Posts by Ross Bell
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Pretty much completely ineffective for amphetamines/methamphetamines.
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Tom - research strongly suggests lowering the blood alcohol limit would indeed save lives. The thing we're not doing well in NZ is providing good addiction treatment to recidivist drunk drivers.
From 1 December roadside drug testing will begin - not using any technology (because good drug tests don't exist); instead police will use something similar to the US-styled subjective tests (touch your nose etc).
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In addition to the saliva testing in VIC, NSW has been piloting these much more accurate tests for ecstasy. Not sure what a NZ equivalent would be for methamphetamine.
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(Let's try that again...)
Sir GP comes across OK on the Law Commission's Youtube channel.Just reading through the Law Commission report. It looksl like it is trying to be all things to all people, but most of all not spook the liquor industry.
The best thing about the liquor review is that is does cover a lot of ground and that it's not simply proposing 1 or 2 silver bullets. So while I've previously bitched and moaned about timid politicians and half-arsed solutions, the Commission's review offers up some fairly practical and palatable options - just so long as you're not among the "extremists and zealots at both ends of the spectrum who have been too strident and dominant for too long".
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Sir GP comes across OK on the [http://www.youtube.com/lawcommission | Law Commission's Youtube channel].
Just reading through the Law Commission report. It looksl like it is trying to be all things to all people, but most of all not spook the liquor industry.
The best thing about the liquor review is that is does cover a lot of ground and that it's not simply proposing 1 or 2 silver bullets. So while [http://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/alcohol-review-Oct07 | I've previously bitched and moaned about timid politicians and half-arsed solutions], the Commission's review offers up some fairly practical and palatable options - just so long as you're not among the [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0907/S00386.htm | "extremists and zealots at both ends of the spectrum who have been too strident and dominant for too long"].
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It's also the view of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, which takes an evidence-based approach.
Thanks for the plug Russell!
For more of the Drug Foundation's 'evidence-based' drug policy stuff check out these new video clips - all of which are edited highlights from our February '09 Drug Policy Symposium: Through the maze: Healthy drug law ...
+ Setting the scene
+ Addiction treatment
+ Criminal justice
+ The cannabis debateAnd if you like what you see, we can send you a DVD with more footage from the symposium
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Maybe small businesses can learn from charities, who need to operate under tight finances even when times are good.
I have at least 2 recommendations:
1. Hook up with Xero2. And a billionaire currency speculator.
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A comment on the crime stats thing: in their piece on the crime stats TV3 said "somewhat surprisingly" methamphetamine crime is down. Well no, that's not surprising, when you consider methamphetamine use has been tracking down over recent years (not that you would read about that on the front page). So it figures meth-related crime (manufacture, supply, etc) would track down accordingly. I guess it's sad for the media when truth gets in the way of a good story.
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I spoke too soon...
Drug survey shows NZ slipping into 'world's gutters' - expert
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10519516