Press Releases
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Another Drug War Injustice
Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Dakta Green | Filed under Legalization, News, Press Releases. 1 Comment »
National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, New Zealand Inc.
PO Box 3307 Shortland St Auckland 1015 New Zealand
Tel 09 302 5255 Fax 09 303 1309 info@norml.org.nz www.norml.org.nz
Media release
7 March 2010
TO: News Media
FROM: NORML New Zealand Inc
RE: Vince Whare’s Ten Year Ban another Drug War injustice
Contact: President, Phil Saxby 021 069 4542 or 04 461 6631
VINCE WHARE’S TEN YEAR BAN FOR CANNABIS ANOTHER DRUG WAR INJUSTICE
The ten-year ban handed down to veteran rugby league player Vince Whare makes him another casualty of injustice in our 35 year-old war on drugs, said NORML President Phil Saxby today.
The Canterbury Bulls’ prop has just been suspended from any involvement in sport for a decade by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand after testing positive for cannabis use. He tested positive for cannabis twice before, once in 2005 and then again in 2006.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code requires third-time doping offenders to be banned for at least eight years, but cannabis is no more a performance-enhancing drug than alcohol”, Mr Saxby said. “What would happen to sport if all alcohol-using players were banned after 3 drinking offences?” Read the rest of this entry »
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Restore Respect for Law, End Cannabis Prohibition
Posted on February 27th, 2010 by Cam Wright (Dakta Bourbon) | Filed under Featured, Information, Legalization, News, Press Releases. 3 Comments »
Friday, 26 February 2010, 4:47 pm
Press Release: NORML
NORML to Collins: Restore Respect for Police by Ending Cannabis ProhibitionNORML President Phil Saxby today called on Police Minister Judith Collins to restore public respect for law enforcement by calling an armistice in this country’s prolonged “war on drugs”.
In response to recent attacks on Police Officers, Ms Collins has been quoted as saying that “it’s extremely important to rebuild the respect and fear for the law.”
“Fear of the law isn’t the problem,” said Mr Saxby. “What has been eroding away in New Zealand is respect for the law and then by association, those who enforce it.”
“The Misuse of Drugs Act created the so-called “war on drugs” which is actually a war on ordinary Kiwis. After thirty-five years of criminalisation, the 400,000 people from all walks of life who currently use cannabis justifiably feel marginalised and discriminated against.”
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“Nobody should be punished by their boss simply for smoking cannabis”
Posted on February 13th, 2010 by Dakta Green | Filed under Armistice Tour, Information, News, Press Releases. 2 Comments »
“Nobody in New Zealand should be ever punished by their boss simply for smoking cannabis on their own time”, said Dakta Green today.
“So long as no-one is being hurt and no disturbance caused, what goes on outside of the job is no matter of the company or the employer”.
Mr Green was referring to the current investigation by TVNZ into claims that its staff smoked cannabis during a visit to Waitangi on the CannaBus with Dakta Green and members of NORML and the Daktory.
“NORML sympathizes with any employee in New Zealand who fears for their job because of private cannabis use, or who has faced consequences from their employer for having used cannabis”, Mr Green said.
Dakta Green said he knew of many people in the cannabis culture who felt upset about the way in which Close Up treated him in a segment aired last week. “Some have made formal complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, but my understanding is they only complained about the content of the show, nothing else”, he said.
“Any claims of wrongdoing alleged against the TVNZ staff in question are nothing but hearsay”, he said. “We enjoyed their company and I believe they enjoyed ours, but I can categorically say they never smoked cannabis with us on the CannaBus”.
“And besides”, Mr Green continued, “even if they had, so what? They’re adults! It’s only cannabis – a drug that’s far safer than both alcohol and tobacco”.
“I’m very sorry these people are being treated this way; particularly as it’s happened immediately following the Law Commission’s report recommending no more criminalization of cannabis smokers.”
Dakta Green said that such persecution is an infringement of basic human rights, something he plans to talk about more on the upcoming Armistice Tour 2010.
ENDS
Contact: dakta_green@thedaktory.org.nz
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Armistice Tour 2010
Posted on February 7th, 2010 by Dakta Green | Filed under Armistice Tour, Legalization, News, Press Releases. 9 Comments »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 February 2010
TO: News Media
FROM: NORML NZ and The DaktoryRE: Dakta Green warmly welcomed on Waitangi Walkabout
Cannabis activist Dakta Green received a rapturous Waitangi Day welcome yesterday with chants of “Free the Weed” from the mainly Maori crowd during a Waitangi walkabout.
Dakta Green was greeted like a celebrity while official Waitangi celebrations went on behind them, an enthusiastic crowd gathered around the Treaty flagpole to hear Dakta Green and NORML NZ President Phil Saxby launch the “Armistice Tour”.
“The Armistice Tour is about ending the drug war between the government and people of Aotearoa-New Zealand,” says Dakta Green. “We want to bring an end to decades of prejudice and hurt.”
NORML’s Cannabus (Maryjane) will tour New Zealand during the next three months, ending with a rally at parliament. “An Armistice means that neither side has to admit defeat. We start the tour with three proposed conditions for a just settlement of the drug wars:
• Adult use only- NZ has the highest rate of teenage cannabis use in the world
• Amnesty – stop arresting the people for cannabis (NZ has the highest arrest rate in the world for cannabis use)
• A regulated market – replace the uncontrolled criminal market with a regulated, taxable, cannabis trade. -
Cannabis vs The Courts
Posted on December 14th, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under Cannabis on Trial, Featured, History, Legalization, News, Press Releases. 3 Comments »
CANNABIS RIGHTS TRIAL NEXT MONDAY 21st December 2009. Auckland District Court.
In a legal first for New Zealand, The founder of The Daktory, New Zealand’s first Cannabis club will appear in court next Monday to argue that Cannabis laws are a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The Daktory has been operating openly for the last year and has over two thousand members.
Dakta Green, will appear in court to argue for a stay of criminal proceedings following arrests made during decriminalisation protests held in 2007.
“I want the whole thing thrown out” said Dakta Green. “Alcohol causes more harm than cannabis but alcohol users are protected by law. Cannabis users are persecuted. The laws are discriminatory. They don’t work and they are unjust. Police and the Courts have got better things to do than chase after the likes of me and the 800,000 other people who smoke cannabis each year in New Zealand.”
Dakta Green, an experienced political campaigner, intends to pursue his claims all the way to the Supreme Court if he needs to. “We will never give up fighting for our rights as citizens.”
Arguing that cannabis laws are a breach of civil and human rights have never been tried before in a New Zealand court. If successful with his application, Dakta Green will set a ground breaking legal precedent.
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Radio Live
Posted on June 20th, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under News, Press Releases. 1 Comment »
On Radio Live tonight at 7pm there is an interview with Dakta Green about the evils of cannabis prohibition. Will post the podcast link here when it is available for those tuning in after the event.
here is the link. The interview commences at 7.20pm
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/AudioArchive/AudioOnDemand/tabid/344/language/en-NZ/Default.aspx
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‘Craccum’ interviews Dakta Green
Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under News, Press Releases. No Comments »
Why do we lock our citizens in jail for cannabis?
Cannabis prohibition laws are the most evil to be perpetuated against our fellow citizens since the abolition of slavery.
On 20 May 2009, Kiwi Cannabis News Vault (KCNV) were present to film an interview conducted with Dakta Green by Auckland University magazine Craccum.
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
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CANNABIS “Joint Research Venture” for Police ‘Extraordinary’, says Dakta Green
Posted on May 24th, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under Press Releases. No Comments »
MAY 24, 2009
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party Mt Albert candidate Dakta Green today called the news that Police have been growing their own crops of cannabis in order to test its potency an “extraordinary conflict of interest”, saying it was the job of the Police to “enforce current laws, not to seek justification to continue prohibition laws. Research is the work of researchers and scientists. Politicians are those responsible for justifying current cannabis laws not the Police. Whilst scientists have been declined the opportunity in New Zealand to research cannabis based medicines, Police have been growing cannabis to further their crime busting duties. It is quite bizarre.”
“The DSIR can easily test the strengths of seized drugs, but I want to know what business is it of Police to know what the THC levels of different strains of cannabis are? How does that information assist them in their job of arresting pot smoking New Zealanders?”, asked Dakta Green. “This is yet another absurd example of taxpayer’s dollars being thrown on the Drug War fire and wasted. ”
New Zealand has the highest arrest rate in the world for cannabis. Over 130,000 New Zealanders carry criminal records for cannabis offenses. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for cannabis possession alone.
“The only people who should be interested in THC levels are those working with medical marijuana patients”, Dakta Green stated.
Cannabis and cannabis extracts are being legally prescribed in New Zealand, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, and various states of the US to treat a variety of conditions including MS, glaucoma, AIDS wasting syndrome, and nausea and other side effects caused by chemotherapy.
“Cannabis is such a broad-spectrum medicine that different strains, each with their own unique blend of active compounds and strengths are used to treat specific conditions. This, combined with the fact that it’s an easily grown organic medicine, makes it perfect as both a primary and complimentary health treatment”, Dakta Green said.
“There has been so much research done on cannabis over the past forty years: that it’s a safe and effective medicine is now an established fact. How is can best be employed in the affordable treatment of a myriad of illnesses and conditions is a whole field of research waiting to be explored further … but not by police officers whose time is better spent catching criminals rather than somehow trying to justify going after pot smokers like myself”, concluded Dakta Green.
Dakta Green will appear in Auckland District Court this Tuesday, facing a charge of publicly smoking cannabis.
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Party Welcomes Labour Candidate’s Position On Pot
Posted on May 24th, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under Press Releases. No Comments »
Saturday, 23 May 2009, 1:31 pm
Press Release: Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis PartyPRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
MAY 22, 2009
Legalise Cannabis Party Welcomes Labour Candidate’s Position On Marijuana
Dakta Green, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP) candidate in the upcoming Mt Albert by-election, has welcomed David Shearer’s statement at Auckland University on Wednesday that he “wouldn’t want to see someone who was smoking a joint go to jail”, describing the Labour Party candidates view as enlightened and sensible.
Dakta Green currently faces a charge of publicly smoking cannabis and will appear in court next Tuesday.
“Our former Prime Minister, Helen Clark is this country’s most famous cannabis smoker, so it stands to reason that as a Labour man he’s going to agree in principle to a common sense policy on cannabis’, said Mr Green, “but that doesn’t help people like me, about to face the force of the law for doing something as trivial as smoking a joint in public. His party, as Government, had nine years to do something about fixing the law and did squat!”
“They held a Select Committee Inquiry into cannabis in 2001 which recommended law change and then sat on it. The National Government before them held a Select Committee Inquiry into cannabis and mental health in 1997, which also recommended a changing of the legal status of cannabis. Our politicians hear the same advice every time and then ignore it”, stated Dakta Green. “A case like mine is outrageous in this day and age. It’s a complete waste of police time and tax-payer money”.
“It takes common sense to see the folly of our current prohibition approach to marijuana; it takes courage to act on that. Who in this election campaign has such courage? Who will stand beside me and demand change, demand justice, and above all, demand an end to the locking up of good people of Aotearoa/New Zealand simply for being cannabis smokers? We are citizens too.” concluded Mr Green.
ENDS
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ALCP Candidate Seeks National Candidate’s Backing
Posted on May 24th, 2009 by Dakta Green | Filed under Press Releases. No Comments »
Saturday, 23 May 2009, 1:13 pm
Press Release: Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis PartyPRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USEMAY 22, 2009
ALCP Candidate Seeks National Candidate’s Endorsement In Mt Albert By-Election
The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP) calls on National to endorse Dakta Green in the upcoming Mt Albert by-election after Melissa Lee confessed today on talkback radio that she had no chance of winning the Auckland seat.
“She’s conceded her campaign is over, so any vote for National is a wasted vote”, said ALCP candidate Dakta Green today. “Ms Lee should pull out and endorse the person she prefers amongst the other parties. Given that she’s so keen on keeping criminals out of Mt Albert, I believe I should be that candidate!”
Dakta Green is referring to Melissa Lee’s statement, reiterated by her today on radio, that a new motorway would divert criminals away from Mt Albert.
“Criminals abound in Mt Albert”, stated Dakta Green. “My sources tell me the area is rife with “tinny houses.”
“My position is that Government must re-classify and regulate cannabis. I established the Daktory in West Auckland as a model for cannabis law reform. Community trusts, similar in nature and intent to the liquor licensing trusts, will be established to own and operate Daktories in communities around our country,” stated Dakta Green.
“The Daktory keeps children out with an R18 policy. We know this works: the Dutch have been doing something very much like it for the past 30 years and they have one of the lowest rates of teenage cannabis use in the world.”
“New Zealand on the other hand, has the highest cannabis arrest rate per capita in the world and the highest rate of teenage cannabis use amongst the OECD. It’s high time to address this matter”, said Dakta Green.ENDS
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