Category Archives: Jihad on Drugs™

ACT, ALCP, Jihad on Drugs™, Libertarianz, Vote 2011

Fitzpatrick Calls on ACT, ALCP for Electorate Vote

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Fitzpatrick Calls on ACT, ALCP for Electorate Vote
Friday, 4 November 2011, 2:03 pm
Press Release: Libertarianz Party

Fitzpatrick Calls on ACT, ALCP for Electorate Vote

“In the 2008 election 487 Ohariu voters gave their electorate vote to the ACT candidate and 1,304 gave ACT their party vote,” Libertarianz Ohariu candidate Sean Fitzpatrick observed today.

“This year ACT has chosen to not stand a candidate in the Ohariu electorate. This leaves a void for those who sympathize with the classical liberal / libertarian side of the ACT party.”

“I call on ACT voters from previous years to seriously consider giving me your electorate votes this year, even if you still intend to give ACT your party vote. There is simply no other alternative that is even remotely satisfying.”

Fitzpatrick points out, “ACT supporters will not want to see Chauvel or Hughes as their local MP. Dunne has openly bagged Dr Brash for his views on the economy, drug law reform and virtually everything else. Katrina Shanks is only campaigning for the list vote.”

“In short, the ACT voter who still wants their electorate vote to count for something this year really only has one choice: Sean Fitzpatrick of Libertarianz.”

“In similar fashion, the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party is also not standing a candidate in Ohariu this year. ALCP voters can be assured that I back their view on drug law reform,” Fitzpatrick concludes.

For more information, see www.libertarianz.org.nz or contact:

Sean Fitzpatrick
Libertarianz Deputy Leader
Ohariu Candidate
Phone: 021 1699 281
Email: sean.fitzpatrick@libertarianz.org.nz
Website: http://seanfitzpatrickonline.com

Libertarianz: More Freedom, Less Government
www.libertarianz.org.nz

Onya Sean!

Jihad on Drugs™, Peter Dunne, Vote 2011

If you’ve got nothing nice to say …

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… don’t say anything at all.

That was my mother’s advice (and her mother’s before that). It’s good advice.

In a recent comment, my co-blogger Tim had this to say

The Randoids are so foolish as to forget that when Welfareism is overthrown that Fraternal Charity must step up to the plate… That Freedom can only flourish when you have caring communities whom ‘love their neighbors as themselves’… are rich in charitable deeds and good works and have a sense of civic duty. This is the glue of society.

This is a very important point. It’s one reason among many why Christianity does a better job than Objectivism of providing libertarianism with a philosophical and practical underpinning. And it’s on the topic of charity that I found something nice to say about Peter Dunne. Actually, I’ll let Peter speak for himself.

OK, now to flush the Dunney!

ALCP, Ayn Rand, Freedom, Jihad on Drugs™, Libertarianz, Live Like It's Legal, Meta-ethics, Philosophy, Slavery, Tax, Vote 2011

A top tax rate of 39 minutes

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I’m inordinately fond of this quotation from comedian Katt Williams.‎

If you ain’t got no job, and you not smoking weed, I don’t know what the fuck you are doing with your life, I really don’t.

Some people seek to spend their every waking hour hard at work. Some people seek to spend their every waking hour hard at play. And some people seek an elusive “work/life balance”. Are you keeping busy?

This post is a bit of a follow-up to why I am a libertarian. I am a libertarian because one cannot consistently argue for personal liberties and at the same time be opposed to economic liberty.

I have been a drug law reform campaigner my entire adult life. I joined NORML over thirty years ago – or tried to. I was told to wait a year or two until I turned 18. The idea of persecuting people for choosing to smoke a herb that makes them feel happy and relaxed, and enhances their appreciation of food, music and sex always seemed to me both ludicrous and wrong. There are too many smokers to arrest!

The fact that there are too many cannabis smokers to arrest makes cannabis prohibition ludicrous, but it does not make it wrong. At university I once attended an introductory lecture on critical thinking. The lecturer devoted his time to demolishing most of my long cherished arguments in favour of drug law reform. I was aghast! And chastened. I realised that deploying bad arguments for good causes is not a good idea. I also realised that I needed only one good argument in favour of drug law reform. That argument is the argument from human rights. I have a moral right to smoke cannabis! It ain’t nobody’s business if I do! The state should leave peaceful people alone to enjoy smoking weed, if that’s how they choose to spend their time.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I realised that my one good argument was actually an entire political ideology. That’s when I realised I was a libertarian. I have a moral right to earn money! It ain’t nobody’s business if I do! The state should leave peaceful people alone to enjoy earning money, if that’s how they choose to spend their time. And it should leave peaceful, productive people alone to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Prohibition is violence and taxation is theft. Both institutions depend, ultimately, on coercion by the state. Both are wrong, and for the same reason. Whatever may be open to disagreement, there is one act of evil that may not, the act that no man may commit against others and no man may sanction or forgive.* So long as men desire to live together, no man may initiate—do you hear me? no man may start—the use of physical force against others.

But, from a governmental perspective, there are differences between smoking pot and earning money. Time is money. The government can tax your money, but it can’t tax your time. Unless you try to combine smoking pot with earning money. Then you run the risk of a tax bill of several years in jail. This happened to one of the great heroes of New Zealand’s drug law reform movement, Dakta Green. Right now, he should be out campaigning for the ALCP vote in New Lynn. Instead, he’s rotting behind bars. Dakta Green says

After you’ve spent a little time in jail for growing a little weed, it tends to focus your mind on whether or not that’s a fair and proper response from authorities to our citizens. I, along with millions of others around the world, have decided that cannabis should be legally available for adults.

I’m one of those millions of people who’s decided that cannabis should be legally available for adults. That’s why, this election, I’m standing for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party. I’m the ALCP candidate for the Mana electorate, and #9 on the party list. Tick, tick!

[Cross-posted to SOLO.]

(*This is the Objectivist version of the NIOF principle, due to Ayn Rand. Christians may not sanction, but they must forgive. Yes, even the tax collectors.)

ACT, ALCP, Jihad on Drugs™, National Party, Vote 2012, Vote 2011

Now is the time for action!

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Can you imagine a political campaign ad like this in New Zealand? No, didn’t think so.

Perhaps not uncoincidentally, also in my inbox later in the day was a press release from ACT Leader Don Brash with the subject line, Time for Action. Don says

PREFU figures released today show that the National Government is projected to achieve fiscal surplus by 2014/15, as originally projected in the Budget. If achieved, this would place New Zealand in an elite group of countries. But the PREFU also highlights some very disappointing facts …

New Zealand will continue to suffer from anaemic economic growth for the foreseeable future and is projected to have long-term growth markedly slower than the growth assumed for Australia. This suggests that the Government’s objective of narrowing the gap between incomes here and those in Australia is still a distant dream.

I think I have a sound grasp of basic economic principles. I know what wealth is and where it comes from. But I have no idea what PREFU is. If Don says that today’s release of PREFU figures is good news, I believe him. But this anaemic press release doesn’t inspire this reader to action. I suspect that the latest poll which shows that John Banks trails in Epsom did not inspire the writer. It now looks likely that Don will have nothing to show for his unprincipled pragmatism in regard to ACT’s choice of Epsom candidate. A seat for him in Parliament after the upcoming election is still a distant dream.

I admire Don for (among many things) his public stance on cannabis law reform, and I despise the media and assorted low-lifes who used the opportunity to put the boot in rather than seize the opportunity to debate the issues. But now it looks like the cannabaton has been passed back to the ALCP. Thanks, Don, we’ll run with it.

ACT, ALCP, Jihad on Drugs™, Libertarianz, Righteous Rants, Vote 2011

Sermon on the Hill

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At short notice, I was roped in to substitute for ALCP leader Michael Appleby at a Wellington Central candidates meeting, held this evening in St. John’s Hall in Karori, Wellington. I was the final speaker. The meeting was organised by Ethne Wyndham-Smith, Coordinator for the Karori Community Centre. Thanks, Ethne!

We’re in a church hall, so I’m going to give you a sermon! A short sermon. A sermon on Prohibition.

There was a song released a few years ago which you may have heard. My kids introduced me to it. It was called What if God smoked cannabis? Well, it’s an interesting question. Of course, God wouldn’t smoke cannabis. He’s sky high, all the time! Let’s bring it down to earth a bit and ask, instead, what would Jesus do? Would Jesus smoke cannabis? I don’t know, but I think the short answer is no. Jesus would not smoke cannabis.

But if you ask, would Jesus smoke cannabis, you’re asking the wrong question! The question is not, would Jesus smoke cannabis, but would Jesus arrest people who do? And the short answer to that, I believe, is also no. Jesus would not arrest people who smoke cannabis. He would not support Prohibition.

The Bible reading this evening is from the Epistle to the Collossians. Chapter 2, verses 20-23. Here’s what the Apostle Paul had to say about Prohibition.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (NIV1984)

Paul recognised that Prohibition doesn’t work. Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! Don’t take drugs! These rules lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

There are good people with me up here on the stage. Two particularly good people are ACT candidate Stephen Whittington and Libertarianz candidate Reagan Cutting. Both Stephen and Reagan recognise what Paul recognised, and both support the ALCP’s core policy: legalise cannabis. They’ll join with me in telling you that Prohibition doesn’t work. And they’re right, it doesn’t.

Prohibition doesn’t work. Now think for a moment about that. Prohibition doesn’t work… OK. So, what would it be like if Prohibition did work? What’s Prohibition supposed to achieve? What’s Prohibition for? Prohibition is supposed to stop people taking drugs. Now, ask yourself, why on earth would you want to do that? Is it any of your business if people are taking drugs? How are you going to stop them?

Do you want to stop me taking drugs? If so, how are you going to stop me? Are you going to persuade me that taking drugs is a bad idea? Or are you going to send the police around to my house one day? Would you have them enter my house, against my wishes? Would you have them ransack the place, searching for the wrong kind of plant? Would you have them drag me off to a police cell, and detain me against my will? Would you?

Prohibition is violence! Jesus was not violent. What would Jesus do? I’d like to think that Jesus would give his party vote to the ALCP. This election, I ask you to do the same.

Please, give your party vote to the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party and help end Prohibition. Prohibition is VIOLENT, it’s UNCHRISTIAN and it’s WRONG!

[Cross-posted to SOLO.]

Alcohol, Jihad on Drugs™

Alcohol is a Class C controlled drug analogue

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Wine drinkers may be imbibing illicit drug

Drinkers of wine, sherry and port may be unknowingly breaking the law and consuming small doses of the party drug fantasy, an illegal class B drug.

The revelation has brought calls for wine to be tested to see if there are traces of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), or its precursor gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) – the active ingredient in fantasy.

The Ministry of Health has only just been made aware of the issue and is working through how to deal with it.

But alcohol is already a Class C controlled drug analogue.

The substance at the top is 1,4-butanediol (“Fantasy”), a class B controlled drug.

The substance at the bottom is ethanol (“Alcohol”).

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 states that

controlled drug analogue means any substance … that has a structure substantially similar to that of any controlled drug …

Jihad on Drugs™, Matthew, Propaganda

Tainted love

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Police warn on tainted E pills

A batch of Ecstasy pills that caused users to react so aggressively they had to be sedated may have contained a new drug that has caused similar reactions in the United States and Britain.

Staff at Middlemore Hospital’s emergency department were shocked by the violent seizures and hallucinations in people thought to have taken pills known as “red rockets”.

They reported users to be so aggressive that some required sedation – behaviour not normally consistent with Ecstasy.

… National Poisons Centre toxicologist Dr Leo Schep , said symptoms such as hallucinations were similar to those caused by a new synthetic stimulant drug … methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) … has been linked to episodes of violence and paranoia …

I don’t think so. I know people who report having taken MDPV on a daily basis for a year or more. Apparently, it’s quite the antidepressant du jour. That said, there’s no denying MDPV has a very bad reputation. This is not a drug for taking, this is a drug for laying down and avoiding.

Because police have not seized any of the pills, tests cannot be done to determine their content.

“I’m not saying it definitely is, but based on the symptoms that have been reported … it strongly suggests the possibility …”

I have no idea what fuels Red Rockets. Neither do the police, neither does the NZ Herald, and neither does Dr Leo Schep. Until we have test results from two or more independent laboratories, how about a nice big cup of STFU?

STFU

Why? Because sensationalism and disinformation are potent weapons in the propaganda War on Drugs™. The police and the NZ Herald are prominent aggressors. They’re on the wrong side.

Blessed are the peacemakers. (NIV)

(For what it’s worth, those on the ground have suggested AMT or 2C-X as possible ingredients.)