In spite of some recent inaccurate rhetoric from both sides of the political debate racism has always been here, as it has in most other nations and communities. It is as difficult to define as it will be to eradicate and screaming racism at everything we don’t like or understand doesn’t help. But, if anyone can succeed we can and we will be the first nation in the world to do so.
Many past generations of parents have watched in helpless distress as their children changed from healthy, ambitious youngsters to unemployable zombies, visited them in jail or buried them as a result of illegal drug use. Too many young people today don’t even have parents who worry about them at all due to their own drug habits.
We are being asked to approve something which is potentially harmful to at least some vulnerable people so that others can get high. Given that there are so many other ways for people to enjoy themselves, legalising cannabis is probably not a good idea.
In the first week of each new year, for the past three or four decades, I have looked back through the scribbled pages of my… Read More »A wish list for 2020
In spite of the claims by several groups there is no reliable, peer reviewed, science, so far, to show that cannabis, in any form cures anything. There is good evidence however to show that, properly administered, it is an effective sedative and pain inhibitor without many of the nasty side effects of conventional medications. Two bills before Parliament last week had potential to provide the correct access to the people who need it and those who do not. It’s a shame that politics and ignorance got in the way.
Does New Zealand need a formal constitution of rights for it’s citizens? Some politicians suggest it would be a hinderance to government. Others say it would be impossible to include the rights of The Treaty of Waitangi (image courtesy of Archives New Zealand).