http://pacificpolicy.org/2015/03/shell-shocked/?&owa_medium=feed&owa_sid= Thinking for ourselves Fri, 28 Aug 2015 01:04:27 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3 http://pacificpolicy.org/2015/03/shell-shocked/#comment-11998 Fri, 06 Mar 2015 05:54:27 +0000 http://pacificpolicy.org/?p=7196#comment-11998 Ni bula Ben,
Vinaka vakalevu sara (a HUGE thanks) for your balanced commentary.
An additional factor here is that last year there were just over 300 deaths in Australia attributed to alcohol and over 15,000 deaths to tobacco. There was not a SINGLE death worldwide that could be attributed, with any certainty, to kava. But there are no plans to ban alcohol or tobacco in Australia. As UK drug policy expert Prof. David Nutt (2007:1049) stated regarding the harm level of alcohol and tobacco when compared with cannabis, solvents and LSD – which appeared lower on the drug harm matrix than alcohol and tobacco, some “drugs also generate tax revenue that can off set their health costs to some extent”, therefore their harm level is to some degree are ignored.
This proposed ban is a human rights issue; a fundamental breach of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to which the Australian Govt is a signatory.
A number of law affiliated academics are working on this issue while a large body of the Pasifika community are rallying together to speak out on this issue.
With kava being the key icon of Pasifika identity, of who *we* are, there is much at stake here. Then there are added impacts often not considered, exemplified by a comment in the Sydney Morning Herald following the 2kg limit placed on kava in 2007; “What is now happening is alcohol has become the substitute for kava; kava’s promotion of a gentle sense of contentment is being replaced with the violence so often associated with excessive drinking” (Pinomi, 2008).
This proposed ban by Minister Scullion is extremely short-sighted, uninformed, and a continuance of what Dr. Peter d’Abbs stated in 1995 when he reviewed kava regulations to that point; the kava regulatory processes is based on “bureaucratic encroachment” and “public health bureaucracy” as opposed to fact and “scientific legitimacy” (p.179).
Again, we in the Pasifika community appreciate your support.
Kalougata tiko, loloma yani,
Apo Aporosa (PhD)

]]> http://pacificpolicy.org/2015/03/shell-shocked/#comment-11995 Fri, 06 Mar 2015 05:12:27 +0000 http://pacificpolicy.org/?p=7196#comment-11995 Excellent piece Ben. The Australian ban on kava goes against the grain of cultural and social values of the Pacific peoples where kava is sharwed on ceremonies to mark important events or even to finish of a days’ work. It is a drink of peace, friendship, relaxation, calming anxiety, laughter, talking through issues, mending relationships and building new relationships. Australian Pacific islanders and those in Australia who have been used to kava as a means to remain integrated and united will loose out tremendously and so will the country as whole.

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