Ed
In Recent News

Pokie gambling costing economy $400 million a year – report

NewsTalk ZB 11 August 2020
A new report shows pokie gambling in New Zealand pubs and clubs, is costing the retail sector more than $400 million  a year.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report was commissioned by The Salvation Army and the Problem Gambling Foundation.

NZIER principal economist Sarah Hogan says the report shows what could happen if there were to be an end to class four gambling.

“It could result in more than $440-million going into the retail industry and along with that we could be looking at upwards of 1100 full time equivalent jobs.”

Hogan says those from high-depravation communities, spend three times more on pokies, than those in the least deprived areas.

She says if they were to divert that expenditure into the retail sector, they’d be supporting jobs within their community.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/paula-snowden-pokie-gambling-costing-economy-400-million-a-year-report/

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Ed
In Recent News

Where the two major parties stand on legalising cannabis

Election 2020: A National-Act Govt may not legalise cannabis following a ‘yes’ vote
NZ Herald 12 August 2020
Our additional comment: Summary – National will put the brakes on. Labour will have it in law by lunchtime.

A majority “yes” vote in next month’s cannabis referendum would not necessarily lead to its personal use being legalised if National was in charge after the election.

The party’s drug reform spokesman Nick Smith said the party would abide by a “yes” vote by introducing the Government’s Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which outlines the proposed regulatory framework for a legal market.

But whether National, which opposes legalising for recreational use, would then support the bill to become law would depend on the select committee process following the bill’s first reading.
READ MORE: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12355267

Election 2020: Jacinda Ardern refuses to say how she will vote in cannabis referendum
NZ Herald 11 August 2020
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern won’t reveal how she would vote in the upcoming referendum to legalise cannabis for recreational use.

Asked about the referendum to legalise cannabis and how she’d vote, Ardern said her vote was a good as her neighbour’s vote. Her focus was to ensure the Government was facilitating the referendum. She would not reveal her views when pressed on the issue by reporters.
READ MORE: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12355405

Radio NZ News
National caucus to vote against cannabis at referendum – Judith Collins
Stuff co Ltd
Judith Collins tries to smoke out Jacinda Ardern on how she’ll vote
NewsHub
Jacinda Ardern rejects challenge from Judith Collins to reveal recreational cannabis stance
NZ Herald
Jacinda Ardern refuses to say how she will vote in cannabis referendum
TVNZ One News
Jacinda Ardern keeps recreational cannabis vote to herself despite Judith Collins’ challenge

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Ed
In Media Release

Cannabis Legalisation Is ‘Appropriating Issues Of Systemic Injustice For Personal Gain Profit’

Media Release 12 August 2020
A social justice advocate from Washington DC says that the idea that legalising cannabis is going to deal with systemic injustices and inequalities is naive at best if not outright appropriating issues of systemic injustice for personal gain and personal profit.

The SayNopeToDope Campaign hosted a Facebook event today with interviews of three international experts on cannabis legalisation.

Author, consultant, advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations including Barack Obama, and assistant professor, Kevin Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for more than 20 years. He is currently the President and CEO of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).

Professor Mary Cannon is a Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), and Will Jones III is a Communications and Outreach Associate at Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and Social Justice advocate.

From her research, which includes involvement in the Dunedin longitudinal study, Professor Cannon warned that cannabis is strongly associated with psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. In fact, cannabis use is now the most powerful single environmental risk factor for psychotic disorder. Recent studies from Europe have examined the risks associated with high-potency cannabis (defined as greater than 10 per cent THC) and have found that daily users of high potency cannabis have a nine-fold increased risk of developing schizophrenia or another clinical psychotic disorder. But this “psychotogenic” effect is not confined to adolescent-onset cannabis use and appears more linked to frequency of use. In addition, it is not confined to people with a history of psychotic disorder in their family (although they are at high risk and should avoid cannabis).

She concludes that the failure of governments worldwide to control alcohol harms shows that once an addictive substance is legalised and freely available, public health takes a second place to profit.

WATCH THE FULL PRESENTATION

 

Ed
In Recent News

Kate Hawkesby: Covid is hiding government failures

NewsTalk ZB 11 August 2020
Our additional comment: “I’m not sure whereabouts the mental health part got ignored in trying to legalise cannabis, but adding cannabis to the mix in a country awash with mental health issues doesn’t seem like the smartest idea to me.”
Yep

I know of four families who lost teenagers to suicide these past school holidays.

I hear there were 7 families impacted by suicide in the Queenstown area in the past two weeks.

Our suicide rates in this country should be of no surprise to anyone – we have the worst rate of teen suicides in the developed world. It’s a shameful and heartbreaking statistic.

But the reason I raise this is because one of this government’s promises, in a long list of lofty promises.. was zero suicides.

Zero. None. That was their goal.

Not only that, they were going to fix mental health.

I’m not sure whereabouts the mental health part got ignored in trying to legalise cannabis, but adding cannabis to the mix in a country awash with mental health issues doesn’t seem like the smartest idea to me.

And then there’s child poverty. They were fixing that too.
READ MORE: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/early-edition/opinion/kate-hawkesby-covid-is-hiding-government-failures/

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In Recent News

Duncan Garner: Why I’m voting against cannabis legalisation at the referendum

NewsHub 11 August 2020
Our additional comment: “Our country has faced a huge upheaval this year – well, the whole world has – but worse could be yet to come. Perhaps economic chaos, which will be life-changing for many. I think this is a poor time for another social experiment on our streets when the evidence on the upside is flimsy at best and even the PM’s own departmental report fails to recommend legalising cannabis.
I’m voting against.” 👍😄

OPINION: Just a new Government and a long process ahead where the cannabis Bill will still need to make its way through the lengthy process of Parliament, including a time-consuming select committee.

Depending on who makes it back, any number of MPs could make changes to the legislation which you will have no power over.

Justice Minister Andrew Little says he expects there may be changes to the proposed law given the public will have their say during the parliamentary process.

Basically MPs this term couldn’t decide, disagreed or weren’t organised enough to put a simple solution in front of you.

But what I know is you are not voting on a sure thing, you are voting on the next Government carrying on the work of the last.

This Bill has barely passed the first hurdle.

Now it’s up to you to either give it life or put it to sleep.

Our country has faced a huge upheaval this year – well, the whole world has – but worse could be yet to come. Perhaps economic chaos, which will be life-changing for many.

I think this is a poor time for another social experiment on our streets when the evidence on the upside is flimsy at best and even the PM’s own departmental report fails to recommend legalising cannabis.

I’m voting against.

Be careful what you wish for.
Duncan Garner hosts The AM Show.
READ MORE: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/duncan-garner-why-i-m-voting-against-cannabis-legalisation-at-the-referendum.html

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Ed
In Media Release

The International Evidence on Cannabis – Facebook Event

Media Release 11 August 2020
The SayNopeToDope Campaign is hosting a Facebook event this Wednesday (12th) with three international experts on cannabis legalisation.

Author, consultant, advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations including Barack Obama, and assistant professor, Kevin Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for more than 20 years. He is currently the President and CEO of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana). Professor Mary Cannon is a Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), and Will Jones III is a Communications and Outreach Associate at Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and Social Justice advocate.

Topics covered include social justice with Will Jones, the cannabis industry with Dr Kevin Sabet, and mental health with Professor Mary Cannon.  Spokesperson Aaron Ironside conducts the interviews.

“THE INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE ON CANNABIS – Social Justice, Big Marijuana, Mental Health”
Wednesday 12 August 2020, 10am
Facebook Live – Facebook.com/SayNopeToDopeNZ

 

Ed
In Media Release

Cannabis Use In Pregnancy Linked To A Greater Risk Of Autism

Media Release 11 August 2020
In the largest study of its kind, Ottawa researchers have found that children whose mothers reported using cannabis during pregnancy were at greater risk of autism. According to the study, women who use marijuana during pregnancy have a more than 50 percent greater chance to give birth to a child with autism versus non-users. The study also found the risk for other neurodevelopmental disorders was heightened. The findings were published in the prestigious medical journal Nature Medicine. The research team reviewed data from every birth in Ontario between 2007 and 2012, before recreational cannabis was legalised. The researchers had previously found that cannabis use in pregnancy was linked to an increased risk of preterm birth. 

“Legalisation of marijuana has led to major concerns around pregnant mums using the drug, including as a treatment for morning sickness, and an increase in the number of babies being born THC-positive. This is just one of the many health hazards when you legalise a harmful addictive drug and normalise its use in the community,” says spokesperson Aaron ironside.

Marijuana during pregnancy is on the rise in the US. According to a recent, first-of-its-kind General Advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General, past month marijuana use among pregnant women doubled between 2002 and 2017. Furthermore, marijuana use during pregnancy has been linked to lower birth weight, hyperactivity, poor cognitive function, and other long-term consequences.

A 2019 study found that marijuana use doubled among pregnant women between 2002 and 2017 and is most common in the first trimester. Past-month marijuana use increased from 3.4 percent to 7 percent among pregnant women overall. The data came from an analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2002 and 2017, which involved nearly half a million women. And a July 2019 study based in California found that the frequency with which women in California use cannabis in the year before and during pregnancy has increased over time, corresponding with increasing acceptance of cannabis use and decreasing perceptions of cannabis-associated harms. The data indicates that cannabis is used differentially and disproportionately by the young, the poor and racial minorities.

A study in the June 2019 edition Journal of the American Medical Association also reported a sharp increase in the number of pregnant women smoking marijuana and an alarming link between cannabis use and preterm births, defined as 37 weeks or earlier. Canadian researchers compared the outcomes of birth by 5,639 mothers who reported cannabis use during pregnancy with 92,873 mothers who said they didn’t use it. The authors concluded marijuana is “likely unsafe” because pre-term births were twice as common in marijuana users vs. non users.

If a woman consumes marijuana while pregnant, their child is more likely to suffer sleep problems as much as a decade later, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study of nearly 12,000 youth. Published in Sleep Health: The Journal of The National Sleep Foundation, the paper is the latest to link prenatal cannabis use to developmental problems in children and the first to suggest it may impact sleep cycles long-term. Those who used marijuana frequently were more likely to report somnolence symptoms (symptoms of excess sleepiness) in their children, such as trouble waking in the morning and being excessively tired during the day.

“These are the health consequences that voters must consider when they consider whether to legalise and normalise drug use. We say it’s not worth the risk.”

Ed
In Recent News

Members of the NZMA voting ‘no’ in the cannabis referendum

Cannabis referendum: Four experts weigh up the pros and cons of legalising marijuana
NewsHub 9 August 2020
Our additional comment: Do we listen to drug advocates who want to normalise all drugs…. or to medical professionals who are health and patient-focused? 
Pretty simply answer eh.

Dr Kate Baddock – chair of the New Zealand Medical Association, a pan-professional medical organisation representing the interests of doctors

The NZMA holds the position that the social, psychological, and physical harms of cannabis are real and relevant, and Dr Baddock and many other doctors do not support the legalisation of cannabis based on those harms.

The social harms of cannabis include particularly the reduction in academic performance in younger people so that they underachieve educationally, and amotivational syndromes that are seen with continued prolonged use, affecting adults’ ability and motivation to work. Cannabis also affects the ability to drive safely through psychomotor effects slowing coordination and reaction times and increasing the risk of accidents. Cannabis and driving can be a fatal combination.

The psychological harms include impairment of thought processes, such as the organisation of complex information, short-term memory and executive processes. There is some evidence that these changes are not reversed on cessation of cannabis use, so cognitive function once lost cannot be regained.

Other psychological impacts include changes in mood and paranoia, anxiety, or panic. The association with the development of psychosis is well-recognised, although the strength of the causal relationship has been widely debated. There is also the risk of cannabis dependence (CAD) which appears to be related to a blend of unique environmental and shared environmental characteristics, and genetic propensity.
READ MORE: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/cannabis-referendum-four-experts-weigh-up-the-pros-and-cons-of-legalising-marijuana.html
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In Recent News

Vaping law ‘a tepid win’ in halting youth increase

Radio NZ News 8 August 2020
Family First Comment: “This unregulated world of marketing of vape as a lifestyle choice has actually created an image and an appeal that means the marketing methods have worked. The message that comes across is that this is something that is cool, hip and trendy. We see the same playbook from the smoking and tobacco ads of the 60s and 70s from Big Tobacco. We know this playbook and they’re using the same rules.”
And if Big Marijuana is allowed to come to NZ, it will be far far worse.

Vaping legislation has come too late to stop a new generation of non-smokers becoming addicted to nicotine, according to a marketing scholar who has researched the use of e-cigarettes.

The bill regulating vape products passed its final hurdle in Parliament this week.

It will outlaw marketing and sponsorship from November.

Point-of-sale marketing and on-site posters will continue, and will not carry health warnings and R18 language until February 2022, said AUT senior lecturer of marketing Dr Sommer Kapitan.

“That’s a long time for habits to be formed and for perceptions that this is a less risky product to still be part of the perception of young people.”

Promotions, social media influencers and festival sponsorships had been used by vaping companies to entice smokers trying to quit, but also to create a new market.

“This unregulated world of marketing of vape as a lifestyle choice has actually created an image and an appeal that means the marketing methods have worked. The message that comes across is that this is something that is cool, hip and trendy.

“We see the same playbook from the smoking and tobacco ads of the 60s and 70s from Big Tobacco. We know this playbook and they’re using the same rules.

Customers had seen colourful vape posters plastered across dairy counters since 2018 and that would continue, she said.

Schools and families had been on the frontline, witnessing the vaping increase among young people, and she herself saw students taking up vaping who had never smoked before.

“For parents, teachers, and principals of today’s youth, this is a win, but a tepid win,” she added.
READ MORE: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/423047/vaping-law-a-tepid-win-in-halting-youth-increase

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Ed
In Recent News

Vaping law passes: Advertising banned, flavours restricted and illegal for under 18s

NZ Herald 6 August 2020
The “wild west” vaping industry has three months to get its house in order after a new law banning advertising and restricting flavours has finally passed under urgency.

It’s taken 620 days to get the law over the line after Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa promised to regulate the industry in November 2018.

It wasn’t until this year she introduced the bill, which was voted through the House late last night – just before the final sitting day in this term of government.

Salesa blamed the delays on it being a “complex bill”, and said it was the most significant change to the Smokefree Act.

“It has taken a while.”

The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Vaping Amendment Bill will come into effect in three months’ time, in November.

It has broadly been welcomed but some fear it is too restrictive and could result in people using vaping as a smoking-cessation tool to turn back to cigarettes.
READ MORE: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12354092

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