New Zealand - Cannabis & Trouble

                        New Zealand Cannabis Cup winner, Te Kakariki

 Last week we had Pro-cannabis protest in New Zealand, this week we have major Raids on cannabis growers and distributors!

 

We start this blog story with a 2 year old story from CannabisCulture.com

Kiwi Cannabis Culture

Tuesday, August 26 2008

New Zealand is long famed for its rugged beauty, anti-nuclear stance, and green attitude, but less well known for having the highest cannabis arrest rate in the world. New Zealanders love to drink and smoke and have a good time, so much so that official figures show eighty percent will have tried cannabis by the age of 21.

LINK 

Last Week NZ headlined this story:

A cart of burning cannabis ends up in a NZ police station.

 The protesters gathered outside the Wellington police station about 6 p.m., when the “smoke bomb” was pushed into the foyer, according to Julian Crawford, an activist and candidate with the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.

“You cannot keep locking us up when the science says cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco to the individual and to the community,” Green said.

LINK  

Cannabis tour arrives at NZ parliament

Kate Chapman

November 11, 2010

Sheathed in a cloud of smoke, more than 100 people have gathered on the New Zealand parliament's front lawn to promote the benefits of cannabis over its legal counterparts alcohol and tobacco.
The protest was part of the Armistice Tour - a nationwide promotion of cannabis law reform.

LINK


This week we have Raids across New Zealand:

Wrong house raided by armed police

Friday November 19, 2010

Armed police searching for illegal firearms broke into the wrong house - and later blamed the mistake on a map error.
An elderly man was at home yesterday when 10 members of the armed offenders squad stormed the Housing New Zealand property in New Plymouth.The correct home, which was nearby, was later raided. The firearms found were air rifles and fully legal.
Cannabis plants and a suspected illegal alcohol operation were also discovered, it was reported.

LINK 
I had to add this story to the blog, two raids with 10 or more officers looking for firearms, that were just air guns. How is it that Law Enforcement around the globe can always get warrants with little, or false evidence?



What a job stealing from others who worked hard to produce a plant, to supply the people who want to use it!

Police arrest 43 in biggest drug raid

November 24, 2010

THEY have their own gardeners, electricians, house sitters and money launderers - the $400 million crime syndicates targeted in yesterday's statewide drug raids that police say are the biggest in Victoria's history.
While the raids took only hours to conduct, the operation was 15 months in the planning and yesterday resulted in 43 arrests and the alleged seizure of 8040 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of $30 million.

LINK

Aust. police smash $400 million drug cartel

 Monday, November 22, 2010

 Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Jones said Tuesday that the ongoing operation has smashed a cartel that has raked in an estimated 400 million Australian dollars ($395 million).

"Perhaps the greatest scourge in our community is the vile traffic in illicit drugs - lives and neighborhoods are destroyed while those who profit from this trade like to think their involvement goes on unnoticed," Jones told reporters

The organized crime group producing the cannabis had connections to New Zealand and Vietnam and had been operating for two years, Jones said.                                                                                     

LINK

 

 

GW Pharmaceuticals’ profits soar on cannabis-based drug

Wed 24th November, 2010

Wiltshire-based drug company GW Pharmaceuticals' profits have risen sharply following the successful launch of its cannabis-based drug Sativex in the UK.
GW Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Salisbury, increased pre-tax profits to £4.6m, almost a four-fold increase on last year (£1.2m).
Sativex is an under the tongue spray for the treatment of spasticity for sufferers to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). GW Pharmaceuticals is also trialing the medicine to treat cancer pain.
It is the first ever cannabis-derived medicine to receive full regulatory approval in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. The drug is set to launched for MS sufferers in Spain in early 2011,
The company’s turnover increased 27 per cent to £30.7m, including Sativex sales up 64 per cent to £2.8m.

LINK

 

We see cannabis as a cottage industry being attacked by those we pay to protect us. Instead of "the people" the law makers around the world are representing the Capitalist Corporations. Laws that allow Corporations to process and sell our all important healing herbs for their profit. There is no reason other than the love of money, that we not being allowed grow and use our own herbs rather than having to buy the pills or sprays from the elites Corporations.

 

Free Cannabis,

End Prohibition Now!