>The Dactory dot org – new-zealand/the-injustice-system/

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http://thedaktory.org.nz/new-zealand/the-injustice-system/

Posted on February 20th, 2011 by Dakta Zippy, Filed under Cannabis on Trial, Medical, New Zealand. 3 Comments »  

Here is the story of Peter Davy, in his own words. You can support him in his fight here, or try thePeter Davy Challenge.

My name is Peter Davy and I am 51 years old. I pleaded guilty in Timaru Court (New Zealand) to cultivation of cannabis and associated charges. The judge told me to expect a prison sentence on March 16th when I go up for sentencing because it is about the fifth time I have been convicted. I have cancer and I am 24 hour caregiver for my partner who has advanced Multiple Sclerosis. She is dying and will die without me. I am not trying to use her an excuse however… this is my crusade not hers…. just pointing out the facts… as in the complete lack of empathy and compassion in our present justice system.

This is about Medical Marijuana and a police force that continually lies to make themselves look good. Firstly I want to make it clear that I will be going on a hunger strike the moment I am given a prison sentence and I absolutely do not want to be force fed under any circumstances. I will also be refusing all cancer medication. I am 100% committed to continuing with a hunger strike until I am dead.

I want the opportunity to give my side of the story because I have been refused that right over and over. I always plead guilty so there is never a trial where I can present my side of things. At no time have I ever had a lawyer that even believes me…. let alone has the ability to give highly technical information to a court. I only started smoking marijuana ten years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer… before that I was one of the top computer engineers in the country and the IT Manager for the South Taranaki District Council. Since I started smoking cannabis I have been targeted by gangsters and police alike and already been to prison once where I attempted suicide.

My IQ has been tested by a Forensic Psychologist as being in the top 5% in the country… and that despite failing all the maths questions. So I am not a stupid man and would not willingly put myself through ten years of hell unless I truly had a good reason. I would be the first to admit that I have done some really stupid things in that ten years and paid the consequences… but my conscience is clear. I am obsessive about anything I truly believe in which is why I was such a good computer engineer. I research everything to death and am extreme in what I do. I have never been a dealer or a gangster as the police have continually tried to make out… and still are. The police like to make themselves look good and have never ever shown the slightest bit of interest in the truth.

The truth is that I genuinely believe in Medical Marijuana… not as an excuse for recreational use… but as a scientifically proven medicine for specific medical conditions. I have had to do all my own research and I have continually tried… on my own… to breed a better medical strain specifically for medical use. This is highly technical from a plant breeding perspective and a medical research perspective. I can stand up without notes and debate my science with anybody… to prove that I am not bluffing… I can explain what and why and how. I am willing to go up against any scientist anybody cares to put against me… or any Govt plant breeder…. just to show that I really do know my stuff and am genuine. I am willing to do that on live TV because I’ve had enough of all the lies and half truths. This is all about science… and always has been… and nothing at all to do with deliberate criminal activity.

I want the opportunity to tell my side of the story… on TV… or in the newspaper… before I get locked up. I want the public of New Zealand to know exactly why I am going on a hunger strike. Our so called Justice system has never ever given me that opportunity. If I’m wrong and my science is flawed… then so be it… but I want to go down for the truth… not a pack of lies. The sick and weak are being persecuted in this country by a police force that has become a law unto themselves and everybody is too scared to speak out. I don’t blame them because everytime I’ve tried to speak out through the “appropriate” channels, I’ve been slammed. I can name over 20 politicians and Government Departments that I have approached over the last ten years and been completely ignored… or worse. You should see what happens in this country if you dare to make a complaint to the IPCA (Independant Police Complaints Authority). I have tried to talk to medical doctors (including my own endocrinologists) and they can’t get rid of me fast enough…. yet at no time have I been trying to convince anybody that I am right. All I’ve wanted is expert opinion to add to my own research or just a chance to explain what I’m doing to somebody with enough technical, scientific or medical knowledge to understand. It’s pretty lonely trying to fight the world by yourself.

Let me be clear that I hate confrontation and I hate publicity but I have nothing to lose anymore and somebody has to make a stand… or nothing ever changes. I have absolutely no experience at all at this sort of thing but all I know is that I want to give my side of the story. I truly believe in what I have been doing and in a just society I should be at least allowed to give my side of the story. I am frightened because I expect a smear campaign…. that is the way the system seems to work in this country and I have done some stupid things…. but like I said… I have nothing left to lose. My partner will die without me and it will be all because of a pack of lies.

I am also writing a book about my experiences and have currently written 100,000 words. I hope to have it finished by the time I go to prison so the whole country knows why I am going on a hunger strike. I am not a troublemaker and have tried everything I can think of to settle this matter without involving the media… instead I’ve just antagonised people and made things worse. Apparently one of the most serious crimes of all in this country is to dare to question the actions of the police or dare to suggest that politicians are making a mistake.

Please note that I have nothing at all against the police… other than my own personal issues. I am sure that overall they do a great job. This is really all about Medical Marijuana… not about the police. If they had been fair and honest then I would not even be mentioning them at all.

New Zealand could be leading the world in Medical Marijuana research… not following miles behind like a buch of sheep. We could be making social policy for the rest of the world to copy… instead of loading up our prison system with people who are victims not criminals. I want to be proud of my country and all I have ever done is try to make my contribution to a cause that needs champions or it will just end up in a bigger mess than it already is.

Below is just a tiny portion of my research to date:

Here are links to the medical information on the endocrine system and cannabis:

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/The%20Emerging%20Role%20of%20the%20Endocannabinoid%20System%20in%20Endocrine%20Regulation%20and%20Energy%20Balance.pdf

or

http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/27/1/73

Please note that I am completely unbiased and the majority of information is negative… which I accept 100%. My particular interest is the use of Delta 9 THC cannabinoid to suppress prolactin production in a pituitary tumour. Somewhere I have research that actually shrunk a prolactinoma in rats till it could no longer be detected with an MRI, using only cannabis. Unfortunately I can’t find that specific paper at the moment.

However here is links to scientific research that did shrink brain tumours in rats using externally administered cannabis. Note that one study used 50,000 rats which would yield a statistically significant result:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/12088.php

http://www.naturalnews.com/029780_marijuana_cancer.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14570037

Links to all the best research can be found at this site… all proper research papers and done by some of the leading medical researchers in the world. You will note that the research is overwhelming:

http://safeaccess.ca/research/cancer.htm

Please note that I accept 100% that cannabis has a negative effect in many other areas… such as lowered fertility in males and possible shrinking of gonads… though there is still some controversy about that research while there is no controversy about shrinking cancer tumors with cannabis.

A much easier text to read (for non medical people) on cannabis and the endocrine system can be found here:

http://www.ukcia.org/research/EndocrineEffects.pdf

Please note that the applicable section (for me personally) is the reduction of prolactin secretion using cannabis.

As an interested observer I find glaring holes in all the research… both for and against. The main issue is that all the research focuses almost exclusively on Delta 9 THC which is only one of the cannibinoids found in cannabis. As an example… take any antipsychotic drug that is given with another drug to reduce side-effects… in other words the second drug blocks or inhibits part of the action of the first drug. So for all we know there are cannibinoids that block or inhibit other cannabinoids. I have always said… like most things in life… it is about the balance of these cannabinoids and different balances (which can be specifically bred into a plant) will have different medical effects… both negative and positive.

All my research to date has been on very rare cannabis strains containing THCV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabivarin

I went to enormous trouble to track down seeds for these strains (there is only a handful in the whole world… all tropical), many of which are now extinct. I was the only person in the world who had the original Thai THCV strain which became extinct in the wild in 1982. A researcher in Switzerland sent me his last ten seeds which I inbred and bulked up… all of which were seized by the Timaru police.

At no time have I ever said that cannabis is a safe drug or that it should be used recreationally. I fully agree that it has scientifically validated negative effects and my research and Plant Breeding has focused on trying to breed a variety that has reduced negative effects with an increase in positive medical effects. In particular, in addition to my own endocrine issues, I have concentrated on trying to breed a plant very narrowly targeted at alleviating Multiple Sclerosis symptoms. All my research in this area can be scientifically validated:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6387-cannabis-truly-helps-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers.html

http://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar?q=cannabis+multiple+sclerosis+research&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/662254.stm

In the case of MS the negative effects of cannabis are not even scientifically relevant because people with MS (my partner who is dying) are suffering so much anyway and are in fact terminally ill. Most will die (including my partner) long before any negative effects of cannabis use manifest themselves. It is cruel in the extreme to prevent access to cannabis for MS sufferers. I challenge anybody to watch what my partner goes through on a daily basis and then look me in the eye and say she should not be allowed access to cannabis if it makes her life even a tiny bit more bearable. Easy to make these decisions about other people when you’re perfectly healthy yourself… but try walking a mile in my partner’s footsteps.

The research for cannabis and MS has been done over and over and the results are conclusive. I have simply been trying to extend that research into a more MS focused approach rather than just using the approach that “all cannabis is the same” because it isn’t. This is my area of expertise and cannabis varieties differ enormously in effect. Most of the people in power making decisions about Medical Marijuana have absolutely no idea at all what they are talking about. They are not up with the latest research, they have their own political agendas which have nothing to do with true science and most of all they have no real world experience of what they are talking about.

As I have been saying for ten years… I am almost unique in that I have a pituitary tumour…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolactinoma

http://www.uptodate.com/contents/patient-information-high-prolactin-levels-and-prolactinomas

http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/prolact/prolact.htm

….. a high level of intelligence, experience in plant breeding and an almost exhaustive knowledge of cannabis… so I am ideally positioned to conduct trials and experiments on myself… which I have been doing for ten years now.  I have no wish to destroy my brain cells, that is just crazy and I was quite depressed to find out how much my brain reaction time has slowed down when I carried out an IQ test conducted by the Forensic Psychologist Dr Sue Galvin a few years ago. I have no issues with her findings and they worry me. That is the whole reason I think my research is important.

My brain used to be razor sharp and fast as lightning. You can ask anybody that knew me back then. I was one of the very top computer engineers in this country. The minute I started taking pituitary tumour drugs (Bromocriptine and Dostinex)…

http://www.druglib.com/druginfo/bromocriptine/side-effects_adverse-reactions/

…. I knew that I had lost my edge. Something was missing. My brain was all over the place and I couldn’t focus on a single task anymore. I felt depressed for no reason all the time with a feeling of impending doom. I also had nausea, headaches and cold sweats. It was/is a horrible feeling. I miss my razor sharp brain. When I discovered cannabis it helped me a lot but I would be the first to admit that it still didn’t give me back whatever it was I had lost. The benefits outweighed the disadvantages though. It worried me that I scored very high (top 5% of the population) on a properly conducted IQ test but Dr Galvin noted repeatedly that my reaction time (the time it took me to get the correct answer) was abnormally slow in many tests and that I displayed mental fogginess in the maths tests. Note that my score in maths tests was very poor (average to below average) yet my overall score was still in the top 5% of the population. If I had done better in the maths then my IQ would be in the genius to high genius range. Dr Galvin hypothesised that my use of cannabis may have been an influential factor in my terrible score on maths tests and I have no reason to disagree. That worries me a lot… so don’t think I’m happy about needing cannabis… on the contrary I have been almost obsessive at trying to breed a strain that alleviates negative symptoms of pituitary disorder without such a negative effect on brain speed and function.

It is also important to note that I have been used as a guinea pig by a long selection of doctors who tried various prescription drugs (anti-psychotics, ant-depressants, tranquilisers, pain-killers… etc) which turned my life into a living hell. Not one legal drug had the slightest beneficial effect. They turned me into a zombie, slowed my brain to a standstill and made it feel like mush, made me suicidal, I felt half asleep all the time, I slept all the time, I had nightmares, I became impotent and my prolactin levels increased. Note that a pituitary tumour in a male causes impotence and dangerously high prolactin levels… so prescription drugs that did the same made me terribly messed up. I gave all these doctors a fair go because I wanted my life back as much as anybody.

What really upset me is that doctors hate being told that their treatment isn’t working… even if it isn’t. So as well as feeling like hell I had the additional stress of trying to deal with doctors who wouldn’t even listen when I told them it was making me worse. Their usual reaction was to increase the dose until I no longer felt the slightest bit human at all. The adverse effects of cannabis have always been minimal in comparison to any prescription drug that I was encouraged to take. Let me make a point here… doctors go on about the “negative” effects of cannabis… but conveniently ignore the fact that the negative effects of precription drugs (especially anti-psychotics) are a thousand times worse. Severe nausea, depression to the point of suicide, mental fogginess, liver failure, heart disease, messed up white blood cells… those drugs can kill you. Cannabis has never killed anybody.

Everybody says to me “but medical cannabis is illegal.” Well I know that obviously… but just because you make a law it doesn’t somehow make cancer go away or cure Multiple Sclerosis. It doesn’t do anything except make life even worse for sick people. If I go to court for growing Medical Marijuana and get a light sentence… then I come up a year later and the judge is angry because I offended again… I don’t get it… the cancer didn’t go away just because I got a light sentence the first time… nothing has changed… yet I have to present all the exact same medical evidence all over again… and invariably get a much harsher sentence and maybe go to prison. I just don’t understand that. Either Medical marijuana works or it doesn’t and the law has absolutely nothing to do with that. This is about science and medicine and tinkering around with the law doesn’t somehow make the science more valid or less valid. If a law is unjust and inhumane then all the rhetoric in the world won’t alter the underlying fact that it is a stupid law to start with.

To summarise Thoreau… “There are two types of laws: just and unjust. Every individual in a society has a responsibility to obey just laws and, even more importantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws.”

or

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. – Martin Luther King Jr.

or  (my personal favourite)

If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so. – Thomas Jefferson

If NZ does eventually legalise Medical Marijuana then we want the safest possible form of the drug, specifically targeted for medical use… not some generalised ad hoc form of the drug that will be abused by recreational users. I can stand up in any court in this land, without notes to refer to… and explain Mendel’s theory of inheritance that I used as the basis for my Plant Breeding experiments… I can explain every single experiment I’ve ever done… I can explain the significance of the different alkaloids or cannibinoids and why it is the ratio that is important… rather than a single cannabinoid like THC. Non scientific people probably won’t understand me but I am happy to do it none the less. I am happy to debate the matter with any scientist the court might wish to appoint if they want to try and say I am a fake.

Cross-posted from here.

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>Cannabis Bus headed to Christchurch on Medical Marijuana relief mission

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Medical Marijuana is being packed for distribution in quake hit Christchurch CREDIT: Jeff Lye 

Cannabis Bus headed to Christchurch on Medical Marijuana relief mission

Saturday 12 March 2011, 7:53AM
By Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party 
337 views

CHRISTCHURCH

A NORML bus packed with supporters from Auckland’s ‘The Daktory‘, New Zealand’s first cannabis dispensary, are headed to earthquake stricken Christchurch to provide much needed relief to the region’s medical cannabis users.

The visit coincides with the court appearance of Canterbury Medical Marijuana user Peter Davy, who has been told to prepare for prison upon sentencing on March 16th at the Timaru District Court.

Mr. Davy, who has cancer, has vowed to go on hunger strike if sentenced to prison.

ALCP Leader Michael Appleby welcomes news of the tour. He says the bus will be distributing free cannabis to medical users in Canterbury.

“This mission will bring welcome relief to those who need it most, in the wake of the devastating earthquake,” he said.

“I also hope this tour will highlight the injustice of Peter Davy’s case and the suffering caused by cannabis prohibition for medical marijuana users nationwide.”

 

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>Just a whisper added

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>Greens light up medical cannabis debate BY NOEL TOWELL, CHIEF ASSEMBLY REPORTER

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http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/greens-light-up-medical-cannabis-debate/2100512.aspx?storypage=0#

Greens light up medical cannabis debate

BY NOEL TOWELL, CHIEF ASSEMBLY REPORTER

11 Mar, 2011 06:49 AM

The ACT Greens are moving to get the use of medicinal cannabis in Canberra’s health system back on to the political agenda.The debate around medicines made from the illegal drug has lain dormant in the territory since 2005. But in a series of questions tabled in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, the Greens made it clear that they want to fire up the discussion again.
The party has issued a series of inquiries to the Health Minister, wanting to know what progress has been made on a series of options developed in 2005 for the drug to be used in medicines in hospitals and clinics in Canberra.
Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan has also asked if health authorities are aware of a new cream made out of cannabis that is used to treat skin cancers and if the non-psycho-active preparation had been considered for treating ACT patients.
The options were contained in a report commissioned in 2004 after the defeat of a push from another Greens MLA, Kerrie Tucker, to decriminalise possession of the drug for the seriously ill.
The document, completed the following year, found evidence for the health benefits of cannabis, mainly in the areas of control of anorexia and nausea associated with cancer therapy, relief of chronic pain and as an aid to the control of muscle spasms in neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
It also outlined five options for medicinal cannabis use in the territory, including a plan for the government to establish its own small-time weed growing operation, an option scotched by then-health minister Simon Corbell.
The preferred option was to hold clinical trials of a substance called Sativex, a cannabis-based drug available in capsule form that was being trailed in various countries in 2005 and 2006.
”Has ACT Health conducted any further analysis of those options since 2005; if so, what is that work and what are its conclusions?” Ms Bresnan asked in the series of questions she submitted yesterday.
”Is ACT Health aware of any other new options that have arisen since 2005 that warrant inclusion on to the list of options for consideration?”
Ms Bresnan mentioned the new cannabis-based topical treatments for skin cancers, asking if health authorities were aware of them.

For more on this story, including details of requirements of the Health Minister to respond to Ms Bresnan’s question, see the print edition of today’s Canberra Times.

>Salem-News.com – getting the word out about Peter and Tracey

>Mar-14-2011 17:21http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.salem-news.com%2Farticles%2Fmarch142011%2Fpeter-davy-tk.php&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=130&action=recommend&colorscheme=light&height=21

Death Sentence for a Medical Cannabis User

Tim King Salem-News.com

Don’t let New Zealand kill Peter Davy.

Peter Davy

(AUCKLAND / SALEM) – A 51-year old cancer patient is facing his end days over New Zealand’s so-called legal justice system. The injustice is palpable and it won’t take out one struggling human being, but two.

Peter Davy

Peter Davy, a Medical Cannabis user, was arrested for growing marijuana plants in his garden; plants that have kept him alive as he’s waged a 10 year battle with cancer. A judge in New Zealand says Davy is going to prison for growing the plants that have spared his life. Without cannabis he doesn’thave a life.

Davy said, “I want to make it clear that I will be going on a hunger strike the moment I am given a prison sentence and I absolutely do not want to be force fed under any circumstances. I will also be refusing all cancer medication. I am 100% committed to continuing with a hunger strike until I am dead.”

His spirit hearkens back to the days if the Irish Republican Army (IRA); when Bobby Sands refused to give into the British terrorist state and ultimately died of starvation in one of the harshest kinds of death.

And Like Sands, who knew he was forced to take the ultimate stand, he has every bloody right to be pissed off. Adding to Peter Davy’s problems, is the fact that his life partner suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and Peter is her care provider. 39-year old Tracey Perrin, says that while she does not smoke marijuana, she completely supports its medical use, and was convinced Davy would carry out the hunger strike.

Tracey said, “Having that Irish blood in him, he is stubborn, which terrifies me. I don’t want to lose my best friend.”

She continued, “He is my carer, I am confined to a wheelchair and need 24-hour care. If he goes to prison I will have to go to a rest home to be cared for and will lose my home and my possessions.”

New Zealand is willing to let them die.

Why? Because the country’s laws are on a par with those of the United States. American officials are perfectly clear that they do not want to save the lives of their countrymen; instead preferring to maintain the illegal status of a natural plant. Officials in Auckland are willing to follow suit.

He explains, “My partner has advanced Multiple Sclerosis and I am her 24-hour caregiver.  She is dying and will die without me.”

Peter has cultivated cannabis in New Zealand for medical purposes and along the way, has extensively researched the breeding of rare cannabis strains for these specific medical conditions, his friend Mark DJ Aldiss in New Zealand explains.

On 15 February 2011 Peter Davey pleaded guilty in Timaru Court (New Zealand) to cultivation of cannabis and associated charges.

“The judge told me to expect a prison sentence on March 16th when I go up for sentencing because it isthe fifth time I have been convicted.”

And there is no cannabis, even for a cancer patient, in prison. That is because, like the U.S., New Zealand maintains an archaic set of laws that criminalize possession of this natural life-saving plant.

Medical Marijuana; a story of oppression and unfair laws designed to favor and promote business and police ‘job security’ interests above those of human beings facing their ultimate moment of suffering; watching their chances for survival fly out of a courtroom window.

You see in New Zealand, there is still a spirit among police, trained with bad information, that tells them arresting marijuana users is a victory, a score. It is not.

To set that point straight; marijuana users are at best, kindergartners among criminals. Rather than addressing real problems, police who nab pot users do so because it is easy and it isn’t dangerous.

Police busting people for a plant God placed on the earth are each and every single time, allowing a crime to occur against an innocent person, a child. Investigating these egregious crimes takes time and money and they are often unaddressed because police care about busting pot users; in this case a man who had no choice but to use it.

Think about it, there are real criminals in our world society. They want to rob you, rape you, steal your children and sell them on the slave market; there are horrible human beings circulating and every minute police use expensive taxpayer resources to arrest a marijuana user, they are not just allowing, butencouraging real and actual crimes against your family and your friends.

What a joke, and it all relies on false propaganda and law enforcement priorities that reflect a braindead mentality. It is no wonder people are so quickly losing faith in police.

Peter Davy attributes the matter to, “a police force that continually lies to make themselves look good, and the complete lack of empathy and compassion in our present justice system.”

Peter’s friend Mark DJ Aldiss set up another site http://leavepeterdavyalonenewzealand.blogspot.com/, that includes some of Peter’s words and links, and some of Mark’s as well.

Peter Reynolds is another friend of Peter’s in New Zealand. He has written extensively about the debate over drug laws in the House of Lords and he has also indulged the subject of his friend. I suggest his article titled: Medicinal Cannabis And Its Impact On Human Health

More at: http://peterreynolds.wordpress.com/ Catch the UK house of Lords TV of their discussion about changing the whole way drugs are dealt with in the UK – there is a link on Mark’s sitehttp://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=7754&wfs=true&player=smooth

Mark DJ Aldiss concluded our discussion today by saying, “It is sad and not right that two people end up where they are when it could be such a peaceful time for them.” Amen to that.

New Zealand News Editors: this story is available to republish with attribution.

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com’s Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation’s only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

>Emails sent to 3 ministers and there first replies

>Thank you for emailing. I am out of the office until Monday 21 March.

Emails will be checked for urgent issues, but most will be dealt with on my return.

If you have any urgent queries, contact the main office number on 04 817 6800

Regards
Emma Holmes
Personal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister

————————————————————————-
On behalf of Hon Bill English, thank you for your email.

Please be assured that all correspondence is read and noted by this office. Where the Minister has portfolio or MP for Clutha-Southland responsibilities for the issues raised, a response will be sent to you in due course.

While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, if your email falls outside of his portfolio or electorate responsibilities, or expresses a personal view, then your opinion will be noted but there may be no further response to you.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

————————————————————————————

On behalf of Hon Simon Power, thank you for your email. Your correspondence has been noted, and you will receive a response at our earliest convenience.

Please note that although email increases the speed of delivery, it may not be possible to provide you with the rapid response users of email may anticipate. We will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards
Office of Hon Simon Power

>When prison for cannabis can mean a death sentence – how can it be Just? by Alun Buffry

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When prison for cannabis can mean a death sentence – how can it be Just?

by Alun Buffry on Monday, 14 March 2011 at 22:31

I am concerned to read about 51- year-old Peter Davy who is suffering from cancer for ten years and whose partner suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and needs his care 24 hours a day.

So I have written to the Prime Minister, Deputy PM and Minister of Justice in New Zealand asking for a pardon for Peter Davy.   I hope that you too will write .

Peter admits to having cultivated cannabis for his own use and says he has studied extensively the breeding of rare strains of cannabis for specific medical conditions.

On February 5th, Peter pleaded guilty to cultivation of cannabis at Timaru court; this was his fifth conviction and the judge has told him he will be sent to prison.  Peter has also threatened to go on strike and not take his cancer medicines if he is sent to prison.

Of course, a prison sentence for a man that grows a plant, albeit contrary to law, for his own medicinal use and to ease the terrible suffering of his partner is unjust – surely there can be no doubt in that?

If Mr Davy has done no harm – in fact, if all he has done is break a law that enables him to do GOOD,  how can he justly be sent to prison.

In addition, not only will his own health suffer, but it could cost his partner’s life”

It is surely the equivalent of a death sentence?

May I humbly request that Peter Davy be given a pardon.

—-

Web site http://www.freepeterdavy.com/node/1

 Facebook page

Write to John Key Prime Minister  john.key@national.org.nz

Write to Bill English, Deputy Prime Minister  b.english@ministers.govt.nz

Write to Simon Power, Minister of Justice  s.power@ministers.govt.nz

Write to The Press letters@press.co.nz

>Publishers High on Marijuana Books

>http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/46455-publishers-high-on-marijuana-books.html


Publishers High on Marijuana Books 

Mar 14, 2011

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Former actresses are doing it. New York Times journalists are doing it. Screenwriters are doing it. Writing about marijuana, that is. With the changing legal times, and the jaw-dropping reality that pot has become a $35 billion legal industry in the U.S., the subject is drawing a motley crew of authors exploring everything from agriculture and big business to socioeconomic norms and the joys of toking. Agents say the surge in books about pot speaks to the fact that the subject matter is that rarest of things: serious and fun.

Ben Greenberg, a senior editor at Grand Central who recently acquired New York Times reporter Emily Brady’s The Emerald Triangle, said there is no doubt that the burgeoning legality of marijuana has allowed, even encouraged, writers to produce books on the subject. While noting that most of the books about marijuana touch on some element of culture, politics, or money, Greenberg said what attracted him to Brady’s book—which profiles a declining California logging town that rebuilt its economy by growing and selling pot—is that it looks at the marijuana industry through an unexpected prism. The book, Greenberg said, “is a story of the decline of smalltown America as much as it is about the marijuana trade.”

Personal stories of pot enthusiasts who decided to try their hand at farming and dealing are also cropping up. Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media recently sold Heather Donahue’s memoir, Growgirl, to Gotham. Donahue, who decided to try her hand at marijuana farming after her Hollywood acting career flatlined (she starred in the breakout indie hit The Blair Witch Project), has a story that Glick thought touches on the cultural zeitgeist as much as the news cycle. Citing the popularity of shows like Weeds—in which Mary Louise Parker plays an upper-class, widowed, suburban mom who starts selling pot—Glick also pumped Donahue’s proposal with mentions of political upheaval, noting that with more states planning to legalize medical marijuana, the farming issues and laws are becoming more crucial.

Alex Glass, an agent at Trident Media Group who sold Ryan Nerz’s Marijuanamerica to Abrams Image last September, was also pitching a story with both personal and political implications. Glass said Nerz, whose 2005 title, Eat This Book, explored the world of competitive eating, “is a lifelong marijuana enthusiast” and used that background to look at the pot industry “in the context of his own use and experience.” For Glass, the most interesting things Nerz stirs up in the book are questions about addiction and marijuana’s place on the drug food chain, so to speak. Glass said Nerz is asking a number of compelling questions: “Are we a nation of addicts? What does it mean to be addicted?… Is regular marijuana use fun and recreational, healthier and safer than alcohol? Or is it something darker?” Glass thinks the book has appeal because it “pops the lid off of a very quirky subculture” in a serious way. And, as Glass noted, there is the added benefit that pot books sell. Glass also represents the pot enthusiast magazine High Times and sold its first branded book to Chronicle, The Official High Times Potsmoker’s Handbook; that book has sold more than 60,000 copies since its 2008 release.

That some people think general use of pot may be legalized in California in 2012 didn’t escape certain agents. Michael Strong at Regal Literary, who sold Doug Grad’s Trimming Bud to Avery, played up this possibility in his pitch for the book. (Grad looks at the various facets of the industry—law, botany, business—by focusing on the journey a single marijuana seed makes from field to market.) Strong also noted that the pot industry is now the biggest cash crop in the country, yet the revenue on it is still going untaxed; “it makes for a meaningful tax and therefore political narrative.” —Rachel Deahl

Other recently acquired nonfiction pot books
Book: Heart of Dankness
Author: screenwriter Mark Haskell Smith
Publisher: Broadway
Agent: Mary Evans, Mary Evans Literary

Book: Reefer Gladness
Author: Michael Konik
Publisher: Huntington Press
Agent: Uwe Stender, TriadaUS

Book: War in the Woods: Combating the Marijuana Cartels on America’s Public Lands
Author: John Nores Jr. and James A. Swan
Publisher: Globe Pequot
Agent: Barbara Moulton, Moulton Agency

Book: Pot of Gold: A Marijuana Virgin’s Adventures in the Land of Magical Weed
Author: Greg Campbell
Publisher: Union Square Press
Agent: Ayesha Pande, Collins Literary

Book: Stash
Author: Greg Campbell
Publisher: Union Square Press
Agent: Ayesha Pande, Collins Literary