Silver bullet ricochets

Michael Laws should not be allowed on TV. I'll tell you where you can stick your silver bullet, Mayor of Where. One more dead cop in a gang shoot out today. Whether this gang drugs bust was supposed to be a PR sting to show the Gang Insignia Bill in good stead (or not), it's all gone wrong in Napier. The Mexican stand-off continues.

Two dead cops in the War on Drugs in 12 months. If you include the cop that dropped out of the sky whilst searching for cannabis crops, that's three dead cops in five years. FFS, please look at repealing prohibition. It will all end in tears otherwise.

UPDATE: Police Minister Judith Collins is "extremely shocked and concerned." But not surprised.

What a cute little- Argh, the pain! Get it off me!

Cruising for a Darwin Award in the House of Knut:

The keepers' bravery was praised after they dragged the 32-year-old out of a moat for the animals. They had to shove the animal out of the way after one of four polar bears dived into the water and attacked her, inflicting serious bites to her legs and arms...

Police did not say why the woman jumped into the enclosure. She had to climb over a fence, a line of prickly hedges and a wall to get in.

Polar bear massage was never going to become popular

Down in flames

Is Winston Peters the McCain of net etiquette? Direct mail with websites made with the recipients' names in the address has sent out around the country. Not content with pissing off the Electoral Commission, the police and the SFO, Peters is so desperate for attention, he is risking the wrath of the Privacy Commissioner too.

Will Winston Peters be the first ever NZer to be sued to death?

White collar crime wave

The NYT has a story on how the War on Terror has taken the heat off white collar criminals:

So depleted are the ranks of the F.B.I.’s white-collar investigators that executives in the private sector say they have had difficulty attracting the bureau’s attention in cases involving possible frauds of millions of dollars.

Here in NZ, the Labour-led government is committed to abolishing the SFO and merging its duties in a new FBI equivalent, the Organised Crime Bureau. At a time when criminal malfeasance in finance companies is becoming evident and the financial climate ripening for scammers and fraudsters, abolishing a specialised white collar crime unit is just about the stupidest thing to do.

Overkill Bill

The Electoral Finance Bill makes a dog's breakfast look like fine cuisine. Even dog tucker has more meat in it than this Bill. I can't refer to this Bill as vomit because even puke has a few carrots in it. This Bill is sicker than sick. All this time behind closed doors wrangling a majority with the minors for this? THIS??

The preamble admits that this Bill "significantly amends the Electoral Act 1993 and also amends the Broadcasting Act 1989." Dr Helena Catt, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission, pointed out at the Electoral Symposium that there were twice that many Acts affecting electoral funding (buggered if I can remember them all). This Bill is not a holistic makeover of how elections are funded.

The policy objectives in this Bill include "promote participation in parliamentary democracy". This is the nub of it. Parliamentary democracy, not representative democracy. Parliament is supreme, not the people. If you're not in a professional party, then you won't be able to have your say. This is a power play.

I doubted my faculties when I read that third parties have to register with the Chief Electoral Officer, that they must appoint a financial agent to act as martyr. But the one that really whammed home was the part where third parties had to HAND OVER to the Chief Electoral Officer any anonymous donations over $500 for the WHOLE YEAR.

This one hit home. I have an AP of $10 weekly that goes to NORML. According to this Bill, if I didn't disclose my identity to the authorities, my donations would have to be handed over to the government. Lucky for me I don't give a flying mallard whether people know I give money to an organisation that seeks to legalise the prohibited, thereby possibly incurring the wrath of arrest and detainment at any moment by warrantless search under the Misuse of Drugs Act. It's OK, I've desensitised.

The intent of this Bill is clear. Knee-capped by fundraising to pay off last election, Labour, NZ First and Untied Future will knee cap everyone else to even the score for the next one. Better yet, don't give your meagre disposable income to a pressure group, give it to a party. Pity the poor bastard who wants to support an idea not an ideology.

But what really pisses me off is the Greens' support for the Bill. The Green Party started out as a coalescence of pressure groups, fused together in the Alliance and spat out before it went supernova. This Bill will kill any chance of that happening again. In spite of the very essence of the spirit of MMP, to encourage and foster more than two voices in the House, the Greens would throw that all away to be popular with Labour.

The next chink is Mark Burton.

Ban Ze Pills

I've just settled into the office after attending a press conference in Jim Anderton's office where he advised that BZP will be banned. BZP products are to classified as a Class C1 substance, putting it in the same league as other moderately harmful drugs such as cannabis, coca and khat. Around the country, organised crime must be rejoicing that Jim Anderton has thrown them a new revenue stream to play in.

Jim Anderton thought he was being magnanimous that he wasn't using the Order in Council process to illegalise BZP, a process which involves gazetting the policy for 28 days before ordaining it as law. Instead, an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act will be put through the select committee which should allow for public submissions on the matter.

More worrying is the prospect of a re-write of the Misuse of Drugs Act. I've been hassling for this for a while, but with the illogical rationale to ban BZP as an example, a re-write at this stage bodes ill for the harm minimisation strategy. For example, the reversal of the burden of proof on supplement manufacturers:

"It is likely that new products with an unknown chemical composition will be introduced to replace BZP. As part of the MODA review, a legislative framework will be considered that places the onus of proof on the sponsor of a new substance that is to be marketed as inducing a psychoactive response, to establish the safety of the substance before it can be sold in New Zealand."

The upshot of this reversal of proof will be that more substances will go straight to the black market without passing any quality control standards whatsoever. That, or more substances will pass through as foods, such as poppy seeds, to avoid such a throttling policy.

A Simple Plan

As manager for a long-term accommodation lodge, I've learnt the hard way not to accept WINZ people in. Although in direct contravention of UN conventions on non-discrimination, I don't give a stuff. It seems fair for the government to gang up on smokers and make them the New Jews, so I suppose it's fair game to discriminate against beneficiaries.

This rule of thumb is not entirely due to the WINZ people themselves, although I've tossed out enough useless shits for not paying their rent or bugging the locals (Although there's a few pages of Terms & Conditions, there are two real rules; pay the rent on time and don't hassle the locals). No, if there's any one reason I'd have to say we leave the WINZers to the competition, it's the government departments' fault.

Wellington is at one end of the Heartland. For many, it is not where they go rather than where they end up. The same goes for Cairns in Oz. Both are the end of the line. Wellington and Northland have the highest unemployment rates in NZ, even after you take account of the sleight-of-hand of in-work payments. I'd also say that Northland and Wellington also have a higher than average number of mental patients. Just because Christchurch has the highest per capita consumption of Prozac, doesn't mean they are the strangest city.

Wellington also has a strong charitable base, in large part to the most excellent works of Suzanne Aubert and latterly Des Britten at Wellington City Mission. In days past, I would have also rated the Sallies. However, their Taranaki St Op Shop has gotten snootier, I've bumped into too many abused people from their care, and they sicced a Bell Gully Buddy on me during Friday drinkies one time (Some sins are unforgivable).

So, combined with the largest social housing stock in the country after Housing NZ, and the country's finest policy analysts living there, Wellington seems perfectly equipped to deal with the unfortunate, unlucky, untrained, un-everything. Wrong. The resources are there. Apart from a few novice philanthropists though, the money is stuck in the logjam of bureaucratic hoops and dramas.

It has been three months since I last had to call the cops, six months since the last emergency response CATT team came round. The threat of Race War has passed, for now, but the chance that someone will go off their meds lingers. Things could be/have been worse, touch wood.

Prospective residents have to fill in an application form declaring any mental or medical problems, as well as criminal convictions. This is not so much for obvious discrimination, as the duty of care entailed in looking after the general welfare of fifty or so people. There are still scars in the concrete from the guy who went mental with a samurai sword a few years back (Why is it always a samurai sword?).

There is no way to check that what they fill in is true. The Privacy Act, which I am a strong supporter of, forbids me from checking whether the prospective tenant is a harmless fruit or a full-on nutjob. Sure, we could get a one-page Privacy Act disclaimer included, but that may freak out the less strange applicants. Criminal convictions are even harder to check on. While the cops are keen to come around for forwarding addresses, they are distinctly cagey about reciprocating. Is that a paroled rapist I've just put in next to the two girls from Masterton?

Then there's the money. There's these Special Needs forms with the supposedly unforgeable hologram that the hard up present at supermarkets for groceries (not including alcohol or tobacco). When I first started my job, I thought you'd treat these cast-iron assurances from WINZ as money in the bank. Wrong. What you see is not necessarily what you get. We have been stung by forms which say $756 and end up with only half that going into the bank some time later. If the government promises you something, don't trust them.

Then there's the WINZ redirections. This is when WINZ take the rent money directly out of their benefit. For the wise ones who know they are bad with their money, this seems the logical step. Unfortunately, as with any bureaucracy, things aren't quite so simple. Rent due in one month is not received until the following month. This is because the WINZ payment must, by law, go through IRD in order to pay the bills. According to Sione from David Benson-Pope's office, such payments are subject to Section 157 of the Tax Administration Act 1994. Peter must pay Paul so Paul can pay Mary one month late.

One alcoholic dirtwad I'll call the Irish Rover (I bet you they don't sing Lilly the Pink in primary schools any more) stopped his payments without telling the then manager. After one too many times of asking me for a corkscrew, I figured what had happened and kicked the deadbeat out and threw his porn and possessions into the wheelie bin.

The random disbursements from the Special Needs forms and WINZ redirections leads to one path; the beneficiaries get into arrears with no way of paying it off. Outski and, preferably, no inski in the first place. The Bullshit Detectors are on full power every time someone wants to move in. Suffice it to say I err on the side of caution. There's only one thing worse than a fuck up, and that's a clusterfuck. Let it be Someone Else's Problem.

In light of the Mighty Mercury Muliaga Matter, there must be a great temptation to Fix All Wrongs with a regulatory magic wand. Already, Jeanette Fitzsimons is suggesting progressive pricing of electricity as if that'll fix things. It's like progressive taxation, but for electricity. Not food, not telephone, just electricity. This is because everyone now has a right to electricity. Oh, bullshit (Jeez, I though I'd turned it off). Mercury has already suspended disconnections indefinitely, meaning that there is now no incentive to pay one's electricity but accumulating debt is OK. Thank you Labour V, we are eternally in your debt.

There is talk of, well, all sorts of things. There are times to be fearful with a light Order Paper. The temptation to ram through populist ill thought-out reactionary legislation may be too strong to ignore. The upshot of which will be that energy suppliers will just front-end the fucker, being more cautious about hooking people up to the grid in the first place through credit control procedures. Far as I know, it still won't be illegal to refuse service. For every well-meaning law, there are a dozen ways to circumvent them. Don't be stupid.

Fear & Loathing at the NDP Launch

I was sitting in the sun on the steps of Parliament last Thursday, when the drugs began to wear off. I remember saying something like, "I need a drink. I hope there's a bar at this gig." Suddenly, there was a terrible roar all around me, as the forecourt swarmed with Korean teenagers streaming out of Parliament all swooping and screaming and diving around my formerly placid smoko. Perhaps they weren't Korean. Maybe Chinese, or from somewhere in the South-East Asian subcontinent. I didn't ask.

A couple of weeks ago, I had received an invite the the launch of the National Drug Policy 2007-2012. This document was the end product of a long and intensive consult-athon based on the National Drug Policy 2006-2011 Consultation Document. I wasn't holding out for much good coming out of it. Maybe a glimmer of hope that there was at least some improvement on the clusterfuck known as the Misuse of Drugs Act.

It was time to enter the corridors of power. I walked to the newly-refurbished, sphincter-shaped plebian entrance. Because some Saudi Arabian college graduates had flown several hundred tonnes of aluminium and fuel at some buildings 14,000 kilometres away 6 years previously, the entrance resembled a US-customs privacy rape centre. I put my manbag on the X-ray conveyor belt, along with all my metal objects; ipod, pen, lighter, cigarette case, and various loose change. Should I remove my tie clip? My hearing aid? How naked did they want me? Last time I was here, I got pinged by the machine for wearing a leather belt with metal fastenings that a girlfriend gave me for my 21st. Please don't wave that wand at me. I don't like people in my personal space.

"Can you show me the knife in your bag?" said the security man after I walked through the metal detector still wondering whether I had set the thing off. I pulled out my Swiss army knife with the house keys on it from the manbag, trying not to spill NORML News magazines and leaflets on the floor. The security man unfolded the main knife and held it up to an unseen chart. "Make sure you keep it in the bag," he said, handing it back to me. "Of course," I replied, putting my MacGuyver away hoping that no horses would need stones taken out of their shoes while I was in the Grand Hall.

After a nervous piss in the elegant pissoir on the ground floor, I wandered up the stairs to the Grand Hall. Maybe it's my deafness, maybe it's the Asperger's, but I really hate a room full of strangers. Not personally, you understand. I'm just unsure of the protocol and get freaked out adapting to different voices all at once. I head for the name badge table, because I'm absolutely certain that everyone should have a name badge.

I spot the most interesting person I know in the room, and head towards Ross Bell from the NZ Drug Foundation. Hey, no offense Matt Bowden from STANZ. It's just that every time I try to approach people I have only seen on TV, I have an overwhelming urge to tell you the Specials of the Day and ask if you'd like an aperitif. I call it Repetitive Waiter Syndrome. Ross is yakking with Billy McKee from GreenCross. We swap stories until El Presidente of NORML, Chris Fowlie turns up. Then a polite voice on the PA advises us to take a seat.

As usual, I sit on the far right so I can hear as much as possible. There's a copy of the National Drug Policy on the chair. I have ample time to skim it as the MC gives a welcome in Maori, leads a waiata as well as a karakia. Admittedly, I didn't know it was a karakia til the amen. Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?

The National Drug Policy is 39 pages long, including one page for abbreviations, two for Bibliography, three for title pages, and five completely blank pages. God, I should have gone into the printing industry. That leaves 28 pages, exactly the same amount as the consultation document, only more tables of statistics and graphs and far less words. It has actually shrunk.

The effusive MC says the last amen for the moment and announces the format for the launch. In spite of about a hundred attendees, there will be no question time. No wonder only TV One and Prime News turned up to cover it. It's only news if it's new. Obviously, the MSM had been given an embargoed copy and knew what to expect. Although NORML had requested an embargoed copy in order to formulate an educated response, none was forthcoming. We only found out when we got there.

Chairman Jim was up first. He shambles to the podium and exhales. He launches into his usual Morse Code monotone with this speech. Off the cuff, he says that this policy is not a top down effort but a bottom up thing. He returns to the script and contradicts himself immediately.

"If you wanted to make a difference and reduce the harm drugs cause in this country, you would sit down and map out a tough strategy that looked far into the future...

That policy had a strong emphasis on health objectives and approaches to addressing the harms arising from tobacco, alcohol, illegal and other drugs."

Listening to Jim Anderton is reasonable cause to take drugs. I wimp out of lighting a spliff during his speech and resort to non-violent protests of pulling exaggerated sceptical expressions and masturbatory hand gestures to try and throw him. I'm not going to listen to this drivel sitting still.

Page 3 of the NDP lists the three-pronged approach to "reduce the effects of harmful substance use":

• control or limit the availability of drugs (supply control)
• limit the use of drugs by individuals, including abstinence (demand reduction)
• reduce harm from existing drug use (problem limitation)

The first prong is by far and away the preferred tool of harm minimisation. And aren't the cops and customs doing so well? Police find 4300 plants in a field here. A copper chopper finds 6500 plants in the West Coast there.

"They were all over the place, the entire length of the West Coast ... anywhere and everywhere."

I can't find the source now, but I remember reading how one copper was stunned at the quantity being grown and the lengths that growers went to. Something about how the nearest roads were days and days away, cannabis growing in the middle of nowhere. He wondered how futile his task was. Just as often as not, the cops rely on tripping over a pile of dope unexpectedly. TVNZ reports how police are looking into 1000 "cannibas" plants were found at a chicken shed fire.

I flip to the sixteen lines in the NDP report directly related to cannabis.

"The 2003 New Zealand Health Behaviours Survey – Drug Use showed that one in seven New Zealanders (13.7%) had used cannabis in the last year, and that 15.1% of past-year users smoked cannabis frequently (10 or more times per month on average) (Ministry of Health forthcoming)."

14 percent of NZers used cannabis in one year. That's 560,000 people, about seven Palmys. Sort of makes the second prong, demand reduction including abstinence, a bit of an uphill battle.

The audience were giving Chairman Jim the clap. He must have stopped droning. Next up was embattled Corrections Minister and Associate Minister of Health Damien O'Connor.

"Drugs of all kinds have a devastating effect on the health and well-being of our communities. Most of us here today know this. Each of us, no doubt, know of personal and professional horror stories about the havoc wreaked by drugs. For my part, I am reminded on a daily basis, through my job as Minister of Corrections as well as Associate Minister of Health. We know that drugs are a factor in a large amount of all crimes committed, with illicit drugs often coming to mind."

Billy McKee interjected loudly at this point. It proved to be the only unofficially permitted comment of the day. Way to go Billy. O'Connor continued his crapola, listing achievements involving media campaigns and how drug use in prisons is at an all time low and he had the statistics to prove it. He somehow didn't mention how his department was fucking around with the third and most important prong, harm minimisation.

I threw myself back into the NDP appendix.

"Earlier surveys have shown a significant increase in illegal stimulant use between 1998 and 2001: in 2001 5.3% of those surveyed reported having used an illegal stimulant in the last year, compared with 3.2% in 1998. In the New Zealand Health Behaviours Survey – Drug Use 2003 report (Ministry of Health forthcoming) amphetamines (including methamphetamine) were the second most commonly reported illegal drug ever used (6.8%) or used in the past 12 months (2.5%). Past-year ecstasy (MDMA) use was reported by 1.9% of New Zealanders, making ecstasy the second most commonly used stimulant."

Not only has cannabis use increased, so have the speed freaks.

"Currently there is no way to measure the volume of diverted pharmaceutical drugs on the illicit drug market."

Omfg, they really don't have a clue. O'Connor sat back down next to a sullen Clayton Cosgrove. Director-General of Health, Stephen McKernan, stood up and gave a rational speech which I have almost completely forgotten. He managed to use the term 'misuse' more flexibly than any other speaker. Then, just as he had me feeling that there was a scrap of hope in all this War On Drugs spittle, he throws it all away. He is a father, he says. He has three daughters and he wants to see them grow up in a Drug Free World.

Martyn Dunne, Comptroller of Customs, stood up and gave a good deadpan comedy routine. "The last thing we want is a reputation for exporting drugs." Shhh, don't tell Montana or Lion Nathan. At the end, he called on everyone making a difference to the "harmonious, er, harmful effects of drugs."

The final speaker was Detective Superintendant Win van der Velde, Police National Crime Manager. He stood up looking like a rugbyhead in a chess club meeting. Maybe there were flecks of foam on his lips as he spoke, maybe there weren't. The police were happy with the NDP. Any opportunity to bust a few more dope fiends and amphetamine psychotics. Increased information sharing by government departments is sure to make him happy.

"Over the next five years the Government will retain health-related objectives but will also develop a greater intersectoral focus, which will encompass both the social and the economic harms from drug use. All government agencies will be held accountable by the MCDP for achieving the objectives of the National Drug Policy, delivering effective policies and programmes, and collaborating with other agencies to achieve a co-ordinated approach to reducing drug-related harm."

This is unlikely to provide added comfort to the hopeless who wish to seek treatment when they lose their grip. Who wants to go to CAYAD and wonder whether the cops are going to turn up at their home afterwards? It's not paranoia when you know they are out to get you.

I could hardly wait for the closing karakia so I could rush out for a cigarette. It can never be said that the NDP doesn't have a prayer. It is faith without hope, ignorance without compassion, action without reason. The NDP has launches another round of the War on Drugs. It has worked so well for the last thirty years, why change now?

One slug over the line

For your viewing pleasure, today's page 3 booby in the DomPost:

Drink-driving disclosure unprofessional, says Laws
Britton Broun

Police revelations that a "prominent Wanganui identity" was caught drink-driving have sparked a flurry of finger-pointing and recriminations.

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is demanding an apology from police for releasing the information, saying that to do so was unprofessional and unethical.

"How many many male, urban, prominent people are there in Wanganui? - you could count them on two hands. The Palmerston North police have pointed the finger of suspicion at a minute section of the community with the suggestion someone among them drink-drives," he said.

The saga began when Palmerston North-based Senior Sergeant Nick Dobson publicly revealed that covert breath-test stops in rural Wanganui last week had picked up 14 people - one of whom was a male "prominent identity".

The man was blood-tested and, with results due late this week, could be prosecuted. Palmerston North traffic Sergeant Tony Romley suggested media watch the Wanganui District Court lists in the coming weeks.

Mr laws - who would not deny that he was the person because it encouraged public speculation - said it was unethical for Mr Dobson to make public statements before the blood-test results were in and an offence was even created.

"Drink-driving should not be a game, either for those partaking in such risky behaviour or for those apprehending them. the Palmerston North police should pull their heads in... and work on catching real criminals," Mr Laws said.

Mr Dobson said he could not make any further comment to the media yesterday but it is believed the person involved was not well known nationally.

central Districts road policing manager Inspector Neil Wynne could not say if Mr Dobson had been officially disciplined but confirmed he had been spoken to.

Mr Wynne had not spoken to Mr Romley yet, but said his comments, "if made by him", were even more inappropriate.

The official Wanganui District Council press release is here.