A distant memory?

Is freedom of speech becoming a distant memory in New Zealand?

Billboards have been taken down because they said ‘Cannabis is medicine.’

Hippocrates stated, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. Quite clearly, cannabis is food, as are broccoli and carrots.

There is no debate on that issue, as the research has identified 500-plus components, many of which are being studied for their health benefits. There have been no deaths recorded where a person has died from cannabis alone, and in the 1940s, because of its safe use and benefits, the AMA (American Medical Association) fought cannabis prohibition, but lost.

Doctors around the world (including the wonderful Dr Raphael Mechoulam, who has been researching and using it in his clinic in Israel since the 1970s, and Dr Bearman in the US) have researched cannabis’ medicinal benefits, and are prescribing it.

Where we believe there may be debate is that, for millennia, our food has been regarded as our medicine. In the last 60-odd years, the term medicine has been hijacked to mean only pharmaceutical drugs that have prescribed dosages, most of which have side-effects and may cause death.

Cannabis is medicine. To consume the plant daily, as we do with broccoli, apples etc. may be called preventative medicine.

Cannabis needs to be re-legalised — for many it is their only effective medicine that enables them to function in our society.

BEVERLEY ALDRIDGE KATHLEEN PATTINSON Seniors’ Voice

O¯ tamatea

There is no way FNHL’s commercial tourist reception business can be deemed historical or the people of the dominion of New Zealand using and enjoying the Bledisloe gift.

The FNHL operation has created a massive hazard in the Waitangi River mouth for sailors (many of them children who sail there because it is a sheltered area) and for the many launches and trailer boats that use the river. They turn their tenders at the wharf and stir up silt, which then buries the adjacent shellfish beds.

The tenders go through the water with all the grace of a D8 with the blade down, creating a wave that endangers the small boats that use the estuary.

FNHL needs to shift to a commercial zoned area away from recreational activity before they cause a tragedy.

DAVID SMITH Address supplied

Irwin Wilson, Port Facility Security Officer, Far North Holdings responds: Events transpired in a manner which bears little resemblance to Mr Smith’s version.

When a cruise ship is in the bay, the wharf becomes a designated ‘secure zone’ for Customs and ship security.

On the day in question, and during a security inspection by a Maritime NZ officer, a third party tied up to the Waitangi wharf while cruise ship tender traffic was taking place. This was a breach of the maritime law and security protocols, as the person involved was aware because he had already been spoken to about similar actions previously.

He was asked by the Maritime NZ officer to leave the wharf, and the officer was well within her rights to do so.

The Maritime New Zealand officer did not arrive at the BOI Yacht Club on an “unannounced inspection”. She was ambushed.

Later in the day in question she was going about her regular business on the wharf when she was asked into the BOI Yacht Club by a member for what the member said would be a quiet chat. She then found herself front and centre of a previously-scheduled, regular monthly committee meeting — completely unprepared.

The officer laid out clearly to the committee the law and rules surrounding the use of and access to the wharf on a cruise ship day, which include granting port security and ship security personnel the right to manage and or stop any activity “up to 50m” from the operating wharf if the access or activity would be considered a security risk.

As things stand, vessels moving in the channel are not considered to be a security risk, and all normal rules apply.

Far North Holdings staff and I work very closely with the yacht club to ensure there is minimal disturbance to the club’s activities on these cruise ship days, while at the same time observing the security protocols required for the immediate wharf area and the safety of all parties. We have been operating in