Cannabis Policy: Where to from here? 7th and 8th November, Melbourne

[mjbarratt]

Hi there. I'm new here at OzStoners. I'm a drugs researcher: read more about me at http://monicabarratt.net

 

Anyway I thought some of you may be interested in this seminar. The details are below:

 

There are a limited number of places available for a two day symposium on cannabis policy, being held 7th and 8th November, 2011 in Melbourne.

 

The symposium includes a line-up of outstanding international and national researchers, with extensive expertise in studying cannabis, notably from an economics perspective. A copy of the program can be found at: http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/MicroEco/2011Conference.html

 

The aims of the workshop are:

 

· to shine a light on Australian cannabis policy within the context of international moves towards cannabis law reform

· provide an opportunity for vigorous interdisciplinary discussion about some of the latest research findings

· facilitate debate about Australia’s current cannabis policy environment

 

Speakers include:

 

· Professor Stephen Pudney, University of Essex

· Professor Wayne Hall, University of Queensland

· Professor Jan van Ours, Tilburg University and the University of Melbourne

· Professor David Fergusson, University of Otago

· Dr Anne Line Bretteville Jensen, Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS)

· Professor Benedikt Fischer, Simon Fraser University

· Dr Marian Shanahan, University of New South Wales

 

There is no cost to register but due to limited space, registration is required for attendance. To register, please e-mail Kathryn Perez on klperez@unimelb.edu.au .

 

Places are limited and will be allocated on the basis of date of receipt of registration e-mail.

 

Cheers

Monica

[dani]

cheers for the info Monica.. but just want to clarify something.. you must register your personal details to attend? is this correct?

 

if so, this would be the main reason why smokers and growers won't attend and won't have their views heard. it would be pretty stupid to give your personal details when you're growing.. it's an invitation to be busted.

that means the symposium will not have any input from a large section of the cannabis community. imho it can't be fair nor be able to provide a well- rounded policy if it's not getting input from the people who are most harshly affected by the current prohibitionist policies and laws..

 

am i cynical in thinking maybe this is why they want people to register?

 

wouldn't it be possible to provide a venue that will hold twice the expected capacity and not register people?

just a thought..

anyway good luck with it

[Frazz]

Welcome Monica .. we have been debating Cannabis Policy in this country for the last 40+ years that i know of ...

 

nothing changes ... keep talking empty words ... get nowhere

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Welcome Monica .. we have been debating Cannabis Policy in this country for the last 40+ years that i know of ...

 

nothing changes ... keep talking empty words ... get nowhere

 

 

There have been moves forward regarding the hemp plant frazz. It is now possible to farm and produce goods made from hemp. It looks like hemp foods will be legalized soon.. Iknow that this is not the same as cannabis but it means that people/regulators have changed their view on the plant over the last 10 or 15 years. It is only a matter of time.., particularly in the worlds current financial situation. I think it would be advantagous to get economists on board to show the amount of wealth that can be created through leagalizing all drugs..

 

Dani, I understand your concern regarding registering and it is valid, however, It is fairly common for conventions such as this to require registration. I would not expect that as a guest you would have much of an opportunity to share your views with the audience. Although it would be possible to meet others who are studying the effects of drugs and share your views in a more social sense (like while having a cuppa in between talks). I don't know to much about this partuicular conference but I am fairly confident that you don't have to tell them you are a grower or a smoker.. You could prob register under a pseudonym and give a fake address.. Prob best to clarify this with Monica though

 

If I lived in Melbs I would go...

 

Thanks Monica for the opportunity. I like the look of your website and the areas you are studying interest me greatly. I would love to see some of the articles you have written surrounding the drug scene and the effects of drugs on individuals and society..

 

I noticed that there are no speakers form the University of Sydney, does this mean that NCPIC has no role at this conference?

 

Thanks

Puka

[MongyMan]

cheers for the info Monica.. but just want to clarify something.. you must register your personal details to attend? is this correct?

 

if so, this would be the main reason why smokers and growers won't attend and won't have their views heard. it would be pretty stupid to give your personal details when you're growing.. it's an invitation to be busted.

that means the symposium will not have any input from a large section of the cannabis community. imho it can't be fair nor be able to provide a well- rounded policy if it's not getting input from the people who are most harshly affected by the current prohibitionist policies and laws..

 

 

 

Very true dani........

 

Have you seen this thread Monica? Questions for the NCPIC (feel free to send me a PM and I can start a similar thread for your organisation if you would genuinely like to talk to Australia's cannabis community openly and honestly - where people don't have to fear giving out their personal details)

 

Please don't bother though if like Jan Copeland from NCPIC you dismiss any 'awkward' questions or remarks you want to avoid as being "irrelevant".

 

Bufo Marinus summed it up well in this reply "cannabis users are tired of the bastardisation and lack of respect for choosing a different path to live a better life. Politics has made cannabis dangerous, not hydroponics.

Propaganda in the media which we cannot address for fear of police targetting has made many people cynical to the point of exasperation and organisations such as the NCPIC etc are seen as willing proponents of this propaganda."

 

 

Peace MongyMan

[iTiC]

I agree with Dani.

Damn, Monica. Im Glad to meet you- would defn like to chat with you.

Its a shame this is also your introduction.

If youd have established some trust here by getting to know us.

Then we might be brave enough to whip out a false address and alias

so the Crew here could be represented.

I for one am uniquely qualified to benifit even contibute at this meeting; Im sure there are peers here also

However the risk is too extreme.

I remember the legitimate businesses of California being closed down and ReRemade illegal as the UK releases Savitex and other such products!

Its not until we can SEE a leader we can trust will the famers come out of the woodwork.

I have little faith in that, so we remain like Robins Hood, hidden deep in the wood

 

Here's a quote that got my palms all sweaty!

"Using 140kit, I collected Tweets that contained the word ‘mephedrone’, the name of an amphetamine-type substance that was banned in the UK in 2010 and is banned under the Analogues acts in Australia. 360,755 tweets were posted by 217,739 Twitter accounts in one week during March 2011"

stay the hell away from social groups like Twitter! and FB

[mjbarratt]

Hi folks. Sorry I didn't get back to this earlier. I used the settings to alert me to new replies but received none... will look into that and sort it!

 

@dani

That is something I did not think about. This isn't a conference organised by me: I'll just be attending it. But this is a good point you make that requiring names from people is likely to discourage cannabis users and growers from attending. It is likely that you could use a pseudonym though as in my experience, I've never had anyone check my ID on entry to a symposium! (I don't think that would explain the need to register: it's more just because they tend to create badges for people so it's easier for people to engage in networking between the talks.)

 

@Frazz

Yeah I do wonder myself whether things will ever change but figure we should keep trying all the same. I have a feeling that critical mass will make a difference in this case so I'm not bowing out yet!

 

@puka

I think it's exciting that there are economists from University of Melbourne talking about cannabis law reform! There's definitely been some movement in the academic field on this issue over the last couple of years but that does not necessarily translate into political movement as we all know.

 

Just checking out the full program now. These are the full titles of the papers and their contributors for those interested:

 

Stephen Pudney, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex. Title: Licensing and regulation of the cannabis market in England & Wales: Towards a cost-benefit analysis

Marian Shanahan, Drug Modelling Project, NDARC, University of New South Wales. Title: Cost Benefit Analysis of Cannabis Legalisation

David Fergusson, University of Otago. Title: Cannabis and Psychosis: Is there a Causal Link?

Michelle Sovinsky Goree, University of Zürich. Title: Consumption Decisions in Illegal Markets with Limited Accessibility: The Case of Cannabis

Anne Line Bretteville Jensen, SIRUS, Norway. Title: Does Decriminalization Increase Initiation into Cannabis?

Robin Room, University of Melbourne and Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre. An Overview of Where We Are: Key Themes and Issues

Jan van Ours, Tilburg University and University of Melbourne. Title: Why Do Some People Want to Legalize Cannabis Use?

Simon Lenton, Curtin University. Title: More Tales of CIN - Findings of the pre-post evaluation of The Cannabis Infringement Notice Scheme in Western Australia

Benedikt Fischer, Simon Fraser University. Title: Placing and Implementing Lower Risk Cannabis Use Guidelines in the Context of Prohibition: A Policy Case Study from Canada

Wayne Hall, University of Queensland. Title: What does the History of Australian Cannabis Policy Suggest about the Likely Shape of Future Policy?

Panel session. Topic: Cannabis Policy in Australia: Current Policy Context, Explanations for Status quo, Barriers to Reform, and Critical Issues.

Speakers: Alison Ritter, DPMP, UNSW. Simon Lenton, NDRI, Curtin University. David Penington, University of Melbourne. Margaret Hamilton, University of Melbourne

 

The long and short of it is that NCPIC does not appear to be involved. Most of the academics in this list have written about drug law reform. NCPIC appears not to be interested in the legal aspects of cannabis, preferring to focus on health/harms/treatment.

 

puka, I'm very happy to send you any of my articles. Email me at m.barratt[at]curtin.edu.au (same goes to anyone else!)

 

@MongyMan

Yes I have read the NCPIC thread and Professor Copeland's contributions. I think it is somewhat unfortunate as I believe Prof Copeland was doing the right thing in that she has *tried* to engage with the cannabis community (obviously better than most other professors you have to agree in that she did try to do this).

 

The problems as I see it: NCPIC's remit excludes the important issues (legislative change and medicinal use, to name two). If Prof Copeland can not speak outside of the NCPIC remit, then she is unable to address two big issues for the cannabis community here. Tricky for her and frustrating for you!

 

Another problem is that internet forums are not the native environment for most academics. So they can find it hard to engage through this kind of forum. I'm a little different as I've been into forums for a long time... I moderate at Bluelight for the Drug Studies area and so I encounter researchers new to forums who want to promote their studies on a regular basis...

 

I am definitely interested in an open discussion on OzStoners. One question I'd like to ask folks here is: what research questions do you think we (as researchers) should be asking? Are there burning issues that are not being addressed by researchers that are pertinent to cannabis users and growers, especially Australians? I'm happy to post a thread to this effect or perhaps MongyMan, you can introduce me?

 

@Johny4pple2ee0 No I don't expects folks to just 'trust me' - certainly happy to talk more on the forums about any of the drug issues. I've been doing my PhD thesis about drugs and the internet for the last 5 years, but focusing on ecstasy/party drugs so haven't had my head in the cannabis issues of late. But I'm now just about to submit thesis and getting back into the cannabis issues and politics.

 

And in regards Facebook and Twitter, I'm well aware of the problems with discussing drug issues in social networking sites. Yet, other people do it so (as a researcher) I'm following the trend and seeing what they are up to. But no, I wouldn't recommend it myself: not a good place to talk about incriminating activity...

 

Woah, ultra-long post! I'll get those alerts sorted and will respond more quickly next time

[iTiC]

Cheers Monica, GL with your Thesis.

and PhD

[mjbarratt]

Thanks Johny4pple2ee0!

 

Also folks I just saw that some of the presenters have put their presentations up online, see http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/MicroEco/2011Conference.html

 

So you can check them out without having to attend next week.

[mjbarratt]

Here's my blog post reflecting on the workshop