Current Debates

Getting the MODA running

The New Zealand Law Commission has released the Misuse of Drug Act Review issues paper: Controlling and Regulating Drugs.

The full report, plus a really useful summary, can be viewed and downloaded at www.talklaw.co.nz/talkdrugs.

Needle exchange comes of age

The New Zealand National Needle Exchange Programme was the first of its kind in the world, and this year, it turns 21. Kim Thomas looks at the history of this quiet achiever and talks to some of those who have helped form its development over the years.

Healthy drug law

Our Misuse of Drugs Act has been around for nearly 34 years. It was developed at a time when our understanding of good drug policy was in its infancy and patterns of drug use were very different from today. It is now being reviewed, providing a rare opportunity for New Zealand to bring its drug law into the 21st century.

These pages provide an overview of the drug law review and the key issues that need to be addressed so that our law can be modernised and make relevant for today's drug problems.

Let's talk about pot

Bud, chronic, dak, dope, ganja, grass, maryjane, reefer and skunk. We all know the slang terms for cannabis. Half of us have tried it, and one-in-eight uses it regularly.

But is cannabis a glorified gateway to harder drugs and suicide, or some sort of herbal cure-all, benignly bestowed by Mother Nature? Should we be selling it from Courtenay Place cafes, or cracking down harder on cannabis smokers and growers?