The owner and general manager of Switched on Gardener have been found guilty of drugs charges but acquitted on more serious charge of belonging to an organised criminal group.

The jury returned their verdicts today after deliberating for more than 14 hours over three days at Auckland District Court following a nine-week trial.

The company's owner Michael Quinlan, two of his companies and general manager Peter Bennett were found guilty of possessing and supplying equipment to grow cannabis.

But three others - business development manager Ricky Cochrane, distribution manager Andrew Barry Mai and the South Island manager Paul Kenneth Barlow - were acquitted of all charges.

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A British academic says the positives of drug use need to be spoken of freely.

Stuart Taylor, a senior lecturer in criminal justice at Liverpool Moores University in England, made the comment at a public talk at Victoria University of Wellington today about about the "great unmentionable" - the positives of illegal drug use; a topic he said was "taboo".

He hypothesised that someone who took ecstasy on the weekend might find it easier to socialise in their day-to-day life after learning how to break down social boundaries while on drugs in the weekend.

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Testing of party pills on animals remains an option but Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has ruled out using a "barbaric and disgusting" test where doses of the drug increase until half the test group dies.

The lethal dose (LD50) test is banned in Britain and is not recognised by the OECD.

Mr Dunne initially said it was "unavoidable" that party pills would be tested on animals, including dogs. But he confirmed yesterday that the LD50 test would not be used, labelling it barbaric and disgusting.

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The door has been opened for cannabis to be legalised across the US, and it's thanks to conservatives, writes Andrew Sullivan.

Every country and every culture has its hypocrisies. But the vast, sprawling cultural and social churn of America abounds in them. Americans live in a world of sin and salvation.

One of the most striking hypocrisies I have encountered is over cannabis. The plant is among America's biggest cash crops. It is a rite of passage for a vast plurality of college students. Every recent president has smoked pot, although the full extent of Bill Clinton's inhalation remains a Jesuitical mystery. The current president - as any image search on Google will show you - has a photograph from his days in the Choom Gang at his high school, where he is drawing joyfully on a joint.

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Thankfully Northland's regional tourism leaders are already pooh-poohing the idea.

I am sure the Bay's tourism bosses are smart enough to do the same.

For years we have worked hard to attract top end visitors willing to spend good money for a quality experience.

I'm not sure Norml's plan would even work.

Would people really jump at the chance to fly across the world to New Zealand just to get high?

As one Northland councillor put it: "It'd be a long way to come to New Zealand just to smoke a joint."

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Cannabis brings the prude out in me.

Which means that Norml New Zealand's warm welcome to cannabis legalisation in the US states of Colorado and Washington and call for a similar law change here leaves me cold.

In particular, the suggestion that some sort of cannabis tourism opportunity exists in Northland.

On page 5 today, Norml spokesman Abe Gray says Northland could be the ideal place for a legalisation trial.

He also suggests Northland "could vie for the opportunity to be the first in the trial".

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Cannabis law reformers want Northland to trial marijuana liberalisation in a bid to increase tourism after the American states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalise the drug.

But a regional tourism leader doubts relaxing cannabis laws would boost tourism as claimed by the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml).

Colorado and Washington last week voted to legalise marijuana possession for people aged 21 and over and Norml spokesman Abe Gray said New Zealand should do the same to attract more tourists.

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Medicinal marijuana advocate's sudden death follows police visit.

The wife of a medicinal marijuana advocate who died suddenly while awaiting trial for drug charges claims police "harassment" of her husband put him under unbearable strain.

Stephen McIntyre was charged with supplying cannabis after police raided the Auckland offices of GreenCross, a group which dispenses low-grade marijuana to patients with prescriptions for legal synthetic versions of the drug.

His wife Reiko Yanai said McIntyre was initially upbeat about fighting the charges. But his mood changed after police officers turned up at the family home to check on bail conditions on July 16, eight days before his death.

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Growing seizures of drug points to its popularity.

Police have revealed exactly how many drugs are being pulled off the streets - and cocaine looks to be making a comeback.

Figures released to the Weekend Herald show 5469 grams of cocaine was seized by police up to August this year, much higher than in previous years.

Methamphetamine and Ecstasy have dropped away, while the emergence of "unknown powders" seized by police and Customs has increased substantially in the last year.

Massey University researcher Dr Chris Wilkins said the amounts of cocaine discovered were still low, however it appeared to be growing in popularity.

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The Government is looking at changing a law which, among many things, will abolish the practice of drug sniffer dogs and drug testing in schools.

The Education Amendment Bill, introduced to Parliament this month, aims to provide "safe learning environments without invasive methods".

Under the new bill, teachers will still be able to take reasonable steps to make students surrender items - confiscating and disposing of items where appropriate - but the use of drug dogs and testing students for drugs will be stopped.

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A warrant to search a house for drugs resulted in a 29-year-old woman being convicted in the Whanganui District Court for administering cannabis through her breast milk to her 3-month-old baby.

It is the first time in New Zealand anyone has been charged with and convicted of administering a class C controlled drug, namely cannabis, to a person under the age of 18 years.

The search involved a police team and the armed offenders squad.

The woman was convicted in the Whanganui District Court last week, after pleading guilty.

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A law change to ban schools from drug testing students will "seriously dent'' the ability of teachers to stop drugs entering the school gates, the principals' union says.

The Education Amendment Bill, which was introduced to Parliament last week, would ban schools from using drug sniffer dogs or requiring students to undergo a drug test.

Secondary Principals' Association president Patrick Walsh said parents would be outraged by the change.

"Prohibiting the use of drug dogs in schools, and stopping schools from drug testing students who have been caught using drugs in schools to ensure they're clean, will seriously dent our capacity to stop the scourge of drugs in our community from entering our school gates,'' he told Radio New Zealand this morning.

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The front cover features a wiff of cheeky marketing. "K2 takes you higher" is the pitch on the black packet of synthetic cannabis, available for $25 at a dairy near you.

There is also an R18 sign and the obligatory warning that smoking is a health hazard. The back is more explicit. Don't toke on the legal dope if you intend to drive or use heavy machinery within six hours.

Don't use to excess, as it may cause anxiety. Don't use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Or, if you have a heart condition, compromised lung or liver, history of mental illness - in particular, depression, anxiety, panic attacks or schizophrenia. Or, mix it with drugs or medicines, especially ones that lower blood pressure.

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Local addiction specialists are welcoming a law change that will change the way synthetic cannabis-like products are sold.

From the middle of next year, legal high manufacturers will face an estimated $180,000 application fee plus $1 million to $2 million in testing costs for each product they want to sell.

They could also face up to eight years' jail for selling banned substances.

Bay of Plenty Addiction Service clinical team leader Anne Gosling, of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, said the changes were a step in the right direction.

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New laws to regulate "legal highs" are being welcomed by a Nelson woman who says her son is addicted to a synthetic cannabis product.

The laws, announced by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne yesterday, will see people fined $300 for possessing banned party pills, and dairies barred from selling them.

Manufacturers will have to pay a $200,000 application fee and testing costs of up to $2 million to have the substance passed as safe for sale by a regulatory watchdog.

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The Government last month signalled that beneficiaries who refused or failed drug tests while applying for jobs would have their payments cut, consistent with a National election commitment.

Finance Minister Bill English told TVNZ's Q&A many jobs available to younger people in his electorate were in forestry and the meat-processing industry. But employers had told him they often couldn't hire young local people "because they can't pass a drug test", and a Work and Income job seminar found 18 per cent of 74 job-seekers would fail a drug test.

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Despite an impassioned plea from a Levin man facing drugs charges, it took a jury little more than two hours to find him guilty on all counts.

William Duffield McKee, known as Billy, was on trial in Palmerston North District Court this week facing four charges of selling small quantities of cannabis to an undercover policeman, and one of cultivating the drug.

McKee, 47, hosts the GreenCross website, which promotes the use of cannabis to treat medical ailments.

He was targeted in Operation Relief between February 2010 and May last year.

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With cannabis linked to a drop in IQ points in adolescence, one would expect all those people claiming to want to protect our youth, to be calling for the immediate removal of prohibition, and replace it with an adults-only regulation.

It is proven that teens can obtain cannabis easer than getting alcohol or tobacco. This is because both alcohol and tobacco are regulated, thus are policed.

Cannabis is policed through prohibition, which is a known failed design. With police removing no more than 10 per cent of cannabis available, it is costing over $50 million annually.

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The prevalence of cannabis is a major problem for youth in Rotorua and the surrounding Lakes District, a Rotorua community service worker warns.

"There have always been a lot of rangatahi [youth] who have smoked cannabis," Linda Gibson of Te Utuhina Manaakitanga Trust told The Daily Post.

"But it's a mixed bag - cannabis is just about as prevalent as alcohol around here."

Many young people involved with the trust had been adversely affected by both drugs, Ms Gibson said.

"A lot of people come in here ... and it's affected their relationships, their work and their families."

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THE cost of drug and alcohol abuse continues to grow for the Gisborne- East Coast community, with little help available and most of that help at the "bottom of the cliff".

Gisborne's only registered drug and alcohol psychotherapist, Brian Hunt, says children as young as nine are taking drugs and alcohol here - but worse than that is what the abuse costs and does to the community.

Surveys show many people here spend upwards of $300 a week on grog and dope . . . sometimes much more.

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