Party pill testing

SO LAST week New Zealand goes on the international stage with the launch of The Hobbit, a wholesome family fantasy movie where allegations of ill-treatment of animals were fervently denied, and this week it takes centre stage for a proposal to put in place acts of animal cruelty that put it alongside some of the cruellest countries in the world. Clean, green and animal friendly. Yeah right.

On another note, researchers will tell you there is a strong link between acts of cruelty to animals and domestic violence or child abuse. If the Government says it’s OK to test party pills on animals, what message does that give to would-be animal abusers? We already occupy top positions in the world for acts of violence against children. Are we going for top of the ladder for animal abuse? I WAS appalled to read (‘‘Party pills testing means dog will die’’, December 2). The usual excuse by the scientific community/ manufacturers regarding the use of animals in research for new drugs is that there is a tangible benefit to alleviate human suffering. To make animals suffer in the furtherance of testing a drug designed for purely pleasurable purposes is abhorrent. Hopefully, common sense will prevail, and this disgusting practice will cease immediately. Congratulations to the Sunday Star-Times for bringing this issue to the public’s attention. I FIND it incredible we live in a society whose leaders are considering the practice of testing ‘‘party pill’’ safety on animals. This is completely, ethically and morally wrong, particularly given these pills have no therapeutic value, but are purely for the shortterm pleasure of those with little imagination. If such consumers wish to indulge, how about they volunteer for clinical trials. I would march in the streets over this one. IS THIS nonsense real? Why are socalled responsible government representatives allowing the manufacture and distribution of party pills at all? They are not conducive to health and wellbeing and are in fact poisons. Why, commit taxpayer funds to the useless exercise of using useful animals for the futile testing of useless party pills which are not going to benefit the user, but will surely line the pockets of avaricious distributors. Wake up National ministers. Just think of the legacy that, through reasons beyond common sense and reason, you are about to bestow on the trusting and responsible people of this country. ensure the highest ‘‘assurance of safety’’ it would also have the highest compliance costs! Who was the faceless ministry cretin who wrote that? Of course it is expensive. It is drug testing. It has to be done fairly and properly. There have to be safeguards. There has to be informed consent. It has to be done by trained people. Mandatory drug testing is not ‘‘too expensive’’.

I have more than 40 years in the forest industry. We have mandatory drug testing. I am drug tested regularly, and at random. We can expect to be tested under ‘‘reasonable cause’’ after an incident. I can be certain that when I do my job those around me are doing theirs, unimpaired by drug use.

The report also bleats that many tourism operators are in remote locations, and it would be difficult and costly for the ministry to monitor them. Once again, the costs are worth it. And anyway, who says the ministry has to monitor them? The forest industry monitors itself. million worth of P but because the police did not follow correct procedures, he is allowed to go free and continue to ply his lucrative trade (‘‘Cop’s mistake may have cost P-maker’s life’’, December 2). In doing so, he accidentally kills himself and a friend. If the police had followed correct procedures, presumably he would have been convicted and given a long jail sentence, and therefore not able to kill himself. There is a saying about the law and donkeys. Is there a better example than this? IT IS an absurdity to blame the death of a Coromandel drugmanufacturer on the failure of an earlier police case against him (‘‘Cops’ mistake may have cost P-maker’s life’’, December 2). What of the other things that might have prevented him being in that cave on that day, cooking P, motivated by greed, with disregard not only for those whose lives he was bent on ruining, but also his own safety? What about the judge who dismissed the case? Judge’s ruling may have cost P-maker’s life? What about the friends and family who perhaps knew what he was doing, but failed to intervene?

Having been caught once and escaped jail on a technicality, a smart man would have reconsidered his choice of career. Not so this individual. Only one person cost this man his life, and that was himself. The headline should have read: ‘‘Greed and stupidity cost P-maker’s life’’. a well-known American marching song Washington and Lee Swing composed in America by T W Allen and W M Sheafe and copyright to them.