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Mattersof Substance. may 2014 Volume 25 Issue No.2 www.drugfoundation.org.nz Will they ever learn? What happens when a student turns up to class stoned? Do they get kicked out of school or do they get help and support? Which approach is better for the student, their peers and society? CONTENTS Will they WORLD 18 ever learn? NEWS Cover: ABOUT What happens to kids COVER 04 A DRUG who turn up to school stoned? STORY 06 NZ NEWS Q&A: 02 DARIEN FENTON FEATURE: There’s an app FOR THAT 40 30 $ FEATURES Become 20 26 30 34 a member CheckiT out oh, vienna! There’s an erowid et al A night out on the town A report back from the app for that Websites sharing drug The New Zealand Drug Foundation has with harm minimisation 57th Commission on Apps and technology are experiences are playing been at the heart of major alcohol and organisation ChEckiT!. Narcotic Drugs. helping people get into, an important role in other drug policy debates for over 20 years. and stay in, recovery. harm reduction. During that time, we have demonstrated a strong commitment to advocating policies and practices based on the best evidence available. You can help us. A key strength of the Drug REGULARS Foundation lies in its diverse membership base. As a member of the Drug Foundation, you will receive information about major The Director’s Cut 01 alcohol and other drug policy challenges. You can also get involved in our work to find Events 01 16 32 40 solutions to those challenges. GuEsT EDiToriAl opiNioN Q&A News 02 Our membership includes health promoters, International drug Breaking the silence Darien Fenton About a Drug 18 reform is happening Changing the conversation Former unionist and primary health and community organisations, Viewpoints 38 it’s law reform, but not as around drug use is current labour Mp Darien researchers, students, schools and boards we know it. John Collins essential. stuart McMillen Fenton talks to Matters of Q&A 40 of trustees, policy makers, and addiction treatment agencies and workers. writes about how there looks at the stigma Substance about opening Mythbusters 41 is a change in drug policy attached to drug use. up about her past use of Membership and subscription enquiries but not quite what heroin and life now. [email protected] we expected. or visit our website. www.drugfoundation.org.nz matters of substance is published matters of substance invites Brand development/ New Zealand Drug Foundation by the New Zealand Drug feedback and contributions. graphic design 3rd Floor, 111 Dixon Street Foundation. All rights reserved. If you’re interested in Insight +64 4 801 6644 PO Box 3082, Wellington, Neither this publication nor any contributing a guest editorial [email protected] New Zealand part of it may be reproduced or article, please contact us: www.designedbyinsight.com p +64 4 801 6303 matters of substance without prior permission of the [email protected] May 2014 Drug Foundation. p +64 4 801 6303 Vol 25 No 2 ISSN 1177-200X THE DIRECTOR’s cuT SOCIAL @di_f_w Criminalising weed is a policy that criminalises the poor & brown; weak regulation of alcohol is a policy that protects the rich & white. May 5 @tslumley New psychoactive substances can be approved after safety testing as long as they aren’t new, psychoactive, or tested for safety. May 5 @katenewtonnz The image of John Key staring deep into Moonbeam’s beautiful green eyes. May 5 @yakmoose twitter is a drug… but doing twitter in hose of us living in Wellington, New Zealand’s your own home is okay. just don’t twitter in 29 APrIl political hotbed, are rightly accused of speaking public. our own language. It’s foreign to those outside of @majorlazer the “beltway” and it consists of insider code 4/21 NATIONAL SURPRISE DRUG TEST DAY. APrIl 22 words, nudges and winks. There is one particularly insidious word that I @jeromechandra NZ Hug Foundation not NZ Drug loath for its cynicism: ‘Optics’. T Foundation. APrIl 18 Often spoken by government policy advisers, ross Bell optics is code for “how does this look?” or “how @southernscoop This Strawberry Meth is off the Executive Director can we spin this?” hook! APrIl 15 Optics is, sadly, becoming a popular euphemism in Wellington. It refers to the impression a particular decision or action will KEY EVENTS & DATES have on people who you would prefer to keep on your side, i.e. the voting public. The use of optics characterises a situation in which we worry about National Indigenous Drug & Alcohol Conference 2014 2014 the public perception of a decision more than the substance of the decision N Melbourne, Australia itself. nidaconference.com.au 4-6 Ju In my opinion, it was the optics of the legal high situation that caused the rapid U-turn performed by New Zealand’s Parliament last month. Because, 20th International AIDs Conference when given sober analysis, the Psychoactive Substances Act was working Melbourne, Australia pretty well. The number of products, and places where they could be sold, aids2014.org reduced dramatically; good health regulations were introduced; hospital 20-25 Jul 2014 presentations were down. 2014 Australian Winter school Conference Yet those new controls weren’t enough to satisfy a worried public. ul 2014 J Brisbane, Australia Out-of-the-blue came intense media scrutiny of the law, of the interim winterschool.info products and of health problems caused by unknown substances. Coupled 23-25 with community dissatisfaction that products were still on sale, local council politicians frustrated at the limited powers they had to respond to Cutting edge 2014 p 2014 that concern, anger at possible animal testing, and delays by health officials E Dunedin, New Zealand in promulgating tougher regulations, this created some pretty ugly optics cuttingedge.org.nz 17-20 s for politicians heading into a general election. The new law is still sitting on the books, but it remains to be seen whether NZ Population Health Congress 2014 any government will have the appetite to getting it working. Once bitten, Auckland, New Zealand oCT pophealthcongress.org.nz twice shy. 6-8 It remains our firm view that the law must be allowed to work. But a few things need to be addressed before that can happen. One of the most 2014 APsAD scientific Conference V urgent matters is the role of local government in supporting these new Adelaide, Australia regulations. Some bridges need to be mended for that to happen. apsad.org.au 9-12 No And that raises a bigger question of what exactly is local government’s role in reducing drug harm in their communities. Our alcohol laws give councils 2014 The International symposium on Drugs and Driving V o Wellington, New Zealand extensive powers to respond in a flexible way to local alcohol matters. On N the other hand, they have zero power under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and drugfondation.org.nz/drugdriving2014 can only dabble with bylaws under our tobacco laws. This is a question 12-13 we’re keen to engage with local government on. Follow us Community needs should absolutely be considered in drug policy, alongside Join us online best practice and good evidence. Getting that balance right will always drugfoundation.org.nz/connect cause tension. But optics should not be the government’s first and last consideration in seeking that balance. matters of substance May 14 01 NEWS NZ. 02 No minimum 03 Bongs out, 05 Treatment price for alcohol hookahs in needed Justice Minister new restrictions on drug Forty-two percent of Judith Collins has refused utensils came into place serious repeat drunk to set a minimum price in early May, making it drivers do not receive for alcohol saying there harder to import, supply treatment as part of 01 PSycHOACTIVE SUBSTAncES AcT U-TURN was no evidence for the or offer for sale bongs, their sentence. approach and it would hashpipes and many In 2012/13, 874 people Parliament has hit moderate drinkers other types of pipes. who had five or more in the pocket. However, the same notice previous convictions This is despite a Ministry removed traditional for drink driving were legislated to remove of Justice report estimating Turkish hookah pipes convicted for drink driving. a saving of between $318 from the prohibited items Almost half of these did the interim period and $624 million over list, as they have been not receive treatment, 10 years in alcohol-related recognised for their according to figures for approved harm costs and citing traditional use. released by the Ministry reliable evidence on how of Justice under the Official psychoactive raising prices impacts on Information Act. heavy drinking. The figures also showed substances 04 Steer Clear Mäori were six percent more likely to get treatment, RESOURCES The move essentially bans all ‘legal highs’ until they and males made up over can be proven ‘low risk’ and comes after political 75 percent of convictions pressure from within the National Party and from read the Ministry of Justice’s report here: for drink driving. Labour and New Zealand First. nzdrug.org/nominimumprice Health Minister Tony Ryall said the interim period was supposed to be a bridge to a fully regulated market. “ Forty-two “It is clearly no longer tenable for this situation to A new campaign that continue, given the serious adverse effects which percent of shows young New continue to be reported and the authority is unable serious repeat Zealanders that cannabis to respond quickly,” Mr Ryall said. can impair driving and drunk drivers New Zealand Drug Foundation Executive Director supports them to find do not receive Ross Bell said that the law didn’t need to be changed alternatives to driving to remove harmful products.