Policy and Advocacy: Opinion piece

Now, more than ever, rational, balanced and informed debate on cannabis use is needed, so that legislation and cultural attitudes can be shaped by right understanding instead of panic and misinformation. Drug Foundation Director Ross Bell weighs some news stories in the balance and finds that coverage is often found wanting.

Drugs have played an integral part in human experience from the long distant past to the present. Doug Sellman explains why the future is likely to be no different.

New Zealand prides itself for punching above its weight on the world stage. Ashley Bloomfield argues we play an important role in the international response to tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

No one doubts the good intentions of the powers that be when they ban substances for the public good. But at what point do such bans become a paternalistic encroachment on individuals’ rights to choose? Anna Nuzum argues that party pill and other bans go too far, and lead to dangers that may be even worse than the problems they seek to address.

With an estimated 1,100 million regular smokers in the world today and one related death every 10 seconds, tobacco is among the world’s most used and dangerous drugs. Ann McNeill and Jamie Bridge suggest how harm reduction philosophy could replace the usual global ‘quit or die’ response.

The sun is setting on tobacco in this country. Shane Kawenata Bradbrook believes that within 10 years, the countdown to a tobacco-free New Zealand will see a dramatic change in smoking behaviour amongst Maori and non-Maori unlike. The biggest change will not come through legislation, but through Maori lore – tikanga – and through a shift in Maori leadership.

Supermarkets are increasingly stretching the letter and spirit of the law when it comes to selling alcohol, at times, even blatantly breaking agreements they made with Parliament before the passing of the Sale of Liquor Act 1989. Bruce Roberston.