FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 February 2010
TO: News Media
FROM: NORML NZ and The Daktory
RE: 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.
The Daktory has already begun regulating the market in Waitakere in the absence of any Government controls. The club enforces a strict age limit.
Phil Saxby says the tour coincides with the public discussion period on the Law Commission’s issues paper, due out later this week.
“Laws must be based on justice and the consent of the governed. This country’s cannabis consumers – over 400,000 of them – will never consent to their unjust persecution under the Misuse of Drugs Act”, he says.
He told the crowd at Waitangi that the support from Northland people had been overwhelming with the Cannabus receiving toots of support, waves and the Daktory hand signal in support of cannabis law reform.
In unscheduled meetings on the Treaty Grounds, Dakta Green and Phil Saxby met with Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader Phil Goff.
“We told the two main party leaders of our intention to end the drug wars and asked them to help resolve this 35-year conflict,” said Phil Saxby. “We will arrive at parliament at the end of the Armistice Tour, with firm proposals for a peace settlement”.
“At Waitangi, we met supporters from throughout the north and around New Zealand. The Armistice Tour will be back in Northland soon to help communities like Dargaville and Whangarei establish their own community run Daktory as part of ending the drug war” says Dakta Green. “It’s time now for peace and reconciliation.”
ENDS
Contact: Phil Saxby
phil@norml.org.nz
Dakta Green
Txt only 0212136646
www.drugrights.org.nz
The Drug Rights Project
go dakta green, you have my full support and millions of indian holymen. kia kaha, shiva bless
I support the Dakta’s noble efforts for law reform… but as with other HUMAN RIGHTS issues… it needs the masses to stand up & be counted.. 100,000 people march on parliament !! Key & Co. just smile & continue on with their ‘no change’ agenda.. only if they feel threatened, by being kicked out, will they sit up & take notice… Kiaora
Praises in the name of the most HIGH… Jah Rastafari..
Wish I could have been there. Key/Cough and the rest of the diplomats are getting the message this issue is drug policy, but not as they expected it.
Waitangi is just the venue to launch for a new partnership in this land, “our territory”. Big up to NORML’s Phil Saxby for taking the time, his is (according to some of the southern tribal affiliates of Labour) a credible engagement in this issue having brought so much to Maori and Pakeha with MMP ‘enabling’ robust communitarian discussion around the hard stuff.
I’ll be in Auckland next weekend to lend a hand and speak to the Daktavision of Amnesty for all. (I’m not allowed to speak for a month in Christchurch, something to do with Surveillance and Search powers of the Police and a Court so stupid it cannot see how silencing dissent ‘chills’ lawful debate!).
We’re getting there boys
this is a year of change
Hey Dakta & co, are you guys doing a petition, and how many signatures do we need? When does it get to the stage of a national referendum etc i.e when we vote, we have the option of ticking in favour of decriminalisation etc?
Also we need to start funding hemp farming too, as it is now legal to grow hemp in NZ (with a pemit ) thanks to Nandor, who got the ball rolling on that issue! Maybe setup a bank that lends specifically to hemp famers?
I’m sure that due to the legal status of growing hemp now, there must be a few shrewd business men who are wise enough to see the potential in investing this new market which provides us with so many forms of sustainable resources, and makes more money per hectare than wheat, corn, sheep, beef or dairy! Cradle to cradle baby!
Also try to get yourself into the media as much as possible i.e. 60 minutes, john campbell etc, that will speed up the process, all we need to do is inform the public better and the majority vote will be ours!
Be strong, never give up!
Had a really good time in Waitangi with Dakta Green, Mary Jane the Cannabus and the rest of crew
I was very passionate about the protest, I gave it my all
I think you are all dumb for smoking drugs. You should all grow up and get jobs. It is funny you think the world will change just because you write messages on this forum while you sit around smoking drugs. As if a bunch of stoners would ever be able to put the pipe down long enough to actually make any progress. Keep dreaming those pipe dreams junkies while the rest of us work and get ahead! Mo
Mohammed A….wtf is up with you?? If you feel that way about cannabis then why on earth are you here?? Go and stick your head back in the sand…
Mohammed.
Why are we the bad guys for basing our ideals upon actual evidence and experiences while you clearly base your ideals on assumption and prejudice. Not all pot smokers fit the stereotype you so foolishly outlined, so when you are ready to think like an actual adult, please post a reply.