Friendly warning and disclaimer: These forums are provided for the thousands victims of prohibition who form the pot community of Aotearoa for discussion of marijuana-related issues. NORML reserve the right to delete off-topic posts. The views expressed in any forum are solely those of the contributor and not necessarily approved or endorsed by NORML New Zealand Inc.
I heard/seen today on the breakfast show that the ODT were running a story about the 4:20 down there. Whats the gos, don't know where to find an ODT in Aucks (miss my local paper).
Maybe Albert Park will get some media attention too ???
Joined: Aug 20, 2006 Posts: 964 Location: h=6.626x10‾34 Mood: sisyphustic
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:12 am
Quote:
MEMBERS of the marijuana reform group Norml and some University of Otago Campus Watch staff are reportedly at loggerheads over the group’s continued cannabis smoking on the campus on Friday afternoons.
Norml says it has an ‘‘arrangement’’ with the university proctor, Simon Thompson, to do so, but the university denies it has any such agreement and says it does not support illegal activity on its campus.
Despite this, Norml leader Abe Gray said yesterday the group had had a ‘‘de facto thing’’ with the proctor for more than three years.
The proctor would ‘‘turn a blind eye’’ so long as the ‘‘4.20 smoke-up’’ where members smoked marijuana beside a tree near the union lawn in the centre of the campus at 4.20pm on Friday afternoons in protest against cannabis prohibition was hosted responsibly and only legitimate members of the university’s branch of Norml attended, Mr Gray said.
The student magazine Critic reported this week that members of the security squad, Campus Watch, had visited the ‘‘4.20 smoke-up’’ and evicted people without student ID several times recently, after concerns some children and known drug dealers were taking part.
Mr Gray felt the concerns were reasonable and, after discussions with the proctor, had stopped the event for two weeks while he ‘‘totally cleaned it up’’ so that ‘‘only motivated students’’ were allowed to attend, he said yesterday.
But, at the resumptionon July 13, the group was once again approached by Campus Watch, because it had put a sign depicting a marijuana leaf on a tree on the union lawn, Critic reported.
Mr Gray said the behaviour of Campus Watch members on that occasion was aggressive, but protesters stood their ground as they were asked to move along and threatened with arrest if they did not.
‘‘I told Campus Watch to go ahead and call the cops, but I don’t think the police care They weren’t going to come, and Campus Watch had a huddle realised it wasn’t going to happen and went away.’’
A meeting with the proctor followed and Campus Watch......Continued Page 3
Is anyone signed up to the ODT digi vers. for the rest of the article? _________________ IF 25 YEARS OF SMOKING DOPE HAS ADDLED MY BRAIN, I MUST HAVE BEEN AN INTELLECTUAL GIANT IN MY YOUTH ~Tim Shadbolt
Is anyone signed up to the ODT digi vers. for the rest of the article?
I'm not either but you still managed to get more of the article than I did when I visited their website. When I pressed "more", I just got an "access denied" type message.
Anyway, I'm going into town later so I'll try and track down the rest of the article.
But thanks for posting what you did T_K.
BTW a few years ago (2000) I was loosely involved with Otago Uni NORML branch when it and the O.U.S.A. put forward a cannabis decriminalisation policy which I'm pretty sure was passed. At the N.Z.U. Student Assoc. national conference in 2000, hosted by Otago Uni, a motion was passed that all NZUSA affiliated universities formally voice their support for cannabis law reform.
You don't miss a whole lot with the rest of the article. Although there's a good shot of Abe giving a campus watch guy the thumbs up.. I'd show up if I managed to get some damn weed, but it all looks dry for a while.
"The only things said of importance would be 'The reality is it would be quite a significant logistical exercise to deal with 60 pot-smokers and quite honestly we do have what a lot of people would consider to be better things to do." - Dunedin police area commander Inspector, Dave Campbell.
"The proctor did not have an explicit arrangement with Norml "verbal or otherwise", and while campus Watch had not been specifically directed to keep a closer eye on the "smoke up", the area was part of their usual patrol route."
I typed that word for word from the paper. And no, I didn't buy it. We get it for free. I wouldn't buy that waste of paper.
Last edited by Slayer on Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total
Yeah OUSA do have a policy of supporting law reform and are supposed to actively support any students who get busted. Their advocacy would be helpful if this issue gets out of control.
The nice way that Abe has handled the media on this one sets a good tone, and any disruptions that the security company give could be helpful to the cause if handled well.
University is supposed to nurture free speech and free thinking.
Joined: Aug 20, 2006 Posts: 964 Location: h=6.626x10‾34 Mood: sisyphustic
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:48 pm
potshots wrote:
I'm not either but you still managed to get more of the article than I did when I visited their website. When I pressed "more", I just got an "access denied" type message.
Anyway, I'm going into town later so I'll try and track down the rest of the article.
But thanks for posting what you did T_K.
The linkage I gave doesn't work, but fwiw, clicking on the website headline rather than "more" gets you the amount of article I posted, and hey, I do what I can.
While we're patting each other on the back, thanks Slayer for the rest of the article. The sentence you hi-lited is by far the best, although isn't it ironic that they've got better things to do than bust 60 pot peeps, but busting 100,000's longer term is OK.
Anywho, thats going to be my sig for a while.
And AUSA policy also is cannabis legalisation. _________________ IF 25 YEARS OF SMOKING DOPE HAS ADDLED MY BRAIN, I MUST HAVE BEEN AN INTELLECTUAL GIANT IN MY YOUTH ~Tim Shadbolt
Hmmm. I thought the last two sentences of the article sounded a bit ominous.
The ODT wrote:
Police had the power to call on citizens to help, including the campus watch staff, he [Dunedin police area commander Inspector, Dave Campbell] said.
"Maybe Abe and his followers need to re-evaluate the situation," he said.
Should be an interesting "4:20" in Dunedin this Friday!
BTW had to when I first saw page 3:
Pot smoking 'arrangement' headline right next to and before Biggest-selling Harry Potter headline.
Today at the Student General Meeting, students passed the follwoing motions:
1. That by popular student mandate, University grounds are declared a prohibition free zone.
2. That OUSA condones the public smoking of cannabis as protest against cannabis prohibition.
3. That OUSA will financially and otherwise support any student facing prosecution for cannabis.
Well that would seem to settle the argument. Maybe Campus Watch aren't aware of the policy. Abe, how about blowing this up on a huge poster or banner and displaying it at the 4:20? _________________ "when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty!"
The ODT "4:20" article Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:51 am
I tried submitting the ODT article to the MAPinc website but without success it seems.
Here's the whole article anyway.
BTW a big thumbs up to Abe for turning a Black Friday (July 13th) into a Green Friday! Hopefully the ODT's Otago Uni "4:20" article will get some of the prohibitionists excited and maybe spark a bit of debate down here.
Otago Daily Times - Tues, 24th July 2007, pages 1 and 3
Pot smoking by 'arrangement' by Debbie Porteous
MEMBERS of the marijuana reform group Norml and some University of Otago Campus Watch staff are reportedly at loggerheads over the group’s continued cannabis smoking on the campus on Friday afternoons.
Norml says it has an ‘‘arrangement’’ with the university proctor, Simon Thompson, to do so, but the university denies it has any such agreement and says it does not support illegal activity on its campus.
Despite this, Norml leader Abe Gray said yesterday the group had had a ‘‘de facto thing’’ with the proctor for more than three years.
The proctor would ‘‘turn a blind eye’’ so long as the ‘‘4.20 smoke-up’’ where members smoked marijuana beside a tree near the union lawn in the centre of the campus at 4.20pm on Friday afternoons in protest against cannabis prohibition was hosted responsibly and only legitimate members of the university’s branch of Norml attended, Mr Gray said.
The student magazine Critic reported this week that members of the security squad, Campus Watch, had visited the ‘‘4.20 smoke-up’’ and evicted people without student ID several times recently, after concerns some children and known drug dealers were taking part.
Mr Gray felt the concerns were reasonable and, after discussions with the proctor, had stopped the event for two weeks while he ‘‘totally cleaned it up’’ so that ‘‘only motivated students’’ were allowed to attend, he said yesterday.
But, at the resumptionon July 13, the group was once again approached by Campus Watch, because it had put a sign depicting a marijuana leaf on a tree on the union lawn, Critic reported.
Mr Gray said the behaviour of Campus Watch members on that occasion was aggressive, but protesters stood their ground as they were asked to move along and threatened with arrest if they did not.
‘‘I told Campus Watch to go ahead and call the cops, but I don’t think the police care They weren’t going to come, and Campus Watch had a huddle realised it wasn’t going to happen and went away.’’
A meeting with the proctor followed and Campus Watch did not approach the group at last week’s "4:20 smoke-up".
University of Otago student services director David Richardson denied the university supported any illegal activities on campus.
"If any specific incidences of illegal activity are brought to the university’s attention, the matter is referred to the proctor, who deals with the student or students involved," he said.
The proctor did not have an explicit arrangement with Norml "verbal or otherwise", and while campus Watch had not been specifically directed to keep a closer eye on the "smoke up", the area was part of their usual patrol route.
hen asked why the university reportedly "turned a blind eye" to illegal activities on campus, Mr Richardson said the blind eye comment was attributed in Critic to the organiser of the protest.
Mr Richardson, who answered questions in writing, did not comment further and was not available to answer subsequent questions last night. Nor was the Otago Daily Times able to speak to the proctor.
Dunedin police area commander Inspector, Dave Campbell said police would look at the situation if the university was unhappy with any activity on campus, but were unlikely to go in aggressively.
'The reality is it would be quite a significant logistical exercise to deal with 60 pot-smokers and quite honestly we do have what a lot of people would consider to be better things to do."
Police had the power to call on citizens to help, including the campus watch staff, he said.
"Maybe Abe and his followers need to re-evaluate the situation," he said.
Joined: Sep 18, 2005 Posts: 3885 Location: Sitting at computer.
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:03 pm
I remember seeing sometime ago an article in the odt giving the jobs that some of these Campus Watch people do and some of them are police. _________________ A pain free day the marijuana way.
The Critic article Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:10 pm
You might be OK, solarpowered_candle, because OU NORML, as an affiliated club, is allowed up to 10% non-student membership.
The Critic article also says that "If individuals who are not students are involved and openly smoking cannabis on campus, the matter will be referred to the police." As you'll only be eating cookies apparantly, your cannabis use might be overlooked by Cannabis Watch.
I say go and support OU NORML if you have the opportunity.
Here's the original article from Critic, Issue 16.
They’ll stone you when you’re tryin’ to get stoned...
By Amy Joseph
Relationships have become strained between campus stoners and Campus Watch after the Watch confronted the campus branch of NORML (The National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) several times during their weekly Friday 4:20 ‘smoke ups’.
NORML leader Abe Gray says that the group has an ‘arrangement’ with the Proctor which allowed them to smoke cannabis on the Union Lawn every week as a form of protest against what they view as unjust prohibition laws, and to educate other students on the issue. While not supporting the group’s actions, the University has turned a blind eye for the past few years the smoke up has been running.
With the introduction of Campus Watch earlier this year, NORML members were worried about the attitude Watch members would take to the smoke up. Gray says that he spoke informally with many Watch members during Orientation, and was assured that they would not be concerned with busting NORML members participating in the event.
However, in the final weeks of last semester, Campus Watch members visited the smoke up in order to make sure that underage smokers or non-students were not participating. There has been concern that some non-students attending the group are known “petty criminals.” Those smokers who were unable to show student IDs were escorted off campus.
While Gray feels that these concerns are reasonable, participants are understandably uncomfortable at providing ID while openly engaging in an illegal activity. Gray is annoyed that the Proctor did not approach the leaders of NORML and give them the opportunity to deal with any such problems internally before Campus Watch were called in. He also points out that, under the OUSA constitution, affiliated clubs may have up to ten percent non-student membership.
After discussions with the Proctor, NORML continued the weekly smoke up this semester. At the first gathering for the semester, the group were once again approached by Campus Watch, this time because they had put up a sign depicting a marijuana leaf on a tree on the Union Lawn. The Watch told them they had to remove their sign from University property.
The University has been reluctant to comment on the sudden increased focus on the 4:20 smoke up. Student Support Services Director David Richardson has said, “The University cannot condone illegal activity. Our policy for dealing with students smoking cannabis on campus is for the Proctor’s office to intervene and deal with the individual students. If individuals who are not students are involved and openly smoking cannabis on campus, the matter will be referred to the police.” Critic has been unable to ascertain why there has been an increase in University interest in the smoke up after years of tolerance towards the weekly gathering.
Due to a motion passed at an OUSA Student General Meeting last year, OUSA officially “condones the public smoking of cannabis on university grounds as protest against cannabis prohibition.” OUSA president Renee Heal says that ‘condone’ has been defined as ‘overlook’ by the organisation, and they will not be actively supporting students who smoke marijuana on campus as a form of protest. She also stresses that OUSA has no obligation to non-students involved. However, she say, “It’s important that the club, that is affiliated to OUSA, feels supported,” so she has been working with Gray and the Proctor to try and negotiate some kind of “gentleman’s agreement that basically means that what has been going on for the past few years will be allowed to continue to go on.”
This country makes me sick to the fucking stomach. I wish I could fly to my own planet.
agnes8 wrote:
You can't compare the stuff that was around years ago with what is available today.It is GE and of greater strength and purity these days so therefore even more brain altering.Funny how the greeenies are hell bent on NZ being GE free but happily smoke GE weed.
GE weed? It's mutants like this who run our country, that is the saddest thing.
(It was agnes8...)
Last edited by rukeen on Sun Jul 29, 2007 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Login to check your private messages
Login
(miss my local paper).
Is anyone signed up to the ODT digi vers. for the rest of the article?
when I first saw page 3:
