Parliament passed another step in drug law reform this week, explicitly requiring the police to exercise discretion before prosecuting for possession and use of drugs. This implements the “public interest” test in the Solicitor-General’s guidelines into the law. I’ve written an urgent request to the Minister of Police (copy below) asking for more information on…
Month: August 2019
Poisoned tuatara, cockroaches and what else?
The first tuatara was poisoned with brodifacoum at Natureland zoo in August 2017 around the time when the Brook community was in court trying to stop the poisoning of the Brook Sanctuary. I’ve recently obtained OIA information from DoC which shows they knew about the wide array of wildlife and insects which are susceptible to…
Another 49 dead cows ….
We are still waiting for the EPA’s “independent” inquiry into the eight cows and three stillborn calves that were poisoned with 1080 by DoC at Mapara last year. Their draft report was due a month ago but it was recently postponed indefinitely by the EPA. Meanwhile there continue to be more suspicious deaths of cows….
High Hopes for Medicinal Cannabis
https://www.adls.org.nz/for-the-profession/news-and-opinion/2019/8/2/high-hopes-for-medicinal-cannabis-market/ Nelson lawyer Sue Grey, who has been at the forefront of the medicinal cannabis debate, says she sees the issue as a human rights matter rather than a criminal law issue “especially when you hear some of the stories”. She describes the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act 2018 as a missed opportunity,…
EPA delegating to DoC to issue HSNO Act s95A permissions to itself
From: D Parker (MIN) Sent: Tuesday, 6 August 2019 3:56 PM To: ‘Sue Grey’ Subject: RE: Letter from Minister Parker regarding your OIA request Dear Sue Grey I refer to your Official Information Act included below this email. We have transferred your request to the EPA. The information to which your request relates is believed…