Hard News by Russell Brown

Beautifully done Russell. The excitement of hearing Kiri and Chloe- everybody, but them, wow, most hopeful thing I have seen for ages.

Holy shit. Oregon is decriminalising personal quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and ecstasy.

And it's Republicans doing it.

Republican State Sen. Jackie Winters claimed the war on drugs as it currently exists amounts to “institutional racism” due to how more frequently minorities are charged with drug crimes than whites.

“There is empirical evidence that there are certain things that follow race. We don’t like to look at the disparity in our prison system,” Winters said during a hearing. “It is institutional racism. We can pretend it doesn’t exist, but it does.”

Thank you Russell. Your open minded response to this issue is always refreshing and encouraging.

Excellent and moving article, Russell.

However;

Māori had no use for intoxicants before European contact

Is incorrect. The berries from the Tutu plant (Coraria) were pulped and juice separated from the toxic (tutin) seed and stalks. The juice was consumed fresh, but also when fermented into wine. This was a potent intoxicant from accounts recorded by pakeha.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/drug-foundation/13-07-2017/how-to-legalise-cannabis-lessons-from-canada-where-theyre-about-to-do-it/

The berries from the Tutu plant (Coraria) were pulped and juice separated from the toxic (tutin) seed and stalks. The juice was consumed fresh, but also when fermented into wine. This was a potent intoxicant from accounts recorded by pakeha.

Hopefully more reliable accounts, though unlikely to be as entertaining as the tutu scene in Red Mole's Slaughter on Cockroach Avenue. Visiting a rural commune, guru Don Heke, played by Alan Brunton, exhorts his hippie devotees to "Eat sacred tutu berry!" Under the influence of what look suspiciously like jaffas the hippies dance wildly as they're transformed into animals. Eventually they change back, except for the undercover spy who attempted to infiltrate their group, who ends up beaten to death for being a rat.

Māori watching kereru falling out of trees after too many fermented miro berries, after the initial reaction of "whoo, free meat!", surely would not have failed to think "that looks like fun". Even indirectly, that's a good "use for intoxicants" right there.