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 et al A night out on the town A report back from the app for that Websites sharing drug The Drug Foundation has with harm minimisation 57th Commission on Apps and technology are experiences are playing been at the heart of major and organisation ChEckiT!. Narcotic Drugs. helping people get into, an important role in other debates for over 20 years. and stay in, recovery. . 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 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 and life now. [email protected] we expected. or visit our website.

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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, , 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 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 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 , 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, , 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 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 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 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. stoned was launched in treatment as “This is just politicians playing politics at a time February at Splore. part of their when we need a measured response to a very complex Steer Clear focuses on sentence.” issue,” Mr Bell said. 16–24-year-olds who use The law also made it so that evidence from cannabis and drive, as animal testing would not be admissable to prove a well as their friends, psychoactive product was low risk. and talks to them in a non-patronising way about how cannabis can RESOURCES impair driving. Read more on the here: $ nzdrug.org/PSAroundup RESOURCES

Find out more about the law and what the politicians said here: Check out page 24 for nzdrug.org/PSAparliament more details

02 matters of substance May 14 08 New guidelines 09 Meth for OST testing scam

04 06 One in three

One in three New Zealanders Home buyers are knows someone affected by being exploited by an alcohol and drug problem. companies that test Research commissioned by the for New Zealand Drug Foundation contamination, a and conducted by Research 03 scientist says. New Zealand has shown that 06 Dr Nicholas Powell says one in three New Zealanders many testing companies has first-hand knowledge of New guidelines for only use one swab per what it is like to deal with substitution house, and this can a family member who is treatment have been experiencing negative effects 05 create a false positive released by the Ministry or elevated readings. from alcohol or drug use. 01 of Health. 02 Dr Powell was also 08 The new guidelines concerned that, despite strongly endorse a path Ministry of Health towards client-led guidelines that say testing recovery-focused treatment. companies had to operate They provide advice about independently from driving while impaired and clean-up companies, some 07 also about naloxone. are working together to maximise profits. RESOURCES RESOURCES Read the new practice guidelines here: nzdrug.org/OSTguidelines Read more from Dr Powell here: nzdrug.org/methtestingscam

Find out more about the terms 09 of testing companies here: nzdrug.org/methlabstats

07 % $45.70 Survey 97.9 35% had ever used alcohol had ever used average price paid opioid painkillers for one ecstasy pill 5,646 % $466.5 RESOURCES New Zealanders 71.2 Find out more about the took part in had ever used 8.7% average price paid for Global Drug Survey at the Global cannabis had bought a ‘legal high’ one gram of globaldrugsurvey.com Drug Survey

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 03

NEWS World. 03 01 06

03 Cannabis vending machines

A vending machine that sells cannabis will be put in place in Eagle-Vail, Colorado. The machine was exhibited outside a barbeque restaurant in No death penalty April but will reside within a dispensary. A04 CT to focus in statement The machine will require on trafficking people to swipe their The high-level segment of the 57th Commission on driver’s licence and uses able to possess three times Narcotic Drugs (CND) ended with disappointment after facial recognition as much ecstasy and twice member states failed to address core issues like harm technology to ensure the as much cocaine and not reduction and the death penalty. person swiping is the be charged under Resistance from Iran, Pakistan, China and others led the person purchasing. trafficking laws. European Union to make an interpretive statement on Anti-cannabis campaigner Attorney-General Simon behalf of 58 countries that condemned the use of capital Kevin Sabet tweeted in Corbell said the amounts punishment for drug offences. surprise saying that “it Canberra looks set to ensure serious drug raise the threshold for Tensions were high for the rest of the CND, with the took 50 years to rid most offences target people who trafficable quantities of debate on resolutions going until late on the final day. places of tobacco vending buy and sell illicit drugs machines, and now we’re common drugs. to make a profit rather RESOURCES going to let marijuana Proposed laws would than people who buy ones in?” mean people would be drugs for personal use. Turn to page 26 for a summary of the CND

02 INTERNATIONAL €100 average price paid for one gram of cocaine % % 80,000 48.2 22 20% RESOURCES people took of respondents had of respondents in of American respondents Find out more about the part in the Global used cannabis in the the UK had purchased had purchased a Global Drug Survey at Drug Survey last 12 months drugs on the internet ‘legal high’ globaldrugsurvey.com

04 matters of substance May 14

02

08 10 05 01

07

06

05 04

€3.7b 07 Vietnam 08 WHO: alcohol €3.7 billion is the minimum sentences kills one person 09 Singapore 10 LSE: it’s time amount of money that the 30 to death every 10 seconds bans NPS for evidence EMCDDA estimates Europe spends on keeping drug law offenders in prison. The estimate range goes up to €5.9 billion.

RESOURCES

Read the full report here: Vietnam has sentenced The World Health Singapore has The London School nzdrug.org/emcddareport 30 people to death for Organization (WHO) reclassified new of Economics Expert drug-related offences. is calling on governments psychoactive substances, Group on Economics and 06 Harm reduction to do more to prevent making them Class A Drug Policy has released a international Reprieve alcohol-related deaths drugs punishable by report calling for an end and the World Coalition and diseases. imprisonment and caning. to the . Against the Death Penalty In a report, WHO People caught trafficking The group, which is led 650kg have called on the United estimates that, worldwide, will face at least five years by economist John Collins Nations Office of Drugs 3.3 million deaths in 2012 in jail and five strokes of and contains five Nobel The US Drug Enforcement and Crime (UNODC) to were attributable to the cane. A person found Prize-winning economists Agency now allows the stop funding Vietnam alcohol and much more in possession can be jailed and heads of state, said University of Mississippi to because they fear the can be done to support for up to 10 years, fined the report sets out a produce 650,000 grams of support may lead to countries to bring this up to $20,000 or both. roadmap for finally ending cannabis for research purposes. people being executed. number down. the drug war. This is the only federally mandated cannabis crop. UNODC offers more than $US5 million in aid, RESOURCES RESOURCES most of which goes to RESOURCES Read the full report here: drug control. Read the full report here: nzdrug.org/LSEreport nzdrug.org/WHOalcohol Read more here: Check out page 16 for more nzdrug.org/650kilos from John Collins

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 05 COVER STORY

Will they ever learn?

If a student turns up to class stoned, they might be kicked out of school. Or they might have a restorative conference with their teachers and wha-nau, receive drug counselling and health education and be excluded from attending their school ball. Which approach is better for the student, their peers and society? Keri Welham reports.

06 matters of substance May 14 www.drugfoundation.org.nz 07 Cover story

Keri Welham If only it was as easy as putting up a sign arry was expelled from high school for committing burglaries in school time. The 19-year-old H Aucklander, who graduated from treatment at Odyssey House two years ago, started cannabis daily from age 14. The drug formed a solid, predictable background against which he experimented with an ever-changing brew of illicit drugs. Harry (not his real name) was stoned most days at school, but he says teachers turned a blind eye. By the time he was 17, he was before the courts on charges related to a drug-fuelled all-night crime spree. What could educators possibly have done to avoid this outcome? Harry believes he would have been well served by early intervention through a programme educationalists call restorative practices – a wraparound suite of initiatives that address the causes of drug use, bolster resilience and buy young people the time to develop good judgement. “Honestly, that’s a great idea,” Harry says. He believes it would have been more beneficial for him than strict rules with hefty consequences ever were. “The important thing to understand is youth at that age are really wanting to try and do new things, and being told not to do something really makes you want to do it.” Researchers, the Ministry of Education, the Education Minister and the majority of teachers believe young people are best kept in school following a transgression, and the rates of stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions are at their lowest in 13 years. However, Ministry data shows 1,238 young people were expelled or excluded from state and integrated schools in 2012. Of those, around 250 students were kicked out because of issues with drugs. Add in a buffer for the undocumented exclusions and expulsions from private schools, where consequences are traditionally more punitive, and drugs in schools start to look like a substantial problem for society.

08 matters of substance May 14 It is up to each school’s board of But he feels duty bound to present trustees to decide which punishments clear boundaries for the other 1,099 young Naturally, parents have a are appropriate and acceptable in its people in his care. legitimate expectation that community. Some schools use suspensions “The restorative approach is the right or stand-downs sparingly and favour approach. But, unless [students] can see schools are drug free. They restorative practices that support the young there are consequences for their actions, don’t expect their kids to be person with counselling, programmes of they can develop a mindset of impunity.” offered drugs in school. drug testing, health education and perhaps If a young person is spared removal time learning by correspondence. Others from school and is instead guided through continue to follow punitive zero-tolerance a rehabilitative process, Walsh says the approaches, which are popular with student body does not see the mercy or parents, where punishment always compassion in that approach. “They see it as a weak stance.” involves time banned from school. Most students removed from school But does the hard line work? Is the for a few days, or more, are aged 13–15 key to addressing drugs in schools really and are disproportionately Mäori and male. as easy as closing the gates to any young Official Information Act data shows there person caught carrying, using or being under were around 1,100 stand-downs and 800 the influence of drugs in school time? suspensions for drug-related incidents in John Paul College Principal Patrick New Zealand schools in 2012. Walsh says yes. Education Counts figures for 2012 show “We don’t make any apologies for that.” that, for every 1,000 state and integrated The Rotorua school once expelled a school students, 1.7 are stood down, 1.1 student for a first offence of dealing drugs are suspended, 0.3 are excluded and 0.4 in school. Walsh says the student’s are expelled for drug-related behaviour, behaviour was not only illegal but was including . also posing a risk to other students, Extrapolated out over a country of which would not be tolerated. learners and accounting for all those never “Naturally, parents have a legitimate caught or dealt with by other means, those expectation that schools are drug free. small figures reflect a major blight on the What property They don’t expect their kids to be offered learning environment. Australia’s National drugs in school,” Walsh says. Council on Drugs claims entire Mondays can a school John Paul College considers incidents are now being lost in schools across the search? involving drug dealing, use or possession country as teachers deal with the fallout “gross misconduct”, for which the of a weekend of teenage drug taking and There is a clear distinction between school punishment includes an appearance drinking. New Zealand educators property and a student’s property. before the board and at least some time interviewed by Matters of Substance away from school. echoed that experience. A school can search any part of its own There have been no drug incidents International research has identified property (including its own digital property): the main motivations for drug use at the college this year. There was • at any time one last year and one the year before. are escaping developmental distress, • for any reason In a school of 1,100 students, Walsh says self-managing body and spirit, conforming to social norms and • by any means (as long as it acts the low incidence of drug-related issues creating individual identity. professionally and respects privacy). is proof and visible The motivations are varied and so consequences work. are the options available to schools. Staff cannot require a group of students to He acknowledges there would be The Education Ministry says any short produce, reveal and surrender items or to students in his school who use drugs on remove outer clothing or surrender a bag or or long-term removal of a student must weekends, but he says they know not to other belongings, as above, unless they have comply with the relevant sections of the bring that offending to school. reasonable grounds to believe that each Education Act 1989 and the Education student has a relevant item. This means, in “At some point, you have to take (Stand-down, Suspension, Exclusion, and a punitive approach because drugs in effect, the legislation does not permit Expulsion) Rules 1999. This year, two new blanket searches in any circumstances. schools have a big impact in the documents entered the landscape – the community,” he says. “We have to be Education Amendment Act 2013 and the SOURCE: Guidelines for the surrender and retention of very strong on that because that’s just Education (Surrender, Retention, and property and searches, Ministry of Education the expectation of our community.” Search) Rules 2013. Walsh accepts excluding a student from It’s no wonder principals like Oxford school can set off a ‘spiralling down’ in Area School’s Bob Norrish and Kaiapoi High terms of that young person’s engagement, School’s Bruce Kearney have publicly said education and social development. The they’re not clear on some of the legalities. best option for a student is rehabilitation, In recent months, Oxford Area School he says. and several others in Canterbury have

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 09 Cover story

Deputy Children’s Commissioner Dr Justine Cornwall brought in drug detection dogs through a company called Risk Management Group. The Press revealed the company had conducted drug raids on a dozen Canterbury schools in the year to February 2014. Norrish told the paper he wasn’t sure the raids would become a regular activity. “I need to look at the new search and seize legislation to see if it fits in with that.” And Kaiapoi’s Bruce Kearney said, “When you bring drug dogs in, you are subjecting all of your students to that, and I’m not 100 percent sure how effective it is. I’m no longer 100 percent sure how legal it is.” Key aspects of the Education Amendment Act 2013 relate to searches and confiscation of property in schools. Last year, the Ministry oversaw development of Guidelines for the surrender and retention of property and searches. These are sometimes referred to by educators as the ‘search and seize’ guidelines. While the term ‘guidelines’ insinuates the advice on offer is an optional Patrick Walsh of John Paul College was consideration, schools are legally required involved in the development of the to have regard for the guidelines when guidelines. He says the law was previously dealing with issues such as drugs in schools. unclear and the new rules represent Martin Henry is an advisory officer “another tool in the toolbox” for schools with the New Zealand Post Primary as they fight drugs. The power to search Teachers’ Association (PPTA) and was school property is welcome. “We hope formerly a deputy principal at a Wellington not to exercise those powers, but the fact secondary school. His work with the PPTA the students know we have them acts as focuses on restorative practices. a deterrent.” Henry says a board of trustees can use While some schools have specific drug dogs to search school property, because policies, others rely on pastoral policies or that property is owned by the Crown, but the ‘serious misconduct’ clauses within the dogs cannot be used to search people or other policies. their bags. Many schools make students The Ministry of Education is sign a waiver when they rent a school developing a model of restorative practices locker, enabling those lockers to be for schools as part of Positive Behaviour for included in any drug search. Learning (PB4L – see sidebar on page 13). “If you’ve got someone bringing dope Education Minister Hekia Parata told in to the school, stopping that dope is Matters of Substance, “We’ve learned important. But [we] don’t want people from experience here and overseas that searched without suspicion.” restorative approaches are more effective In the preamble to the guidelines, than punitive responses when it comes to the difficult decisions facing schools reducing challenging behaviour, such as are addressed: drug-related incidents, and getting kids “There can be no definitive way of working successfully again in the classroom.” dealing with each and every scenario and Parata says early feedback on PB4L has principals and boards will most often be been positive. “We’re seeing evidence in required to look to their own experience schools using it of improved student and judgement. Often the circumstances retention and NCEA Level 1 achievement will be straight-forward and responses and a drop in stand-down rates.” will be routine, but there will be occasions Education researcher Jenny Robertson when the best course of action is not believes restorative practices and obvious. Where a range of responses is programmes such as PB4L make teachers available, boards and staff are encouraged feel better about themselves but may not to exercise judgement that is based on what necessarily deliver on the promise of is reasonable in the circumstances.” ensuring a higher level of learning.

10 matters of substance May 14 pastoral care while Acting Principal was INFORMATION evident in his handling of large-scale drug use on a school trip last year. He told The Dominion Post, “I don’t want a kid that smoked dope to think they’re a terrible person. I want them to be a better person.” Killalea told Matters of Substance he normally dealt with around 10 drug-related incidents a year. Only in extreme cases, such as drug dealing or repeated drug use, would students be suspended. However, in 2013, 26 teenagers were found to have smoked marijuana on a school ski trip. There were 105 students and 11 adults on the trip. The drug use We’re seeing evidence in was uncovered when a parent contacted schools using it of improved the school to say their child had reported Definitions of trying cannabis for the first time while on student retention and NCEA the trip. stand-down, Level 1 achievement and a Killalea says a blanket solution would suspension, exclusion drop in stand-down rates. not have fairly addressed the range of culpability. Those who supplied the and expulsion in the drugs had to be considered to have done Hekia Parata New Zealand something worse than those who were standing in a circle when cannabis came education system “Where’s the evidence that change around and didn’t have the fortitude or in behaviour is achieving better learning inclination to refuse it. outcomes? What I have seen would suggest The school ran restorative conferences 1 Stand-down means the formal it’s not.” for 15 of the students. They were kept removal of a student from school Robertson, author of a 2013 review of home for 3–5 days. The majority were for a specified period. alcohol and other drug (AOD) education dealt with by section 27. They returned programmes for young people, believes, to school after negotiating with the board 2 Suspension means the formal removal “There are probably still a small number and drawing up agreements that included of a student from school until the board of trustees decides the outcome of users where expulsion from school is punitive measures. The year 13s, for at a suspension meeting. Following a actually the best thing.” instance, were excluded from the school suspension, the board may decide to: One controversial tool used by many ball. None of the 26 was allowed on any schools is section 27 of the Education Act further field trips for the rest of the year, A. lift the suspension without conditions – an attendance clause used to keep a and inclusion on field trips this year is at young person out of school for a few days B. lift the suspension with Killalea’s discretion. Most of the students reasonable conditions without affecting their academic record. offered to take part in voluntary drug testing The PPTA’s Martin Henry says a to prove their ongoing adherence to school C. extend the suspension with section 27-negotiated return to school can rules. Only one student was suspended. reasonable conditions for a involve voluntary drug testing. Some “I didn’t feel I was getting total reasonable period students are relieved – the certainty of drug engagement from the kid and the family.” D. exclude or expel the student. testing can help them deflect peer pressure Killalea emailed the school community to continue using. about the ski trip and received almost The focus for most schools using 200 replies of support from parents. He 3 Exclusion means the formal removal section 27 is to ensure that, when a young received two emails that criticised his of a student aged under 16 from the school and the requirement that the person eventually leaves school, it’s with restorative practices. student enrol elsewhere. dignity and to transition to options that None of the 26 students was involved in are meaningful. either of the two drug incidents the school 4 Expulsion means the formal removal Then there’s the issue of the ‘Kiwi dealt with in the first term of this year. of a student aged 16 or over from Suspension’. Henry says this is common in A 2012 Scottish cohort study suggested the school. If the student wishes to private schools where a school will hush a sense of “connection” to a school’s values continue schooling, he or she may up a drug issue if the student involved and ethos helped protect young people enrol elsewhere. simply leaves the school. The child leaves from illegal drug use. In fact, connection the school, seemingly voluntarily, and was a stronger indicator of protection from SOURCE: Ministry of Education enrols in another school without any drug use than either truancy levels or NB: Exclusion or expulsion follow suspension record of the incident. The school can then academic success. also maintain its own blemish-free record. Killalea says his students seemed Dominic Killalea is Deputy Principal of proud of the school’s restorative response Wellington High School. His approach to to the ski trip incident. It appeared to foster

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 11 COVER STORY

a sense of belonging and pride in the student was caught, he told Killalea he first school’s ethos. smoked pot when he was five. It is rare for students to be found “Do we just turf him out? Because carrying drugs. Killalea says he more [if we do] that’s a whole lot of problems Punishments in 2012, by the commonly deals with students who turn for society.” numbers (all behavioural issues, up to class stoned. He has only ever expelled one student not just drugs) He usually asks them outright if they over drugs. The boy had been at the school are stoned. If they admit to having smoked two weeks when he turned up with a bag up before class and seem genuinely sorry, of weed. Killalea says he had no tolerance he arranges a restorative conference for someone who was new to the school 92% involving the teacher, parents, a facilitator, community, showed such disregard for his new schoolmates and teachers and was 92 percent of schools used stand-downs, Killalea and sometimes classmates. They obviously looking to compromise the safety involving 13,040 students develop a restorative agreement with a of others by dealing drugs. number of conditions, such as voluntary John Paul College’s Patrick Walsh did drug testing to prove adherence to the the exact same thing for a first-time school’s rules. drug-dealing incident in his school, but 83% If the student denies using drugs, it gets he framed it as unashamed zero tolerance. 83 percent of schools used suspensions, much more tricky. Where the parents are By contrast, Wellington High’s Dominic involving 3,061 students supportive, a family might decide to get the Killalea is somewhat haunted by the fact young person’s urine checked by a doctor he expelled that student. to show whether THC levels have spiked in “I’ve always felt a little bit guilty about recent hours. If high THC levels are detected, that one.” 1,101 the young person might be suspended by Killalea says Wellington High is a decile Of those suspended, the board. When parents fight school 9 school in the vicinity of high-density state 1,101 students were excluded suggestions to gain clarity around the and council housing. Drug dealers walk up young person’s drug use, suspension is and down the school boundary pushing also likely. drugs. In that environment, educators have 137 Killalea sometimes feels like he’s to be determined. actually suspending the parents. “For the most part, if a student’s getting Of those suspended, He has known students whose drug use stoned and turning up to class, there’s an 137 students were expelled has been sanctioned at home or even issue there. I do feel it’s our responsibility

SOURCE: Education Counts encouraged. One student was found to be to help. dealing drugs at school, and Police – who “We’re not a druggie school – just must be informed – confirmed the father prepared to deal with our problems… We’ll was also a known dealer. When another look after our kids as much as possible.”

12 matters of substance May 14 The denial of school is a punishment which Considering drug treatment – advice for schools completely outweighs the error of judgement. When considering This isn’t about tolerating whether a stand-down bad behaviour, [it’s] or suspension is more about having a warranted, a principal measured response. should take into account a student’s interest in addressing his or her problem, and any willingness to engage with assistance such as mentoring or counselling.

SOURCE: Guidelines for the surrender and retention of property and searches, Ministry of Education

The United Nations Convention on the Matheson says education is essential in Rights of the Child (UNCROC) was ratified battling teenage drug use. Health education by New Zealand in 1993. in the curriculum must explain the negative Article 16 of UNCROC states: “No child developmental and social impacts and the shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful wider health implications for young people interference with his or her privacy, family, using cannabis and other drugs. What is PB4L? or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks Dunedin’s Mirror Services has a long on his or her honour and reputation.” history of providing services to young Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) is a Article 16 is relevant to an environment people with drug issues and is currently suite of 11 programmes and initiatives that where mandatory drug testing is no developing a new service for the Southern help parents, teachers and schools address longer allowed but drug dog sweeps are region as part of the Prime Minister’s problem behaviour, improve children’s wellbeing and increase educational becoming routine. Youth Exemplar contract. Mirror’s day programme is full of young people who achievement. It is a joint initiative led by New Zealand’s Deputy Children’s have been excluded from school, some of the Ministry of Education, and restorative Commissioner Dr Justine Cornwall says she them for as long as three years, and have practice is one of the programmes. would like to see schools assessing each severe substance use issues. case of drug use individually, working Restorative practice helps build respectful Director Deb Fraser says expelling or with whänau to find solutions and linking relationships across schools to encourage excluding young people from school for positive changes in behaviour. A PB4L families with rehabilitative support. “These breaches of the school’s drug rules rarely restorative practice model is being piloted situations are rarely black and white.” works in terms of curbing drug use. But she in over 20 secondary schools in 2013/14 She says school can be an important often sees scenarios where small-time drug and will be available to 200 secondary protective factor for a young person. Jim use is overlooked and ignored in school schools by 2017. Matheson agrees. Matheson is a New settings, so it escalates into more As at July 2013, there were Zealand Drug Foundation Board member substantial drug use. Then, when the drug and a former Ministry of Education use is discovered, school communities operational policy manager for student sometimes “completely over-react”, and support. He says it’s essential young people the consequences are much more severe are supported while they grow and are than circumstances warrant. 408 given space to make errors without threat of Ideally, Fraser says, drug use should be PB4L School-Wide schools punishments that have lasting impact. identified as early as possible, and the

“Kids do silly things. The denial of response should involve appropriate SOURCE: PB4L website, Ministry of Education school is a punishment which completely screening and intervention. outweighs the error of judgement. And there are times when all the young “This isn’t about tolerating bad person is guilty of is youthful exuberance. behaviour, [it’s] more about having a She knows a young man who was expelled measured response.” for taking his brother’s bong to school and

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 13 COVER STORY

Case study Student-led solutions to drug taking in class

Makere Derbyshire The next day, Derbyshire explained to the students that some minor initial consequences They were harder on says young people are enforced on the tramp were not sufficient for harsh on their peers such a significant breach of trust.I n the absence themselves than what I of an institute-wide drug policy, she asked them could come up with. who illegally take to develop consequences for anyone who came drugs in class time. to class stoned. “They were harder on themselves than what I Following development of this system and Derbyshire is head tutor of Whitireia could come up with,” she says. other student-led initiatives such as shorter New Zealand’s He Poutama Ako (Certificate lunchtimes so students didn’t get bored and The group developed the following consequences: in Work Skills Level 2) course. Many of the smoke cannabis, Derbyshire recognised a younger students end up on the course • Derbyshire would have the right to “profound” drop in students turning up to because they’ve been kicked out of immediately send home anyone she class stoned. mainstream schooling for problematic suspected of being stoned. behaviour, such as drug use. Most course Attendance grew from around participants have a multitude of social • The next day, that student had to apologise to risk-factors. Many use cannabis habitually. the class and articulate why their education was important to them. They had to suggest The course aims to prepare the students – an appropriate consequence. ranging in age from 17 to 46 – for higher 60% TO 81% education or the workforce. Derbyshire • For a second offence, the Dean of Faculty follows a system of student-led education, Mäori would be informed and the student Attendance grew from around 60 percent to which extends to students developing would provide a plan to ensure it would not 81 percent. At the end of the year, three their own consequences to deal with drug happen again. It would be expected the student students revealed the supportive system had use in class. would take up some form of counselling. encouraged them to give up marijuana altogether. One student, who could not Last year, on the last day of a class tramp, • For a third offence, the student, the Dean, remember ever going three hours without a Derbyshire noticed one student was stoned. Derbyshire and the student’s family would smoke, developed a habit of staying straight She called a class meeting, asked the group hold a meeting to discuss the student’s place for the six-hour class day. Of all 18 students why they thought she’d called them on the course. Specialised drug and alcohol on the class, two of them got to the first level together, and a student stepped forward and support would be mandatory for anyone of the three-level disciplinary system said, “Because I’m really stoned.” By the end wanting to remain. A four-week good developed by the students. None progressed to of the impromptu meeting, nine students – behaviour contract would be drawn up, and the second or third levels. half the class – had confessed to being stoned. any further transgressions would result in the student exiting the class. They would be given Derbyshire says young people with substantial “I’ve been working with youth for 15-plus support and clear goals, risk factors need the stability and structure of years,” Derbyshire says, “and this was where and once those goals had been met, they a course. A zero-tolerance exclusion model everything always seemed to fall down – could resume their place in a future intake would not have been effective. how you dealt with someone who was on of the course. marijuana or some sort of substance.” “They need to be here.”

14 matters of substance May 14 ...when somebody gets excluded from school or expelled, they have less structured activity... Often their situation worsens, and other young people start getting pulled in to that lifestyle too.

another who took a bag of chopped up disruptive behaviour or they have specific schools, nine alternative education houseplants to school and pretended it education needs not met by mainstream programmes and a teenage parent unit. was drugs. schooling. Casey says alternative “What we’ve noticed is, when She says school boards are dealing education is not intended for – and rarely somebody gets excluded from school or with a young person’s record – their used by – those excluded from school. expelled, they have less structured educational history – and the impact it activity so they are not 8.30am to 3.15pm, will have for the rest of their lives should at school [and] occupied. Often their not be overlooked. Boards face school situation worsens, and other young populations that are a cross-section of They need consequences, people start getting pulled in to that society – from those with substance boundaries and support lifestyle too.” to those who just want to cause to understand the gravity Birks Ang says many young people mischief and enjoy getting out of it. The of the situation, but start using drugs to control the strong punishment might be the same, but at one getting an education emotions they feel as teenagers. end of the scale are young people who Unfortunately, drugs are a very effective need robust therapeutic interventions. shouldn’t be one of anaesthetic. Repercussions must be consistent, but the bargaining chips. Young people facing boards for not one size fits all. And those stand-down or suspension hearings are repercussions must be seen to be just as often nervous yet staunch, he says. It can strict and supportive for teachers found Instead, the first option for an excluded be hard for them to see the anguish and using drugs. student is to find another shame they are causing their families. Fraser says drug education is hugely There are also a small number of valuable, but it must be tailored to each school to take them. If that fails, they often families who educators hate to call stage and age group. Values and beliefs join the ranks of the 14,000 Kiwi kids because they know the young person change as young people mature. It would studying with Te Aho o te Kura Pounamu could be physically punished for getting be valuable for young people to learn – The Correspondence School. in to trouble. about developing positive self-image, Casey says stand-downs and “For a lot of students, school is one social skills and coping strategies such as suspensions are not a board of trustees’ of the safest places they go to.” refusal skills that could be used in a social or principal’s preferred action, but it Every breach of school rules should settings. depends on the situation. have consequences, but Birks Ang says How do you say you don’t want a toke? “Everyone would draw the line at losing access to education should never Katrina Casey is the Education physical assaults on other children.” be among them. Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Sector Responses to broken school rules have “They need consequences, Enablement changed over the past 30 years, Casey says, boundaries and support to understand the and Support for New Zealand’s 750,000 but so has society. “Commonly, schoolchildren. New Zealand has an gravity of the situation, but getting an both parents are working, so [suspension] education shouldn’t be one of the alternative education programme that, at is a more complex issue than it would have bargaining chips.” any one time, can cater for about 1,900 been 20 or 30 years ago.” young people who have been Ben Birks Ang is Amplify! and Stand marginalised by the system. This might Up! team leader at Auckland’s Odyssey Keri Welham is a Tauranga-based writer. mean they don’t fit in socially, they have House. His teams work in 20 mainstream

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 15 GUEST EDITORIAL

International drug reform is happening – just not as we expected

Reform of international drug policy seems inevitable, but questions remain. “How broad will the reforms be and how long before a new stable governing equilibrium is reached by the UN system?” asks John Collins. john collins

he international the United Nations Commission on drug control Narcotic Drugs (CND) has had to rapidly No longer among the system, begun recalibrate to a new international paradigm over a century ago, where, instead of reflecting and enforcing hardliners, the US has has seen major a prohibitionist framework, it merely acknowledged, both at the periods of provides a forum for discussion, UN but also more recently T upheaval before disagreement and/or cooperation. domestically, that the with a crude For the last century, the goal of the pattern discernable. Periods of stability system was to end the ‘abuse’ of and trade overreliance on have lasted roughly a decade on average in non-medical and non-scientific incarceration has failed. before being broken by frenetic bursts of ‘dangerous drugs’. States worked to activity and change (often resulting in new overcome powerful economic interests conventions), before reaching a new period and political obstacles to reform the trade of stability. and create a globally regulated licit market. However, this time appears different In some ways, as historian David in terms of both the scale and direction of Courtwright has pointed out, it represented reform. States in Latin America have, for a rational effort to decommercialise and the first time in the system’s history, decommodify a burgeoning global openly revolted against continuing the narcotics industry. In others, it represented current trajectory of control. Meanwhile, a drastic regulatory overreach, one based the US, long the system’s key bilateral on deeply flawed assumptions and a enforcer, has relinquished its leadership singular belief in prohibitionist policies role and is instead focusing on de- as a panacea. Failure of outcomes was escalating its domestic drug war. viewed as a failure of political will, Uncertainty over whether Russia not of strategy or assumptions. would assume the US’s mantle has been Early indicators, clearly discernable answered by the post-Crimea diplomatic by the 1930s, that the illicit market and freeze, while China shows no appetite for addiction would not be so easy to quell subsuming its overarching foreign policy were ignored in favour of a belief in principle of non-intervention to drug entrenched enforcement and control policy. Lacking a hegemonic champion, measures. Thus began an almost century-

16 matters of substance May 14 Uruguay’s Upper House of Parliament votes to legalise cannabis

long trajectory towards the current drug Most member states still accept this war quagmires. States continually sought ‘breach’ narrative, which was why it was Early indicators, clearly to double down and strengthen the existing so interesting to hear US Ambassador strategy rather than engage in a re- William Brownfield cogently elaborate discernable by the 1930s, evaluation of strategic assumptions. on why the US was not in ‘breach’ of its that the illicit market and Current debates now focus on what international commitments, despite addiction would not be so components of the current strategy are allowing localities to pursue regulated easy to quell were ignored mandated by the drug conventions and cannabis markets. what components are driven by precedent The point seems that interpretation in favour of a belief in and interpretation. I would argue not much and implementation of international entrenched enforcement in terms of the former and quite a lot in agreements and laws is always and and control measures. Thus terms of the latter. everywhere a function of political realities. began an almost century Further, Uruguay, the US, the United Interpretation follows politics, not vice Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – and versa. This is not to say that treaty long trajectory towards now a growing chorus of states at the CND ‘flexibility’ is always desirable – in the the current drug war – seem to echo this viewpoint. In other case of human rights law, clearly it is not. quagmires. words, there is a growing consensus Nevertheless, the result when applied to around recognising the plasticity or the field of drug control is that the ‘flexibility’ of the conventions. This has conventions are undergoing a fundamental tremendous implications for efforts to reform without the immediate need for don’t have a significant negative impact reform global drug policy. a messy treaty rewriting process. on other states, has, through the US and For decades, the idea of reforming the This is not to say convention reform Uruguay’s actions, been answered. This international system remained in the realm isn’t necessary. As the political landscape is diplomacy at work, and this is reform of academic speculation. Given that of the international system shifts, so too under way. It has just not happened as member states used the conventions to will the need to alter the legal framework we expected. justify strict prohibitionist policies, it was underpinning it. However, this will be Few things do. assumed de-escalation of these policies reactive to policy changes, not proactive could only follow convention reform. in facilitating them. John Collins is the coordinator of the IDEAS Hence the rush to claim Uruguay was in The question over whether states have International Drug Policy Project at the ‘breach’ of its international commitments the right to pursue varying national London School of Economics. by legally regulating cannabis. regulatory frameworks, as long as they

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 17 ABOUT A DRUG

NBOMe n-bomb, smiley paper, bomb, bom-25, -I-NBOME, 25I-NBOME, 25I. 2-(4-iodo-2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-[(2- methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine

500-800 µg Common dosage of 25I-NBOMe according to Erowid 2010 The year when the first NBOMe compound was synthesised 6-10 Number of hours effects of NBOMe last 19 Number of reported NBOMe-related deaths in the USA since 2010

18 matters of substance May 14 While LSD is often painted as the psychedelic equivalent of a tie-die t-shirt, the new, nefarious n-bomb is portrayed as a potent potion of peril. This new , often sold as acid, is another example of how new psychoactive substances are scaring the world.

A few micrograms, and you’ll be having implications, let alone the long-term impacts a psychedelic trip. A few micrograms NBOMe has on the human brain. more, and you could be dead. The NBOMe The drug surfaced in New Zealand in family is a group of hallucinogenic new early 2012, with the first media reports of psychoactive substances (NPS) that mimic its negative effects occurring in March 2014. LSD. The most common member of this Four men were taken to hospital in family is 25I-NBOMe, which was discovered , two of whom were admitted in 2003 and first synthesised only a few in a critical condition, with one ending up years ago in 2010. in intensive care for kidney and cardiac It’s a potent chemical that acts as a full complications. Luckily, the man recovered agonist for the human 5-HT2A receptor, the and was discharged a few days later. receptor that other psychedelics like LSD The story overseas has been far grimmer, After spending some and hit to create the desired with multiple deaths being reported. As of time with the frogs, effects. NBOMe, however, appears to affect late 2013, there had been at least 17 deaths I began walking again. the receptor in a different way to anything in the USA, one in Australia, and across we’ve seen before. Europe, the EMCDDA has reported a That’s metaphorically ‘seen’. You can’t handful of deaths and over 40 incidences of Erowid user cryptix420 on his eyeball a dose of NBOMe. Erowid estimates severe intoxication leading to hospitalisation positive use of NBOMe that the common dose is somewhere from NBOMe compounds. between 500-800 micrograms. This is NBOMe has been banned in a handful of important because the side effects can be countries and more are likely to follow suit, severe and the dose-response curve is almost but this has not led to any significant exponential. This means a tiny bit too much reduction in harm or reported availability. can lead to toxic overdose. Even here in New Zealand where, under the TL;DR My brother died While it is mostly taken via a tab of Psychoactive Substances Act, NBOMe is an about four hours after blotter paper placed under the tongue, unapproved substance, we are seeing its dosing two blotter tabs of there have been reports of snorting. It seems ugly effects. 25B-NBOMe… If you choose snorting is the most dangerous way to ingest NBOMe has spread quickly due to NBOMe, with more hospitalisations due to a number of factors. Where a lot of focus to partake, please take all this method than others. on developing other new psychoactive necessary precautions and Tabs of NBOMe are often sold as LSD. substances had been put on synthetic employ a trip-sitter. We This is worrying because LSD starts to take cannabis and substances that mimic MDMA effect quicker than NBOMe, so people who or cocaine, this was the first real hallucinogen. played with fire, and we are expecting their trip to start sooner Consequently, it filled a gap for those seeking got burned. assume they haven’t taken enough and take a legal version of LSD or psilocybin. another hit. This can have serious Also, because doses are so small, NBOMe Reddit user PainfulRegret on the death consequences. There are a few ways to tell can easily avoid detection in drug tests. This of his brother due to NBOMe the difference between the two, one being a is important because platforms like Silk Road packaged testing kit that is now available in and DarkMarket make purchasing drugs the US. online easier than heading down to your local NBOMe appears to have some other corner store. With limited ability to detect serious side effects. It is a vasoconstrictor, NBOMe, the likelihood of getting caught which means it tightens blood vessels. Some receiving your drugs by mail is very slim. people have reported this effect can last NBOMe is the perfect example of how for two days, and a few people have lost the merry-go-round approach to banning extremities, even limbs, because their blood substances is futile and results in increased vessels became so constricted. Kidney harm. With LSD prohibited, people will look failure, seizures, paranoia and vomiting are for alternatives and find NBOMe. But little is other issues that have been identified with known about this drug, and though it taking too much. Because it is so new, we’re appears more dangerous, it’s readily still not sure of all the pharmacological available online despite local bans.

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 19 Feature ChEckiT out

The dance party scene is renowned for being up with the latest and best dance-enhancing substances. But sometimes things can go wrong. ChEckiT is an integrated service in Vienna that helps party goers make good decisions. Jackson Wood went along to a to check it out. JACKSON WOOD

t’s only 11pm. It’s clever harm reduction that goes straight The party hasn’t to the source. They were aware there started yet, and the Mueller says three things came together: was no alcohol there. They ChEckiT team are social workers in or around the scene; busy setting up politicians ready to listen to the social had a lot of questions, and their stall in the workers; and a wave of other European they had fears. I chillout room at cities starting up drug-checking services. WUK. It’s a small “There were social workers who had an table, but it’s a small table that has changed insight into the scene – they had friends the face of dance parties in Vienna. in the scene or had been in the scene, and Fifteen years ago, there was an they had a professional background. They atmosphere of uncertainty among were credible people for the politicians to politicians and the general public talk with. about the scene. “Then there was a politician ready to The scene, explains ChEckiT’s Steve listen to them. The idea was to find out Mueller, is the electronic music scene. It what was actually happening. They started came late to Vienna. But when it came, the a research project, not just researching the parties grew to a size where they became scene in Vienna and throughout Austria visible to the public and to politicians. but in Europe and looking for how other “They didn’t know what was happening there, they were just becoming states or cities were dealing with it.” aware that there is something happening What they found was that Switzerland around this new music and around big old was running a safer parties programme, as factories where a lot of people go and just was the Netherlands. So there was precedent. celebrate something,” Mueller says. Mueller credits the social workers for “They were aware there was no alcohol pulling everything together. there. They had a lot of questions, and they “They were part of the scene and had had fears.” a professional background. I think that was Out of this fear, ChEckiT was born. a credit, the crucial bit. The politicians ChEckiT is an integrated drug-checking would have never talked to just people service. It’s not drug testing. It’s a trusted from the scene, it wouldn’t have been source of advice and counselling for drugs. credible enough for them.”

20 matters of substance May 14 www.drugfoundation.org.nz 21 feature

Credibility is no longer a problem. In The first test comes back. The person It’s personalised harm its 16th year, ChEckiT rolls out once a back at the dance party thought it was reduction information, and month to dance parties around Vienna. MDMA, turns out it is – and it’s 79 percent They also have an office in a nice part of pure. Another is 2C-B. Eyebrows are raised that makes it so, so, so credible town and are an accepted part of the scene at the next one. The person thought it was for our service users. They and with the Police. cocaine. Turns out it is mainly , an know that the information I’m So how does it work? anaesthetic and levamisole. getting here is related to my The stall is more than just a repository Back in the chillout room, the party drug and it’s related to me. for condoms, apples and drug information. is kicking off. People wander up to the It’s a gateway to getting good info about ChEckiT stall. Eyes dart down to their drugs so people can make good choices. It’s hands and then scan the wall for their not patronising. It’s honest. It provides help. colour-coded result paper. From the stall at the back of the White if the drug is what the person chillout room, people are directed to the thought it was and it is within the normal sampling station. Here, people talk with a dosages for low-risk use. Yellow if it is cut counsellor in private. A small scraping of with other drugs or in high concentrations their pill or their powder is taken. The above low-risk use. Red if the sample was person tells the counsellor what they think not what the person thought it was or it is. They have a chat about their drug use. could cause a high-risk trip. The person gets given a number. From People start talking to the ChEckiT here, the scraping heads to the lab. crew. Asking them questions not just about We walked over to the lab at Vienna the testing but about their use and drugs Hospital. After getting lost in the labyrinth in general. of late 70s orange linoleum, we find a small This is integrated drug checking. It’s room with a large machine in it. not just a test, Mueller stresses. The technician says they’re seeing a lot “Our approach makes the service more of MDMA in very high concentrations at useful for people. Most people think drug the moment as we wait for the first tests checking is just the handling, the chemical to be run. analysis of drugs and handing out results.

22 matters of substance May 14 “People get information about drug use people don’t realise that the people they in general, general drugs knowledge or buy from actually don’t know what they about different substances – how they can have because they don’t have an analysis.” affect their bodies and how the person can On an average night, they would run actually deal with them. 100 tests and talk to that many people “Then they get advice, which gives again. Through ChEckiT’s homebase, they people the knowledge they need to handle reach even more people and not just in the their specific substance. They get scene. They also work with the city of information related to the drug they have Vienna and the hospital to monitor drug in their hands. trends and work with the Police on “It’s personalised harm reduction information, and that makes it so, so, so training around drugs. credible for our service users. They know The party won’t finish until midday that the information I’m getting here is the next day. People come and people related to my drug and it’s related to me.” go. Steve tells me that ChEckiT has Mueller says people specifically come been a success. Overdoses are down. to parties where they know ChEckiT is People are accessing help and treatment. going to be, and it has had an impact on They are trusted in the scene. ChEckiT the scene. is truly a success of community-driven “They get more, they reflect more about harm reduction. their drug use. It’s not only that they get the chance to reflect about the drug use when they are at the results wall, but they RESOURCES actually get information. “They now know there can be five or Learn more about ChEckiT’s services at eight different substances in a sample of checkyourdrugs.at cocaine, which they did not know before. Then they tend to change the way they Jackson Wood is a Senior Adviser at the think about their own drug use and about New Zealand Drug Foundation. the people they get the drugs from. Most

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 23 Steer Clear aims to show some of the ways that you put yourself and others at risk when you jump behind the wheel blazed, and steerclear.co.nz steerclear social media dope as drive simulator encourages young people to find targeting safe alternatives to driving high. 16-24 Using online and offline experiences, Steer Clear identifies how being stoned negatively effects year olds every aspect of safe driving, from your coordination, to your vision, and your ability to focus on complex tasks and ignore distractions.

learn more at www.steerclear.co.nz #steerclearnz #drivedrugfree @steerclearnz Steer Clear aims to show some of the ways that you put yourself and others at risk when you jump behind the wheel blazed, and steerclear.co.nz steerclear social media dope as drive simulator encourages young people to find targeting safe alternatives to driving high. 16-24 Using online and offline experiences, Steer Clear identifies how being stoned negatively effects year olds every aspect of safe driving, from your coordination, to your vision, and your ability to focus on complex tasks and ignore distractions.

learn more at www.steerclear.co.nz #steerclearnz #drivedrugfree @steerclearnz Oh, Vienna!

For some, the 57th Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna this year was disappointing. For others, there were glimmers of hope. Meanwhile, international drug policy keeps on spluttering along. Jackson Wood was part of the strong NGO delegation that represented New Zealand at the event.

ith 1,300 delegates from all over the world, trying to agree on anything may seem like an impossible task. But nothing is JACKSON W WOOD impossible if you set limits on how long translators will keep on translating and accept compromise. These were some the lessons learned from Another sign that this consensus is the 57th Commission on Narcotic Drugs about as broad as something really, really (CND) in Vienna this year. broad is the normally conservative One of the most contentious issues was International Narcotics Control Board the exclusion of the mention of the death (INCB) changing its position on the death penalty in the joint ministerial statement. penalty. In a statement just before the CND, Negotiations on this particular statement President of the INCB Raymond Yans had been going on since mid-2013. encouraged member states to consider Participants had failed to reach agreement abolishing the death penalty for drug- on a few fundamental issues like harm related offences. Despite a U-turn on this reduction and preparations for the 2016 issue, Yans put up a spirited defence of the United Nations General Assembly Special conventions as they pertain to cannabis Session (UNGASS). and some states legalising the drug. Due to resistance from Iran, Pakistan, Comedian in recovery Russell Brand China and others, the final joint statement made an appearance during the CND and failed to take a stand on the death penalty. met with representatives of Portugal, The European Union made a statement on Switzerland and NGOs. Brand went on to behalf of 58 countries that condemned hold a press conference where he talked capital punishment for drug offences. about the insane nature of the world drug When questioned about how far control system and endorsed the ‘Support. consensus can actually stretch – for some Don’t Punish.’ campaign. countries, a certain drug is legal, while “Nobody at all is helped by drugs being in other countries, it carries the death made illegal, unless of course there is a penalty – the UNODC Executive Director conspiracy to marginalise, condemn and Yury Fedotov merely said, “It is a persecute disenfranchised members of our broad consensus.” global community,” Mr Brand said. Russell Brand talks to João Goulão from Portugal’s official CND delegation

26 matters of substance May 14 Russell Brand talks to João Goulão from Portugal’s official CND delegation

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 27 More CND NEWS UNODC VNGOC The CND is such a long nzdrug.org/CND2014 vngoc.org/ and detailed event that it is Repository of all things CND, from resolutions A good place for NGO documents about impossible to capture all the to timetables to briefing documents. the CND.

highlights in a single article. CND Blog HCLU Here are some websites that The IDPC runs the CND Blog, which provided nzdrug.org/HCLUCND2014 you might want to check out fast updates on most of the CND sessions and side events. It’s a powerful resource for figuring The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has put to fill in the gaps. out what happened during discussions. together this video about the breakdown of consensus at Vienna.

VICE nzdrug.org/CNDvice The most important UN drugs summit for decades was depressing Max Daly, a regular contributor to Matters of Substance, wrote this piece for Vice, which captured the depressing mood of the CND.

28 matters of substance May 14 QUOTES OF SUBSTANCE Nobody at all is helped by drugs being made illegal, unless of course there is a conspiracy to marginalise, condemn and persecute disenfranchised members of our global community.

RUSSElL BRAND It’s just a bland restatement of previous commitments, meaningless platitudes and delusional self-congratulation. The 57th Commission on Narcotic Drugs happened and not much else. That’s the opinion of Transform’s Steve Rolles.

Let’s say you have a 1965 Ford pickup. That’s basically what you got. Now if you put chrome wheels on it, that changes the pickup, but it’s still a 1965 Ford pickup. The differences between NPS, and why Brand’s presence added a bit of levity comment because diplomats were they should be super easy to ban, as to what was otherwise a serious set of discussing cage fighting and whose explained by Charlie Brandenberg of discussion, and it was also among the football team was better. the Austin Narcotics Unit. best-attended side events of the CND As a whole, the NGO community was Along with the INCB’s change of strongly represented at the CND with the position, there were other signs of hope. Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs Dr Nora Volkow, Director of the USA (VNGOC) playing a visible role throughout It is time to end the National Institute on Drug Addiction, and the proceedings. The VNGOC hosted a civil ‘war on drugs’ and massively Michel Kazatchkine, special envoy for society hearing – opened by Queen Sylvia redirect resources towards HIV/AIDs in Eastern Europe and Central of Sweden – and spoke in the plenary and effective evidence-based Asia, reported back on scientific roundtable sessions. Individual NGOs policies underpinned by consultation that the UN had been doing. hosted a wide array of side events too, rigorous economic analysis. Both argued for a medical and public informing policy makers about the vital health approach to addiction over a The opening line of the London School work that civil society does to plug the criminal justice approach. Dr Volkow of Economic’s Ending the Drug Wars gaps. said that addiction is a disease and that report starts as it means to finish: with The New Zealand Drug Foundation imprisonment does not equate treatment a bang. and relapse rates post prison are high. She co-hosted a side event about drug driving called on the CND to develop a global with the White House Office of National prevention and treatment strategy. Drug Control Policy and the Canadian The other main part of the CND was Centre for Substance Abuse. The event The average club-goer is the resolutions, where once again things focused on work that had been happening music motivated. They’re not got a bit depressing. While there were in the USA, New Zealand and Europe motivated by alcohol. about the issue. The rest of the New some good resolutions on things like The scene strikes back against early encouraging recovery and increasing health Zealand delegation took part in various closing times in Auckland with Dance services to people looking for help during meetings and helped inform the official Till Dawn’s DJ Rob Warner staging a economic downturns, there were also New Zealand delegation. dance protest. increasingly drawn out discussions about other resolutions. One on promoting a Jackson Wood is a Senior Adviser at the society free of drug abuse through sport New Zealand Drug Foundation. and the Olympic ideal stands out for

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 29 THEFIX.COM There’s an app for that

There are new apps and programs designed to help your , but can technology replace face-to-face recovery? Sarah Peters takes a look at how new apps are aiding recovery.

ou might not know Participants enrolled in the study receive “One of the reasons smartphones are it yet, but your alerts or notifications sent to their phones so instrumental in recovery is because we best friend and at key times when the likelihood that they have them on us all the time,” smartphone worst enemy in are planning to or are already engaging in app developer Holly Hess said. “Therefore, recovery may be heavy drinking is at the highest. when we make our choices like whether the same tool you “This is a really rapidly growing area,” or not we will look at, for example, Y use every day Barnett said. “There are text messaging pornography on our phone, our app is on – your smartphone. [programs] for all kinds of health our phone as well.” Smartphones connect us to other behaviours, medical illnesses and just Her experience with addiction apps people, resources and information faster about everything, but I would say that comes from both a developer standpoint than ever, but there are two sides to the the research about their efficacy is much and as a consumer, she said. emerging use of technology in addiction farther behind.” Hess built recoveryBox, an app The study, funded by a grant from treatment. Those connections can lead to available for iPhones, in 2010 to help a the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse positive choices as easily as negative ones. friend overcoming addiction. The app and Alcoholism, could help researchers “For many people, there are real and caught on and was used by her friend, his shed some light on how information virtual environments that we exist in,” said counselling group and eventually herself. Keith Heinzerling, Medical Director at the relayed through our phones can impact A key feature of the app is designed UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction our behaviour. around accountability. In recoveryBox, a Medicine. “There is a typography of the “It’s so early in the evolution of person tracks both positive and negative online world, and it is conceivable that these programs that it’s hard to tell what choices made throughout the day and has people might be exposed online to triggers it could lead to,” Barnett said. “One thing the option to email an update report to a – people, places or things – that might that’s really attractive about these remote friend or counsellor. prompt them to use drugs in the same technologies, or technologies that don’t Hess chose not to automate the report way it would in the real world if they, require a person, is that they have the feature because “you have to take for example, walked by a .” potential to be really cost-effective and ownership of your recovery and you have A new wave of research is working reach populations that are more difficult to catch up to the flood of smartphone to get to or that would not be receptive to to choose to connect with people with applications on the market that target meeting with somebody in person.” whom you need to connect,” she explained. addiction, behaviour modification and However, the desire to keep addiction a myriad of health interests. One such There’s an app for every addiction totally private can sometimes block a researcher is Nancy Barnett, an associate Software developers have been quick to person from reaching out for treatment. professor at the Brown University Center jump in on the emerging trend of health- Resources and information via apps may for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, who is related apps. There are apps to break reach individuals who statistically shy in the developmental stages of a cellphone- habits, to find 12-Step meetings, to journal away from in-person counselling, based intervention study. thoughts, to track goals. An app doesn’t according to Steven Shoptaw, a physician While not an app, the cellphone-based have to be specifically for addiction in at the UCLA Center for Behavior and program operates using text messages. order for it to help recovery. Addiction Medicine.

30 matters of substance May 14 Technology feeding into addiction With all this connectivity and access to Some people are able resources, a recovering addict needs to be to find recovery through more aware of their triggers both online and offline, according to Associate social networking sites and Professor of Clinical Education at the USC apps because these are more Rossier School of Education Mary Andres. commonly conversations “Immediate access is one of the things between friends, not that happens with apps,” she said. “Access feeds into addiction because of impulse strangers, and they create control. If I can get something quicker, then an online fellowship. I am more likely to not pause and think about whether this is a good decision.” Andres, a licensed clinical psychologist “It’s not the same as going into treatment with specialisations in sexuality and or meeting with a counsellor or getting sexual dysfunction, pointed to the app medication.” Grindr and social media-based Tinder as Barnett, whose study targets college-age examples of where too much access can participants who have identified as cause damage. possibly having a drinking problem, “People’s self-esteem is attached to it,” acknowledged that apps and other remote Andres explained. “Sometimes it’s solutions may help some individuals flattering, but other times, all of a sudden, modify their behaviour, but it will likely be you’re handing your self-esteem over to a stepping stone for others to realise they strangers. [You question] ‘Do they like me? need more serious help. Shoptaw is part of a research team that Am I representing myself well?’ It really is “I think of these types of technologies is developing an app to help adolescents playing with people’s vulnerabilities.” as bridges or as an adjunctive kind of quit smoking. The study is targeting young While we may feel that technology help,” Barnett said. “They can help people to get to treatment, help people to stay in Korean smokers, a group that has among creates a safe buffer zone between us and treatment and get them thinking about the highest rates of smoking in youth other people, it may actually be increasing treatment.” populations in Los Angeles. our anxiety, she said. Another way apps, social media and Another reason people should never let But with all the games available for other online platforms can cause ripples in an online presence take the lead in their download on cellphones, Shoptaw said recovery is the changing dynamic of recovery is because no app or technology an app must have a balance between being anonymity and how people view each can duplicate what happens in a meeting, fun and informative before youths will other online. Andres said. want to use it. “I have a love-hate relationship with “You can’t replace the value of “There’s a tension between using a the comment section of any article posted face-to-face identification and the cellphone to deliver health information online,” Andres said. “You see the phenomena that happens in group.” like smoking cessation and the many other ugliest side of human nature come out in An in-person meeting has a three-fold things the cellphone is used for like texting those comments because of anonymity, impact that doesn’t translate online: sitting or playing games,” Shoptaw said. “One of but at the same time, you have people who across from someone whose story mirrors the things we’ve struggled with is not are making incredibly courageous your own, meeting someone with greater making the application fun and inviting at comments, too. sobriety who acts as a role model and expense of the skill that needs to be learned “Some people are able to find bolstering your own sense of value by and acquired to stop smoking.” recovery through social networking sites helping newcomers, she explained. It doesn’t matter how helpful an app is and apps because these are more “You’re not going to get all that in a if it doesn’t keep a user engaged, he said. commonly conversations between friends, tweet. You’re going to get that only by “Adolescents are some of the not strangers, and they create an having a three-dimension experience with pickiest consumers among us,” Shoptaw online fellowship.” another person.” said. “If we are shoddy in our program development or we don’t take into account Technology is a bridge Sara Peters is a regular contributor to The Fix. quality or development cycles to have a Addiction experts don’t recommend This article was originally published on The Fix. product that is responsive to shifts in the forgoing face-to-face interactions or Check them out at thefix.com population, we’ll have a product that just checking in as needed with a professional sits on the shelf.” when using apps to aid in the recovery The team is working on building games process, no matter how good that app and rewards into the app that reinforce may seem. positive behaviour. What the researchers “The real important drawback is that I learn from the app could be used to build don’t know of or whether any stand-alone similar tools for other segments of the technology could treat a really serious population in the future. alcoholic, for example,” Barnett said.

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 31 OPINION 10,000/1,500/15 Breaking the silence on

It’s time for responsible users to speak up and be part of the drugs conversation, argues Stuart McMillen. Only then can the world begin to understand that not all drug users are damaged, addicted lowlifes. Stuart Mcmillen

ere’s the deal: Why do we recognise that people can impersonal. A fight for the rights of “other I’m 27 years old, drink alcohol responsibly yet automatically people”: the nameless, faceless people which means associate all illegal drug use with ‘misuse’? who take recreational drugs. Whoever I have been alive Why are all drugs developed after they might be. on this planet for the discovery of alcohol automatically Moderate, responsible users who stay 10,000 days. prohibited and feared? silent about their experiences leave a gap During that Why do westerners scoff at Islamic in the spectrum of drug users who speak H laws forbidding the drinking of alcohol time, I used alcohol in public. This silence creates a polarised, on about 1,500 days. Additionally, I used yet see nothing odd about our own laws distorted media debate. caffeine (from tea) about 1,500 times. that forbid the consumption of drugs that In the eye of the media, there are two Also during that time, I used ‘’ aren’t alcohol? ‘sides’ to the drug issue: the anti-drug mushrooms seven times, cannabis four Making it personal ‘moral majority’ (who usually don’t seem times, MDMA three times and LSD one like they’ve ever tried drugs) and the In 2012 and 2013, I came to the attention of time. That’s a total of 15 days where enthusiastic users (who often seem overly many readers, via my comics War on Drugs I used illicit recreational drugs. And you fixated on drug taking). and Rat Park. These comics, self-published know what? I had positive experiences A vacuum of silence from responsible via my website stuartmcmillen.com, have on all occasions. drug users allows these two extreme been read by over 300,000 readers to date. There is a two-orders-of-magnitude positions to be the only two alternatives Both critically reflect on some of the difference between the two groups in the way the public conceives the of drugs (1,500 versus 15). Yet why does problems associated with drugs yet offer nuanced conclusions that go beyond the drug issue. What’s missing are the it somehow seem sleazier, naughtier default message that “drugs are always bad”. voices of the responsible, occasional drug or more ‘wrong’ to admit to using the By writing this article about my history users. Without their voices in the mix, the second group? of responsible drug use, I hope to go one words of the chronic Cheech and Chong step beyond the messages of War on Drugs types play right into the hands of the Big questions and Rat Park. I want to declare my anti-drug brigade. Why is it natural for people to assume that personal interest in the effort to end Why speak out? I wasn’t paralytically drunk for all of the prohibition and sensibly regulate So why should I speak out about drugs 1,500 times I used alcohol – that most of recreational drugs. the time I merely had a quiet drink or two? at all? Why should I publish this article, Why is it natural for people to assume An argument with two sides which essentially admits that I am I was chronically inebriated for all of and a vacuum a criminal? the 15 times I used illegal drugs? That I I think it is a shame when campaigners The reason is this: I’m not trying to was somehow gambling with my life and speak out about drug law reform as glorify drug use. In fact, I’m trying to do spiralling out of control by recklessly though describing bacteria in a Petri dish. the exact opposite. I’m trying to show pumping poison through my veins? They present the facts as detached and what a minor part in my life drugs play.

32 matters of substance May 14 QUOTES OF SUBSTANCE

What we see on Silk Road today is more drugs, increasing vendors and an even greater commitment by this community to keeping their ‘movement’ alive. In the perfect illustration of how hard it is to clamp down on dark markets, Garth Bruen, a senior fellow for the Digital Citizens Alliance, reflects on the Silk Road six months after it was supposedly shut down.

The remaining 36 legal The fact that I am a responsible highs and synthetic cannabis I’m not trying to glorify drug user is a notable story in itself, products will officially be which is at right-angles to the common drug use. In fact, I’m trying to perception of drug users. By speaking banned and illegal to sell at do the exact opposite. I’m out in a clear-headed way, perhaps I 12:01 am Thursday 8th May. trying to show what a minor can help change things for the people In a surprise move, Associate Health part in my life drugs play. who are trampled by our current Minister announces drug criminalisation laws. changes to the Psychoactive Substances Act to remove all Start a conversation products with interim approval. Unjust laws that criminalise large sections of the population lose legitimacy once those affected speak up. With time, society sees that it is not just This is disappointing faceless wrongdoers and ne’er-do-wells considering we reached an who could be punished by these laws. uncontroversial political It is family and friends. consensus on the way forward Start a conversation about drugs today. only 10 months ago. The further the conversation spills beyond those who you might normally discuss As amendments to the Psychoactive drugs with, the better. Substances Act were rushed through The point isn’t to see who has the most Parliament, the New Zealand Drug notches on their belt but rather to discuss Foundation’s Ross Bell was a what you’ve done, what you haven’t done, lone voice. what was good and what was bad. The more we talk, the less scary it becomes. Start a conversation. Happiness is pure chemistry. Stuart McMillen is a cartoonist based in Animal testing. For it or against it, you Canberra, Australia. Read his drug-related can’t argue with toxicologist Ian Shaw’s comics War on Drugs and Rat Park via assessment of what happiness is. stuartmcmillen.com/comics.

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 33 feature Erowid et al

Politics, the law and logistics make it difficult for official resources to provide frank, up-to-date information on psychoactive drugs. That’s where websites like Erowid and Bluelight come in. Russell Brown finds that it’s not Russell only drug users who find them helpful. Brown

“Heart” … “panic” … “paranoid”. What drug are we talking about here? You may or may not be surprised H to know that it’s marijuana. Those were – overwhelmingly – the most prominent words on a word cloud generated by the American treatment company Rehabs.com, based on the “most unique” words in user experience reports for eight popular illicit drugs. By way of comparison, the top words for MDMA were “feeling”, “experiences”, “loved” and “talked”, and for methamphetamine, “days”, “addiction”, “doing” and “quit”. The source reports aren’t part of any official research programme. They’re among the more than 100,000 first-hand descriptions of the recreational use of psychoactive drugs submitted to and published in the Experience Vaults of the independent drug information website Erowid.org. “It’s one of our most influential projects,” says Fire Erowid, the female half of the couple (the male half is Earth) who founded the website in 1995 and still run it day to day. “It’s a fabulous resource for the public to be able to get a sense of the effects of a drug or drug combination as well as the problems and/or benefits that people get from their use.” A visit to the Experience Vaults is a glimpse into a world where people experiment with psychoactive drugs, FROM LEFT ‘Earth’ and ‘Fire’ Erowid, who founded the Erowid website in 1995

34 matters of substance May 14 A visit to the Experience Vaults is a glimpse into a world where people experiment with psychoactive drugs, sometimes in ways, combinations or quantities that seem objectively unwise.

sometimes in ways, combinations or which would store users’ search terms. current example, about the dangers of quantities that seem objectively unwise. The home page also offers the option of overdose with new NBOMe compounds. Transcendent experiences are recorded encrypted SSL browsing. “But we long ago realised that nearly alongside truly terrible ones. Most users The ecosystem of drug information every experience report or page about a methodically note their bodyweight and extends below as well as above Erowid. disapproved drug could be drowned by dose and the timing and duration of effects Fire and Earth also monitor user forums warnings and cautions and have chosen along with their subjective impressions at Bluelight, Drugs-forum, The Shroomery to use them sparingly so that readers don’t and advice. The principle is that, if you and other sites. become inured to them,” says Earth. haven’t tried a drug, someone else has, “We serve different but complementary Chris Fowlie, co-owner of the and it might be worth checking before purposes,” says Fire. “The forums are a Store and an expert witness in cannabis you drop. place for people to ask questions of others cases, says the value of Erowid is not only Fire says the Experience Vaults comprise in public and a place for people to add for drug users. “certainly the largest such collection in their own input into the conversation. “It’s a very good site for spotting existence, which attracts the attention of When a brand-new drug hits the market, trends – things that are happening in other researchers interested in analysing it. It’s countries that we need to be aware of here, web forums are one of the first places also widely used by healthcare professionals trends in drug use and consumption where discussion begins. who can find information about health patterns – sometimes years before that “In long, interesting, rambling threads, issues they’re treating.” information comes from official sources.” people mention how much of a drug they The experience reports aren’t all there Fowlie says Erowid’s moderation tried, how strong the effects were, what the is. Reports for each drug listed by Erowid weeds out one major problem with forums effects were like and then hash out details sit within a wider Vault containing basic such as Bluelight: information posted with with others. But the basic format of a web information, chemical and pharmacological a commercial motive – up to and including forum makes these conversations long and papers, media coverage, journal articles the offer of free samples of new drug arduous to read through. The average user and more. Although Erowid is sometimes products, sometimes in return for called “the Wikipedia of Drugs”, it actually isn’t going to read through 50 pages, trying favourable “reviews” from forum users. functions as a key reference site for to determine whose advice to follow.” “Erowid does have credibility Wikipedia articles to link to. While the contents of the forums might amongst professionals.” Fire suspects law enforcement officers inform Erowid, “nothing is published It’s also of use to the Police, says and DEA officials also use the site, but they on Erowid that isn’t approved by a crew Detective Inspector Stuart Mills of New “often don’t want to admit publicly that member. We have no unedited, unreviewed Zealand’s National Drug Intelligence they use Erowid”. documents. Our publishing process is Bureau. He says his team “keep an eye” On the other hand, Erowid has never slower, but our results are more concise. on sites like Erowid and Bluelight “so we been served with a search warrant or, to the Both are valuable.” have an understanding of what’s going founders’ knowledge, had its computers Although user reports frequently on in the drug market. We read those sites compromised by law enforcement officials. describe what might be considered and observe what people are saying. If Nonetheless, they have opted to use an dangerous behaviour, they are not censored. there’s something new on the market, onboard search engine rather than a Sometimes, warnings will be added – about they’re another independent source to licensed search from Google or Microsoft, driving while intoxicated or, to take a say something’s happening. We can see

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 35 FEATURE

advertising networks have banned Erowid on the basis of its drug-related content. The sheer depth of the content is dizzying. It includes more than 10,000 documents scanned and uploaded from the collections of Albert Hoffman, and others. Erowid also separately operates ecstasydata.org, which provides lab-test analyses of street pills. Erowid’s core audience – users from 15 to 25 years of age – is not in the typical demographic of non-profit donors, but, says Earth, “We sometimes lose out in the funding game to people who promise bigger, future changes. In our opinion, it is the slow-motion shifts that create the groundwork for policy change.” The two self-described “drug geeks” are not policy absolutists, says Earth: “We believe in regulation. We like stop signs. They’re very handy. But we tend to put more weight on personal liberty than many policy makers. We believe that civilisation will be better served over the long term by erring on the side of allowing more. “We hope our work and the work of others in our field will help create increasingly better data from which We can see people warning society can make rational choices. It seems each other what’s good and obvious that the drug war has been a train bad. Which pills are good wreck, but we also don’t think heroin and which are dangerous. should be sold in colourful foil packets out of vending machines in schools.” Erowid has been following and reporting on New Zealand’s Psychoactive people warning each other what’s good Substances Act, he says. “For us, it is and bad. Which pills are good and which detective probably the most interesting thing are dangerous.” inspector happening in public policy about stuart mills He notes one practical example: when psychoactive drugs in the world. It might Hamilton schoolgirls became ill after not be perfect, but it’s a novel approach taking so-called “red rocket” pills from that might teach us something new about a mother’s handbag, the police needed how to find the right path forward.” to know quickly what the medical implications were. Erowid’s own future, as “a small He does, he says, look at the local non-profit, bumping along in a political equivalent, TripMe. minefield” is less certain. The founders “It’s not used by us as an investigative agree that an “organisational cross” tool,” he emphasises. “It’s an intelligence between agencies like the European tool. We see it as promoting harm prevention Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug – and that’s a key focus of drug policy. If Addiction, harm reduction services such people are going to use these products, then as DanceSafe and educational projects like hopefully it’s reducing the risk for them.” Erowid, “with a permanent endowment Erowid’s independence from official of $30 to $100 million a year,” would be agencies might enhance its credibility with the ideal. users, but it doesn’t do much for its bottom “Unfortunately,” Earth notes, “such a line. Although it attracts around 20 million thing is well over the horizon.” unique visitors annually, it doesn’t carry advertising for legal drug vendors as a Russel Brown blogs at publicaddress.net. matter of policy, and Google and other

36 matters of substance May 14

Now in his mid-20s and living in Auckland, APPROXimate MONTHLY VISITS OF Neo still runs the site but is keen to emphasise that he errs on the side of caution in what he will allow published on TripMe – and to give credit for the site’s longevity to the community that has grown around it. 30,000 “TripMe has never allowed any discussion TripMe about acquiring, sourcing or dealing any illegal The recently revamped site offers regular news TripMe.co.nz substances. TripMe does not allow discussion items on drug issues, science and culture up about how to manufacture or grow any front as a lead-in to its community forums. New Zealand also has its own drug information illegal substances. A lengthy “rules” page sets out the conditions websites. The most prominent of these is for using TripMe and includes a legal disclaimer TripMe.co.nz, launched in 2006 with a core “It’s a community for like-minded individuals. and a note that: “Anyone looking through our principle, according to its publisher, Neo, of It exists as a place for people to feel safe to site will be able to find examples of irresponsible “sharing knowledge in a safe environment”. discuss, with some level of anonymity – no behaviour, but we believe it does not glorify longer available on the likes of Facebook – things recklessness but instead reinforces the idea that “I was young and experimenting with drugs they might otherwise not feel comfortable or people need to be more cautious.” while learning about the world, and I realised have the opportunity to discuss with their there didn’t appear to be any accessible, friendly friends, family or online using their real name. It attracts around 30,000 visits monthly and has and ‘cool’ websites for young and open-minded It’s a place of knowledge and information. a larger share of overseas traffic (44 percent of people to actually learn about the drugs that visitors are from New Zealand, 24 percent from they were experimenting with. “Many of the more active community members the US) than most local websites. are very open minded and are very willing to “There was very little education about these help and offer advice to those who may have Neo expresses great respect for Erowid and substances in school, and even in my peer questions about anything in life, from health and Bluelight. “Both these sites were incredibly groups, people were taking drugs without fitness, to relationship problems and drug use. influential and have saved many, many lives.” knowing how they worked, what they did to the Over the years, it’s probably done more for drug But he is at pains to emphasise that his own site body and the mind, how much was too much, education, drug safety and mental support for is not, and never has been, solely about drugs. correct dosage levels and how to relieve any certain demographics in New Zealand than any “There’s more to life than that.” negative side effects.” other website I know.”

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

Bluelight The Shroomery Opiphile EMCDDA Bluelight.org shroomery.org opiophile.org emcdda.europa.eu/ Founded in 1997 as an MDMA “Magic mushrooms demystified” Founded in 2003 by two former The EMCDDA was established by the Clearinghouse, Bluelight is now is the billing. The site contains addicts in the US Pacific Northwest European Union in 1993 to provide the internet’s largest drug-related information on using, harvesting for users of opiate drugs – both “factual, objective, reliable and messageboard, with around and identifying psilocybin prescription and illicit – with the comparable information at European 100,000 daily visitors. It was funded mushrooms, but the community user base said to be split evenly level concerning drugs and drug for years by the late Australian forums range across other between each. Forums cover addiction and their consequences”. professional gambler Alan Woods, psychedelic drugs, philosophy, everything from safety and The EMCDDA’s focus on information but no one’s getting rich from it gaming and even home problems with dealers and doctors makes it philosophically the closest now. All staff are volunteers, and improvement tips. It has been to advice on getting clean. A Vice. of the official internet resources to a donations page launched in run for more than a decade by com story this year quoted Candy, the user-operated forums. May last year had brought in Mind Media of Santa Cruz a 45-year-old nurse who overcame only $390 by November. Around California, which also publishes the her own dependence and now 100 moderators look after its marijuana-themed The Growery. moderates Opiphile forums and sprawling forums. From its chaotic More commercial than its peers – offers basic medical advice. beginnings in rave culture, Bluelight it even holds a trademark for use in has achieved a fair degree of clothing and merchandise. respectability. A “research portal” invites contact from professional researchers (in some cases, it earns revenue by connecting its users with them), and current co-owner “Sebastian” was invited to speak at a National Institute on Drug Abuse symposium.

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 37 VIEWPOINTS

Should New Zealand allow medicinal cannabis?

WE already allow in New Zealand. Not many people know that, and no one actually has sign-off to use it, but technically, cannabis can already be prescribed as a medicine. the case The catch, and reason why no one is legally using it, is that the application process is incredibly convoluted and ultimately needs sign-off from the Minister of Health. Putting that aside, there are many reasons why New Zealand should allow raw pharmaceutical cannabis and products derived from cannabis as normal prescription medications. There is plenty of evidence that cannabis can alleviate pain, combat nausea and loss appetite, act as an anti- FOR convulsant. Drugs derived from cannabis have been used as anti-inflammatories, to treat hypertension and have become important for post-chemo patients. One striking illustration of this is Frieda. She appeared on Seven Sharp on 11 February 2014. She’s a New Zealander with ovarian cancer whose symptoms are made bearable by using cannabis. She says cannabis helps with the nausea, pain and appetite. Using cannabis also makes her a criminal – something she believes is unfair. A group of young New Zealanders who have Dravet syndrome – a type of severe epilepsy that starts in infancy and can lead to brain damage – also live in hope that cannabis becomes a legal medication. One child is using Sativex – a THC and CBD product – to help reduce the number of seizures. Another parent is giving their child a high CBD concentrate, which she makes herself from cannabis purchased on the black market. Cannabis preparations improve the lives of these children significantly, but it was a long and hard process to be allowed to be prescribed Sativex, and the other parent is doing something illegal. It’s not an ideal situation. Other countries are doing it too. So far, 22 US states allow medical cannabis, and Canada, Israel, Netherlands, Germany and at least five other countries have robust medical cannabis regimes. Finland and France allow medical cannabis products, and countries like Spain and Portugal have decriminalised possession of cannabis, which means people can self-medicate without fear of going to jail. The tide is turning, and there are robust models that we can draw on to make a medical cannabis regime up to international best practice. Cannabis is cheap, too. There is a reason why it is called weed. It grows well, especially in New Zealand. So at a time when we’re looking for the most bang for our health buck, cannabis is starting to look very cost-effective. The ability for people to grow their own would mean fewer costs to the health system and leave Big Pharma out of the picture. Another important point is that cannabis does not need to be smoked. Patients can vaporise, eat or drink raw cannabis, and products derived from cannabis can be in pill or spray form. New Zealand should allow medical cannabis. There is enough evidence to allow it to be used for some ailment, and by creating a robust and compassionate system, we allow the legal space for science to happen so we can decide whether it is an effective treatment in other areas. It would also have the immediate effect of helping people – like the children with Dravet – live better lives.

38 matters of substance May 14 Medical cannabis is a sticky issue. There is evidence that cannabis and products derived from cannabis can treat some illnesses and alleviate symptoms of others. On the other side, there are concerns about the efficacy of using a raw product as a medication and worries about availability. So should we allow medical cannabis to be prescribed in New Zealand?

No one would deny cannabis can have soothing and calming effects on a distressed body, but the real, hard evidence that its therapeutic benefits outweigh its health risks is actually quite thin on the ground. the case Anecdotal stories may be compelling, but the University of Queensland’s Professor Wayne Hall (also a member of the International Narcotics Control Board) told the Drug Foundation’s Cannabis and Health Symposium late last year that cannabis rarely performs better than placebos in clinical trials, and modern drugs have now improved and work better for the illnesses that were sometimes treated with cannabis-based medicines in the past. AGAINST And while cannabis may make the sufferer feel a bit better about life, the universe and everything, it may well be causing them other significant harms. A number of studies, such as our own Christchurch Health and Development Study, have shown a connection between regular cannabis use and dependence, psychosis and lung disorders. The US Federal Drug Administration says, quite sensibly, that, if approval for a medicine is to be granted, that medicine must demonstrate it causes no harm when taken properly. Unfortunately, these studies show that can’t really be said about cannabis. Even if we did think medicinal cannabis was worth pursuing, there would be significant difficulties to overcome in setting up a workable system in New Zealand. We don’t have anything in place here for official, legal supply, and considering PHARMAC’s backlog, any subsidised system would be years away. That means we’d be leaving medicinal cannabis users to the mercy of the black market or having to cultivate their own. This is hardly a sound medicinal approach. And there is little doubt a medicinal cannabis system would be abused, at least by some. A recent Californian study of people seeking a physician’s recommendation for medicinal cannabis found very few actually had cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma or multiple sclerosis, so why did they need the dope? Another study of California’s active medicinal cannabis users found that the average user was a 32-year-old white male (not the general demographic for YOUR VOICE morbid diseases) and that hardly any had life-threatening illnesses. According to Kevin Sabet, a former drug-policy adviser within the Obama Administration, it’s time to stop playing around with medicinal cannabis. Instead, we should be focusing on YOU non-smoked cannabis-based medications for the truly ill. Sativex is one such option available DECIDE in New Zealand, and while it may be currently unaffordable, it’s a step in the right direction to harnessing the medicinal properties of cannabis without risking the health of New Zealanders. After all, to paraphrase Sabet, we don’t chew willow bark to receive the effects of aspirin. What do you think? Have your say www.drugfoundation.org.nz/ viewpoints

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 39 Q&A

Q When did you realise you might have had Q What do you think Parliament can do to a problem with drugs? reduce the stigma faced by people who A I was in Penang, and I didn’t see it as a use or have used drugs? problem. I saw it as doing something other A It would be good if people could talk a people were doing and fitting in with them. little bit more openly about it. Most MPs I think I realised after I’d been in India for won’t even admit they’ve smoked a joint. about a year, and I was getting very sick, They’re really nervous about it. Every now lost a lot of weight and had no money, so and then, there’s a frenzy around here. I decided to come home. Of course, coming One of the media pack will ask every home meant I was in a completely different politician if they’ve smoked dope or not, environment. I had to talk to my parents so we all get asked. Because we’re very about it, and I had to get some help. I couldn’t loyal and supportive of our party, we try just go down the road and score some smack, not to do anything we think will have a so I went to the clinic. negative influence or negative result for the party publicly. Q You’ve said the methadone programme It would be really good if Parliament could saved your life. How so? have an honest discussion about it, but I A I didn’t have to go and look for drugs don’t believe we can. Maybe one day we elsewhere, so that removed me from the will get to the point, like we’ve been able scene. I also moved to Whangarei with to with same sex marriage, where people my husband, and so we further removed are actually able to say what they think, Darien ourselves from the scene. I think doing but it is such a taboo subject, and there’s those two things meant I stopped being probably not an awful lot of agreement about what needs to happen. Fenton with people who were injecting. Going on methadone helped me normalise my Q You’ve said the methadone programme life, so we were both able to work, and Darien Fenton is standing saved your life. In a recent Matters of down at the next election eventually I gave up when I had a child. Substance, we showed there were waiting lists to get on the programme. after nine years in Parliament. Q To our knowledge, you’re the first sitting A It comes down to having enough funding The outgoing Labour MP New Zealand MP who’s talked openly about their addiction. Do you think there can be available to treat all people that need it. If recently opened up in The a conversation about addiction when the they’ve got a waiting list for two months, New Zealand Herald about subject is so hidden? an awful lot can happen to a drug addict in that time. It means they’re still out on the A I think it is a taboo subject, and there are her addiction to heroin in the street scoring and using drugs illegally still people who are judgemental about it. 70s and subsequent recovery with all the risks that go with that. It’s A former MP has talked openly about his probably far better for the public that we thanks to the methadone alcohol addiction at one stage. People feel treat them early rather than leave them a bit easier talking about alcoholism than programme. Matters of sitting out there. I don’t know much about they do about drug addiction. I was scared Substance asked her what it it. I’m looking forward to understanding a because of the couple of different things little bit more about where we’re at with that. was like to be the first sitting arising from the Herald article. I was called a smack head and a few other things. I was New Zealand MP to openly Q What would you say or what advice would talk about their addiction. scared about how I’d be treated. But you’re you give to young people or their parents right it is taboo, it is not understood, it’s who are going through a situation similar seen as this kind of weakness, and people to what you went through? don’t talk about it for those reasons. A Get advice. Get help. For parents, from my own experience, I’d say just love your Q Have you received any negative response kids, because you’re not going to get a lot from other MPs? of love back for a while. Addiction is a A No, they were great, and a lot of them very selfish thing – my drug addiction were extremely supportive. I was was. I didn’t care about anyone else until comfortable because I’d done it the right I cared enough about myself to do way. This wasn’t some brave move that I something about it. Hang on to hope, decided to make on my own. I did it with because you can get through it, and don’t other people. give up on your kids.

40 matters of substance May 14 MYTHBUSTERS

Myth: The current drug control system works to reduce availability, increase prices and mitigate risks from drugs.

paper by United Balloon Effect is where clamping down So Mr Fedotov’s claims about price Nations Office of on the problem in one place moves the can be wiped right out. The government Drugs and Crime problem to another. This has been studied data clearly shows prices, in real terms, Executive Director with the US’s push into Mexico to eradicate have dropped. Yury Fedotov last cannabis and Peru and Bolivia to eradicate But what does purity have to do with year makes the . The problem just moved elsewhere it. Some might argue that purer drugs will bold claim that and has increased the amount of cannabis mitigate the high risks from their use because A the current “drug there are fewer adulterants. But Mythbusters and cocaine being produced. control system reduces the availability of We also see this effect in other areas. doesn’t think that Mr Fedotov would classify harmful substances and mitigates the high The US clamped down on heroin, and the better drugs as a good outcome. risks associated with their use… [and] problem moved to diverted prescription Putting aside the aforementioned drives their prices higher”. Mythbusters . Overdose rates have skyrocketed overdose rate as evidence of harm (and takes a look at whether this is true or not. to the point where they kill more people all the nasty things happening in South Over the past few years, the various than die in car accidents in the US. In New America due to the War on Drugs’ let’s look drug control conventions and treaties have Zealand, we’ve seen people move from at the effect current control strategies have come under a lot of scrutiny. The times cannabis to synthetic cannabis (and now had on THC levels in cannabis. they are a changin’, and frustration about Because current control strategies rely back again). And one just has to look at the focus on interpreting the conventions on interception and punishments are new psychoactive substances (NPS) to see through a criminal justice lens has become generally based on weight, the emphasis in there have been huge increases in the gross marked at an international level. So it is cannabis production has been on creating number of drugs available – 348 identified important that you analyse the problem weed with high THC concentrations: more NPS at the last UNODC count. thoroughly and make statements that align bang, less weight. We know that THC is Availability has not really been affected, with the evidence, especially if you happen a psychotic and that the other major it’s just moved around. to head the UN agency tasked with dealing component of cannabis, CBD, has an In a double whammy blow to Mr with drugs. anti-psychotic effect. Some people say Fedotov’s statement, a British Medical So let’s break down Mr Fedotov’s that this has led to cannabis becoming a statement and look at whether availability Journal article from 2013 found that drugs higher risk to take. of drugs has gone down, whether the high had actually become cheaper and more pure. Even the UNODC’s own World Drug risks from drug use have been mitigated They analysed data from government Report shows that drug use and production and whether prices are higher. surveillance systems from 1997–2010 and have remained stable or increased. Opioids, Firstly on availability, research done found that, in the US, heroin, cocaine and cocaine, NPS and cannabis are examples by the National Center on Addiction and cannabis had decreased in real terms by of this from the 2013 report, which also Substance Abuse at Columbia University 81 percent, 80 percent and 86 percent details growing violence in South America has shown that access to drugs by young respectively. Conversely, average purity and well over 211,000 drug-related deaths. people has been relatively easy. The report had increased. The trend of decrease in If you were taking a very narrow view shows that, until 2010 (when they changed price and increase in purity seemed to hold of Mr Fedatov’s words, you might be able the questions), under 25s found it easier to true for both Europe and Australia too. to find some instances where the drug get prescription medications and cannabis The researchers conclude that, “These control systems have reduced availability, than alcohol or tobacco. findings suggest that expanding efforts at mitigated risks and driven the price higher, A phenomenon called the Balloon controlling the global illegal drug market but the overall picture we get is that this Effect also comes into play here. The through law enforcement are failing.” statement is a myth.

www.drugfoundation.org.nz 41 CONFERENCE

Cutting Edge 2014 17 – 20 September 2014 The Dunedin Centre, Moray Place, Dunedin

The Addiction Practitioners’ Association (dapaanz) invites you to Dunedin for the 19th Cutting Edge Conference. This is the annual gathering of the addiction treatment sector, embracing not only treatment practitioners but those who work in brief interventions, primary care services, smoking cessation, public health and mental health.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS led by • Associate Professor David Best • Dr Peter Rice with Shane Bradbrook • Ben Birks Ang • Dr Kim Maiai • Dr John McMenamin • Dr Fiona Rossen • Dr Fraser Todd

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW OPEN WWW.CUTTINGEDGE.ORG.NZ