Children aged 7 hooked on cannabis

and media fluffs it up! doh!

Family First reports Children aged 7 hooked on cannabis

NZ Herald November 08, 2007
Addiction agencies are seeing primary school children smoking cannabis, despite a slight drop in adult use of the drug. Rotorua counselling agency Te Utuhina Manaakitanga Trust said yesterday that children as young as 7 were getting help for cannabis addiction. Clinical co-ordinator June Bythell said the agency was still seeing a steady increase in clients seeking help with cannabis and alcohol. “We have a major problem with cannabis in our area. People are trying to make changes but it is a huge struggle for them,” she said. Other agencies in Auckland and Hamilton said they were also seeing more children starting to smoke cannabis in primary school.

Figures released this week showed that cannabis use by 15- to 45-year-olds had dropped for the first time in many years – from 20.4 per cent in 2003 to 17.9 per cent last year. But New Zealand still has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the developed world, second only to Canada in the last World Drug Report. Dr Grant Christie, a child psychiatrist with the Auckland Community Alcohol and Drugs Service, said his agency commonly saw young people who had started smoking cannabis as early as 11. He said the drug was usually given to children by their parents, a sibling or sometimes an older friend of the family. “They are very dysfunctional families, they are not your typical everyday families. There is usually CYFS involvement, there are usually multiple agencies involved,” he said.

NZH http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10474704
Rotorua Daily Post http://www.dailypost.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3754496&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Doesn’t say much for prohibition eh!
How do these buggers manage to ignore that ‘all this’ it is occuring on their watch? Or that reform is accountable for none of this mess? And why isnt the media asking that question?

Blair Anderson
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com

Get Blairs Brain on Newsfeed…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-CanvassingForOpinion

Police Draw Weapons on 14yr old Boy on way to party.

Police draw weapons on man in fancy dress
TV3 News – Auckland,New Zealand
Neighbour Blair Anderson, who had just returned from an anti-terror rally says he saw the incident unfolding and approached to find out how old the boy was.
See all stories on this topic

There was of course, a little more to this story… firstly, there was no fancy dress, it was a track suit.

Here’s how I described it elsewhere.

Just thought you might like to know that the ‘militarised’ Police did another “Glock” point and ask later to an under 18yr old. The offficer had this man in his sights – aimed at the centre of his chest. It happened right outside my house [50 Wainoni Road,CHCH] just after 7:30pm, 26thOct]. The young man was terror’ified.

The Police refused to allow an adult observer/advocate (it is a youth right) while the lad detained. I was under duress of arrest for asking his age. [I had volunteered after first determining the lad was under 18yrs.]

The senior Officer’s response was haughty and dismissive.

He inferred I was drunk. I was not. I had just opened and sipped from a small bottle of beer and then this happened outside my living room.

Had, in the very intense moments where the ‘occupation force attired’ officer was in ‘battle cry’ – fired and missed… it would have penetrated the bedroom of my friend Alister, at bed height. (four metres from the ‘offender’ and six from the Glock) This could have so easily become another Stanmore Road.

In this case Guns were presented within seconds of arrival at the scene, and while a Police Dog was present.

We should be lucky this young man was very passive. He was under extreme duress, he could have just as easily been irrational. It is understood that he had a toy ‘cap’ gun. He had not presented at anyone. He had been talking with a member of the public (actually Alister’s tenant) moments before asking for some directions. They were as surprised as anyone, as he was non-threatening.

I am reliably informed however, that the ‘complainant’ was an off-duty police officer who had been following this young man for sometime. There was nothing observable that would leave anyone with the impression this young man was anything but a teen… and despite the black and white track suit (unhooded) all I saw was a chubby faced bedazzled kid who would be more at home in front of a playstation.

Further, separate to and prior to this, the Police have been targeting protest organisers in recent days. Three persons peripherally associated with either Happy Valley or Demozone (Otautahi Social Center & Food Not Bombs) have been busted for minor amounts of cannabis. These are [now] highly suspicious busts, one following personal phone calls to organise ‘to pick up the gear’ [for sound reinforcement] for Saturday’s ‘global day of action’ minutes later… the Drug Squad arrive.

You know my field of advocacy and expertise.. this is seeding gross dissent amongst youth in the community. Very unhealthy Policing and even unhealthier mental health outcomes for those present. (recall, ‘don’t put a label on me!’)

Lest we forget, Terrorism and Drugs Issue are one and the same. You might recall the Woman [who lauded along with David Lange on Scoop], was also a British Cabinet Minister (and Drug Czar) who brokered the Irish [domestic terrorism] Peace Accord. She died November 2005. Her name was Mo Molam. Google her name and the word ‘terrorism’ and ‘drugs’ – [social implications of ‘terror laws’] We should be gravely concerned.

If you’re still curious, substitute the same search with ‘ Ray Kendall ‘ the General Secretary of Interpol. Or for even more informed insight on high level advocacy with a global perspective “Senlis Council” about covers it all.

There is a conversation we are not having… (in CHCH and elsewhere) Time to Talk this Mo’vember?Just be aware and be careful..

Blair Anderson ‹(•¿•)›

Social Ecologist ‘at large’
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com
http://blairformayor.blogspot.com
http://blair4mayor.com

ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219

Get Blairs Brain on Newsfeed…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-CanvassingForOpinion

Cannabis not dangerous for young people

AMSTERDAM – Smoking cannabis does not affect the brains of young people.
Cannabis not dangerous for young people / 17 October 2007

This emerges from research into the effects of cannabis on the brain of young people carried out by neuro-psychologist Gerry Jager. At the Utrecht University Medical Centre De Jager examined forty teenagers, half of whom smoked cannabis regularly while the other half did not. Jager conducted memory and concentration tests and examined MRI scans.

The test results of the cannabis smoking youths were as good as those of the other group. “The things happening in the not yet fully developed brain of cannabis-smoking youths are similar to what happens in the brain of adults,”Jager said. She would advise young people who are suffering from a combination of problems not to use cannabis. But she sees no harm for the large group of young people who occasionally smoke a joint. “In ten years’ time they will be established citizens and won’t smoke cannabis any more.”

All sounds just to damn logical to me… why? Because we intuitively know this from the body of social experience. The plural of anecdote is evidence. No amount of political bleating will make it otherwise. /Blair

Get Blairs Brain on Newsfeed…
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlairsBrain-CanvassingForOpinion