Alexander: Drugs programmes great if backed up

The Government's 15 new Community Action on Youth and Drugs (CAYAD) programmes are an important step forward, but rhetoric on getting tough on suppliers must be matched by action, United Future's Marc Alexander said today.

"These programmes are crucial and very worthwhile, but will be little more than the ambulance at the foot of the proverbial cliff if not backed up with hard-hitting measures against those that deal drugs in our society," Mr Alexander, United Future's law and order spokesman said.

"So, I say, well done, but now let's hit the dealers - and that means one thing: let's hit the gangs.

"They are for all intents and purposes the P and methamphetamine problem in this country," he said.

The spread of these programmes around the country simply served to show how entrenched drugs are in communities the length and breadth of New Zealand, Mr Alexander said in renewing his call for a cross-party approach to gangs and drugs.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>