New Zealand Cannabis Referendum

With the cannabis referendum I was quietly confident the time had finally come for Aotearoa New Zealand to act sensibly on the issue, I was surprised by just how annoyed I was, when the vote went no, still pending specials mind you .

In a perfect world no one would use cannabis and no one would use alcohol. I 'm a puritan about alcohol I despise the stuff and it bothers me that it is accepted as a default drug that is more normal to use than to avoid. It enhances bravado, foolhardiness, carelessness, ego and imperviousness. all of which this world has way too much of.

Not only is it legal but it is legal to push it with advertising, it kills by inspiring violence and dangerous deeds. It kills by direct physical destruction to human bodies, it damages the liver and increase rates of cancer. The emergency wards fill up on a Friday night due to idiots getting tanked and their stupidity enhanced.

Cannabis is a drug too and causes harm, but whereas a drunk person will blithely ignore the greatest art, a stoned person is likely to be stunned by the impression of even inferior art. You can be amazed by simple piece of music, lost in self contemplation, overcome by humility all things I would love to see enhanced in our culture. Wouldn't it be great to see an explosion of appreciation and wonder?

While a drunk and a stoned person will both have their driving performance impaired, a drunk person will drive too fast and be overconfident, while a stoned person will drive too slow and be overcautious.

We can awaken out sense of wonder without drugs, but currently we have a ubiquitous drug that vanquishes wonder. I am ashamed of you New Zealand for voting to keep laws that do more harm than good, that destroy lives for a victimless act, that hurt Maori disproportionately.

How do we react to the news of Donald Trump being infected with Coronavirus?

 What a strange time and how am I to react to the news that Trump has contracted Coronavirus? My first reaction was not sympathy for the man, I don’t want him dead, I don’t even want him to suffer, but I do want him to stop leading the United States and not just because he is a Republican President with policies I disapprove of, but because I think he is a genuine threat to democracy, and I base this on what he himself says “there will be no transfer of power” etc .

Trump’s neice wrote a book about with a subtitle “How my family created the world’s most dangerous man” and on reflection while there may be worse people in the world than Donald Trump, I can’t think of anyone more dangerous than he is. His sister talks of his cruelty and lying and says "Donald's out for Donald" reflecting on the war dead Trump says “what was in it for them?” Donald Trump is self centred, only looks out for himself and has no sense of altruism.

There are now over 200,000 dead in the US from Coronavirus, for such a technically advanced country this is appalling and it is obvious that so many died because Donald Trump did not act, he did not try to save the populace of the US from a deadly disease and while it is possible to contract the disease while still trying to do everything right, Donald and his entourage & supporters have not tried to do everything right. Just days before going to hospital he was criticising Joe Biden for wearing a mask all the time.

Trump might be ill, but while we can feel compassion for him we must not let that compassion make us think that he is not still uniquely dangerous. We have seen the Bob Mueller regarded Trump impervious to the law due to a DOJ Policy regarding indicting a sitting President. We have seen the Senate refuse to even hear the evidence of his corruption because he belongs to the majority Party. We have seen Trump break the democratic safeguards of the seperation of powers, with a subservient AG, corruptly loyal to Trump rather than law.

Trump represents a danger to the world, he has a legacy of death, violence and corruption that is clear to read. That he may be suffering now doesn’t suddenly turn him into a nice man, I do hope he starts to contemplate the things that he has done and repent, but mostly I hope that he is removed from his position of power where he is uniquely dangerous to democracy, civility, decency, honesty and compassion.