why the Press printed this, but it is about as bad as it gets. This is the real reason
that kids don’t believe anything they are told about “drugs.” We are
killing them with lies.)

‘IN NZ WE ARE KILLING OUR KIDS WITH CANNABIS’

Youth Drug Taking Is A Disaster In Which The Adult World In New Zealand Is
Complicit, Argues Bruce Logan.

The media’s love affair with Nandor Tanczos is distracting.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=104″>Founder of New Zealand NORML — Now in
Parliament Urges People Over 18 To Be Allowed To Grow And Possess Cannabis For Their Own
Use. To Tour Campuses.

It’s all shades of green. Green thoughts in a green fog. Tanczos’ efforts to
decriminalise cannabis must be a nightmare for thousands of parents of teenage children.
The routine availability of illegal substances is now a fact of life for young people.

Drug taking by young people around the Western world, and that now includes New Zealand,
is the fastest growing part of the drug market. Keith Hellawell, the British “drug
tsar”, has made this point, repeatedly. Trevor Grice, of the Life Education Trust,
also warns us, repeatedly.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=25″>UK Tsar Loses Power To Former Marijuana User
Who Says, “I will continue to fight hard against the drugs that can kill people, like
heroin and cocaine.”

Youth drug taking is a disaster in which the adult world in New Zealand is utterly
complicit. And it is complicit because that same adult world is morally confused and
intellectually befuddled. It is not convinced that drug taking is a great evil at all.
Sometimes parents who have first hand experience of the consequences manage to convince us
for a day or two.

The normalisation of illegality has crept up on us. It is this reality that compromises
action and gives drug taking its chic for rebellious and experimental youth. They can no
longer rebel over sex, which is now a spectator sport, so drug culture is all that is
left. Drugs are a source of pleasure and in a world besotted by hedonism, they are
attractive. Add the youthful fantasy of its own invulnerability and the constant but
inaccurate comparison with alcohol, and the stage is set.

Nandor Tanczos exemplifies the confusion. We know he uses cannabis, kids know he uses
cannabis. He is a member of Parliament and the media’s darling. He has appeared on, or
been discussed on, TV more than the new Attorney-General. There have been, in the last two
weeks, at least 13 newspaper items about him. It is doubtful if any new member of
Parliament with so destructive a message has ever been given so much attention. It would
seem that we are all drunk, not just those running the country. Behind the scenes our
libertine elites, who have been responsible for creating so many of our social problems,
reinforce the creation of another.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=107″>Founder Of New Zealand NORML Refuses To Nark
Drunken MP

Some politicians, police officers, academics, journalists, and even one cleric are
flirting with decriminalisation. And flirting is the operative word. A climate has been
created that suggests that the smartest people think decriminalisation or legalisation is
the answer. The rest of us are simply prejudiced.

Nandor Tanczos would be alarmed if he knew the identity of some of his fellow
protagonists; that he, too, is a pawn of the wealthy opportunists. George Soros, the
billionaire financier, has invested millions of dollars in influential charities that are
pushing legalisation. Mr Soros wants to make most drugs legally available.
(MarijuanaNews note: Wealthy opportunists? Does he really think that
George Soros who gives away billions wants to go into the marijuana business? What
nonsense.)
See
Legalize?
“Marijuana Maybe” Says Soros Spokesman
He claims he would first destroy the drug trade by keeping prices low and then would raise
prices, like taxes on cigarettes, making an exception for registered addicts, to
discourage crime.

In 1998 an advertisement in the New York Times was signed by hundreds of activists.
(MarijuanaNews note: No, they were not activists. They were
prominent citizens from around the world.)
See

HREF=”http://www.marijuananews.com/soros_group_buys_2_pages_in_the_.htm”>Soros Group Buys
2 Pages in The Times
And Gets a Free Article: “War on Drugs Called More Harm Than Good”
size=”2″>
and
“New
‘War On Drugs’ Has Familiar Ring,” Says Ottawa Citizen;
“There is no such thing as a soft drug,” Says Shalala
and links

They said that the global war on drugs was causing more harm than drug abuse itself. They
pretentiously and simplistically contrasted “fear, prejudice, and punitive
prohibitions” with “common sense, science, public health” and of course,
“human rights”. This is the kind of thinking that is shaping the arguments in
New Zealand.

Public debate, when we nearly have it, is dominated by three fundamental false assertions,
all implicit in the mind of Mr Soros, and probably in the mind of Mr Tanczos and the New
York Times advertisement.

The first is that cannabis is a soft drug and therefore less
harmful. Cannabis stays in the blood for weeks, a pilot cannot fly a plane 24 hours after
a joint.
(MarijuanaNews note: No, the metabolites of THC stay in the system
for days or weeks, depending on the level of use. The metabolites are not psychoactive. As
for the pilots, well that was one study of dubious value.)
See
Australian
Study Of 2,500 Injured Drivers Showed Those Who Used Marijuana
Less Likely To Have Caused Accident Than Even Drug-Free Drivers
– But How Do The Swedish Prohibitionists Report It?
and
1994
Dutch Study On “Marijuana Use And Driving” In Real World Conditions

In 1990 the Dutch Minister of Justice admitted that cannabis-tolerant Holland
had become the crime capital of Europe with a dramatic rise in cocaine and other opiates.
(MarijuanaNews note: Although the Justice Minister at the time was a
prohibitionist, and later was disgraced in a prohibition related scandal, I doubt if even
he would have said such a thing. In fact, the Dutch have a lower rate of both cannabis and
hard drug use than most other European countries.)
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/final_report_of_dutch_national_d.htm”>Final
Report Of Dutch National Drug Use Survey Will Require New Lies From The Drug Czar:
Their Lifetime Cannabis Use Half of DEAland’s; Two-Thirds That of UK

In Alaska, where cannabis has been decriminalised for more than 10 years, use
of hard drugs soared along with crime. More than 2000 people were admitted to hospital
with cannabis-induced psychosis. New South Wales is on the same path.
(MarijuanaNews note: There is nothing even close to factual here.)

The second falsehood is that the worst harm done by drugs is through the crime associated
with its supply. So take it off the statute books. This argument completely misses the
point. Drugs by their nature bring death, destruction, and great suffering anyway. All
these do not come about because it is illegal to sell and take drugs.

Finally the idea has spread that it is possible to take drugs responsibly. That there is a
safe way of doing so. There is a place for a process in harm reduction in helping addicts.
There is no such thing as a harm-free drug. Cannabis is addictive and its comparison to
alcohol is disingenuous.
See
David Hadorn
Writes:
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Cannabis Is Substantially Less Harmful Than Alcohol Or Tobacco
and links

One joint every day causes permanent brain damage whereas
one pint of beer or a glass of wine every day does not.
(MarijuanaNews note: If that were true, how could Nandor
Tanczos have won a seat in the Parliament?)
See the next item below.

The problem is not the absence of hard facts. We have plenty.
See
A
Major Contribution — Regulate And Tax Cannabis -
Full Text of New Zealand Drug Policy Forum Final Report
and also

color=”#0000ff”>French Report Says Drinking Worse Than Cannabis After Chirac And Prime
Minister Reject Calls To Decriminalize
and
High
Anxieties — What the WHO Doesn’t Want You To Know About Cannabis — New Scientist Special
Report

The problem is our befuddled thinking when it comes to pleasure and the power of money.
What we need to understand in New Zealand is that we are killing our kids. And that is a
terrible guilt to bear.
See

href=”http://marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/how_the_war_on_marijuana_to_save.htm”>How
the War On Marijuana To Save The Children
Has Become A War On the Children To Save Marijuana Prohibition

From the Swedish prohibitionists, who don’t usually have much of a sense
of humor:

Hassela Nordic Network Press Release
http://www.hnnsweden.com/hnn_latestnews_main.htm

February 28, 2000

If you continue smoking cannabis you may end up in Parliament

On Friday, in Christchurch District Court (New Zealand),
an 18-year-old teenager faced a charge of possessing enough cannabis for one cigarette. “I
have told him he cannot go on like this. He might end up in Parliament”, duty
solicitor Michael Knowles told Judge Stephen Erber.

HNN-comment: Mr. Knowles obviously referred to New Zealand
COLOR=”#ff0000″>pothead MP Nandor Tanczos who has admitted smoking marijuana and is
pushing for its decriminalisation.