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College Ball the best yet
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013 Vol 25, No. 24
Waiuku College’s ball was held at the Pullman Hotel this year, and was a magical evening, said Head Students Lucy Woods and Ethan Wells. The well-behaved and well-presented students did Waiuku College proud. All the hard work of the ball committee and the business studies teacher Kylie Wissel came together to produce what many have said is the best ball they have been to yet. The committee would like to thank everyone who attended for their behaviour and for the efforts put in by all. Above, at the ball, were Sam Furniss, Emily Rattrie, Lucy Woods and Ethan Wells
Hunua electorate lunch The National Party’s Hunua Electorate held their annual luncheon last week at the Pukekohe Cosmopolitan Club. The special guest speaker was the Hon Nick Smith, Minister of Housing & Conservation. Pictured are Betty Hamilton, MP Dr Paul Hutchison, Mona Francis and Nick Smith.
Winter blast in Waiuku The icy blast of cold weather that battered the South Island and Wellington last week had enough of a chill in it to bring lashings of hail and ice to Waiuku streets. Last week a sudden evening squall turned the top of Waiuku’s Queen Street into a scene from a town in the Southern Alps, as wheel tracks cut lines through piles of hail. Picture by Andy Young.
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Last week, we asked whether local outlets should stock and sell synthetic cannabis. The response was resounding… The hell of trying to come off the drugs. Locals talk. Page 8
YOU SAID NO
When The Post Newspaper said it would back Lex Mills’ campaign to highlight the dangers of synthetic cannabis and identify those retailers who sell to our community, we expected some form of response. What we did not expect was to be deluged with emails, letters, phone calls, and people stopping us in the street. We did not expect to be speaking with distraught mothers who were desperate to get help for their children. We did not expect to be sitting in our office with young people in tears as they told us of the trauma, pain, and paranoia they have suffered in recent days as they tried to give up a product which has seen a massive increase into hospital emergency departments in recent months. These young people also told us of their times in hospital, one having been taken by ambulance twice in three days as she suffered withdrawals. On the weekend we heard of another young local who was taken to Middlemore with dehydration and malnutrition after trying to give up synthetic cannabis. We certainly did not expect that within four days of our newspaper coming out, that every local outlet that we are aware of that stocks syn-
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thetic cannabis would undertake to halt sales immediately. One dairy even brought us in the remainder of their stock after they sent the rest to their distributor. What started with a full-page ad in last week’s paper from local businessman and New World owner Lex Mills has turned into a community
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revolution that has seen parents and school principals visiting the outlets and saying they would stop purchasing from the store if they continued to sell the product. We discovered that there is little known about treatment of illnesses caused by the use of, or withdrawal from, synthetic cannabis. We were heartened when Waiuku Family Support, within hours of a discussion, offered to set up a free eight-week counselling service with a specialised drug counsellor for people in Waiuku. We have been buoyed by the offers of financial and emotional support for establishing more counselling services in Waiuku. And we were disgusted, in the course of our research this week, to find a website which detailed research showing how ‘legal highs’ are believed to cause psychosis, and can cause anxiety or panic attacks in ‘inexperienced users’. That same website then offered a ‘clickthrough’ service to purchase the product from just $12 a packet. We’ve dealt with many, many people who have suffered from these products. It’s not been an easy week, but it’s a story we have to tell. Read our feature on pages 8 and 9.
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• Mothers speak of their helplessness and fear Page 9 • Waiuku dairies say they will stop all sales now. Page 9
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TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013 PAGE 1
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