This paper aims to explore the context and implications of the New Zealand Drug and Substance Drug Checking Acts 2020 and 2021.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the context and implications of the New Zealand Drug and Substance Drug Checking Acts 2020 and 2021.
Design/methodology/approach
This discussion provides a description of legislative changes about drug checking in the New Zealand context, alongside a critical analysis of the interlinked factors surrounding these important pieces of legislation.
Findings
The legalisation of drug checking is an important harm reduction development in the New Zealand context, although overregulation of licensing requirements should be avoided, as well as overly punitive responses to peer service providers who may have criminal convictions. The new regulations should also ensure that innovation around new technology or products tested is not stifled.
Originality/value
New Zealand is the only country to introduce permanent national legislation to legalise drug checking, and as such analysis of the legislation is of interest to the international community.
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Fiona Hutton, Geoff Noller and Alice McSherry
This study aims to explore people’s experiences of taking cannabis therapeutically and to gather some real-world evidence (RWE) about the products they were using, their efficacy…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore people’s experiences of taking cannabis therapeutically and to gather some real-world evidence (RWE) about the products they were using, their efficacy and what kinds of positive or negative effect/s patients experienced. The focus of this discussion is the efficacy of cannabis for the participants in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
This was an exploratory study that used a mixed methods approach: a survey and semi-structured interviews. The data presented here focus on thematic analysis of five of the open-ended survey questions. Results from a purposive survey sample are also briefly reported. Interview data are not reported on here.
Findings
Across the sample (n = 213), 95.6% of participants reported that taking cannabis helped them with a number of conditions. The most common three themes across the thematic analysis were that cannabis helped with pain relief, sleep and anxiety. Negative effects, some of which related to having to source cannabis from the illicit market, were relatively minor and experienced by 28% (n = 58) of participants. An important finding was that 49% (n = 76) of those who said their use of prescribed medicines had decreased (n = 155), significantly decreased and in some cases stopped their use of prescribed medications.
Originality/value
This study reports on a sample of participants with clinically diagnosed conditions and adds to the RWE base about the efficacy of using cannabis for therapeutic purposes in the New Zealand context.
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Nicolas Van der Linden, Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Daan van der Gouwe, Mireia Ventura and Fiona Measham
The purpose of this paper is to present some of the continued resistance and challenges faced by drug checking services (DCS) and review how the existing literature and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present some of the continued resistance and challenges faced by drug checking services (DCS) and review how the existing literature and the contributions to the special issue address them, with a view to making recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The existing literature and the contributions to the special issue are reviewed.
Findings
Drug checking cannot be equated with quality control. With the appropriate equipment and chemistry staff, DCS can provide quantitative analysis and reliable results. When the product does not match expectations, service users discard the tested substance of concern. To more easily compare the results of different studies and better evaluate drug checking, standardisation of measures is desirable. Uptake of drug checking, notably in festivals, is low and depends in part on the capacity of DCS. Drug checking has added value in monitoring drug markets and is complementary with chemical (forensic) analysis.
Originality/value
This paper interrogates in a relatively comprehensive way the continued resistance to drug checking in light of theoretical and empirical research to derive recommendations that are specific to drug checking and that are addressed to health professionals, researchers and also to policymakers.
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Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way…
Abstract
Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.
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Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Nicolas Van der Linden, Daan van der Gouwe, Mireia Ventura and Fiona Measham
Fiona Sherwood-Johnson, Kirstein Rummery, Julia Lawrence, Kathryn Mackay, Kathryn Ramsay and Rebecca McGregor
Most abuse affecting older adults in the UK, as across Europe, takes place within caring relationships, where one person is disabled and needs care/support. This paper critically…
Abstract
Purpose
Most abuse affecting older adults in the UK, as across Europe, takes place within caring relationships, where one person is disabled and needs care/support. This paper critically appraises two of the key theoretical explanations. First, feminist theories of “intimate partner abuse” tell us that it is mostly men who perpetrate abuse against women. Second, “carer strain”: the stress caused by caring responsibilities, often with inadequate help from services. Neither fully reflects the complex dynamics of “dangerous care” leading to a lack of voice and choice in safeguarding responses. This paper aims to articulate the need for an overarching theoretical framework, informed by a deeper understanding of the intersectional risk factors that create and compound the diverse experiences of harm by disabled people and family carers over the life course.
Design/methodology/approach
The critical synthesis of the theoretical approaches informing UK policy and practice presented here arises from a structured literature review and discussions held with three relevant third sector agencies during the development of a research proposal.
Findings
No single theory fully explains dangerous care and there are significant gaps in policy, resources and practice across service sectors, highlighting the need for joint training, intersectional working and research across service sectors.
Originality/value
Drawing both on existing literature and on discussions across contrasting policy and practice sectors, this paper raises awareness of some less well-acknowledged complexities of abuse and responses to abuse in later life.
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Mary Louise Brown, Seonaidh McDonald and Fiona Smith
The purpose of this paper is to consider a psychoanalytic explanation for the challenges facing social entrepreneurs in Scotland.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider a psychoanalytic explanation for the challenges facing social entrepreneurs in Scotland.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was used, in an exploratory study involving semi‐structured interviews with, and observation of, a purposive sample of social entrepreneurs.
Findings
Respondents exhibited a sense of splitting between the archetype of hard driving business leader and that of social reformer. One respondent was able successfully to integrate the two roles through an intuitive understanding of psychodynamic processes.
Research limitations/implications
This was an exploratory study with a small sample.
Practical implications
In a period of financial challenge for the UK economy, presenting new challenges for social enterprises, the findings add to researchers' understanding of apparently irrational responses to change.
Originality/value
There is limited research into the impact of archetypes on business behaviours and the paper aims to extend the literature.
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Teresa Heath and Caroline Tynan
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of integrating material from the arts into postgraduate curricula to deepen students’ engagement with marketing phenomena…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of integrating material from the arts into postgraduate curricula to deepen students’ engagement with marketing phenomena. The authors assess the use of arts-based activities, within a broader critical pedagogy, for encouraging imaginative and analytical thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors devised two learning activities and an interpretive method for studying their value. The activities were an individual essay connecting themes in song lyrics to marketing, and a group photography project. These were applied, within a broader, critical approach, in postgraduate modules on sustainability, ethics and critical marketing. Data collection comprised diaries kept by the teachers, open-ended feedback from students and students’ assignments.
Findings
Students showed high levels of engagement, reflexivity and depth of thought, in felt experiences of learning. Their ability to make connections not explicitly in the materials, and requiring imaginative jumps, was notable. Several reported lasting changes to their behaviour. Some found the tasks initially intimidating or, once they were more engaged, stressful or saddening.
Research limitations/implications
This adds to scholarship on management education by showing the usefulness of an arts-based approach towards a transformative agenda.
Practical implications
It offers a template of how to draw from the arts to strengthen critical engagement upon which marketing teachers can build. It also contains practical advice on the challenges and benefits of doing so.
Social implications
The authors provide evidence that this approach can enhance sensitivity and reflexivity in students, potentially producing more ethical and sustainable decisions in future.
Originality/value
The pedagogical interventions are novel and of value to lecturers seeking to enhance critical engagement with theory. An empirical study of an attempt to integrate arts into teaching marketing represents a promising direction, given the discipline’s creative nature.
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Paul Blyton, Edmund Heery and Peter Turnbull
Presents 35 abstracts from the 2001 Employment Research Unit Annual conference held at Cardiff Business School in September 2001. Attempts to explore the theme of changing…
Abstract
Presents 35 abstracts from the 2001 Employment Research Unit Annual conference held at Cardiff Business School in September 2001. Attempts to explore the theme of changing politics of employment relations beyond and within the nation state, against a background of concern in the developed economies at the erosion of relatively advanced conditions of work and social welfare through increasing competition and international agitation for more effective global labour standards. Divides this concept into two areas, addressing the erosion of employment standards through processes of restructuring and examining attempts by governments, trade unions and agencies to re‐create effective systems of regulation. Gives case examples from areas such as India, Wales, London, Ireland, South Africa, Europe and Japan. Covers subjects such as the Disability Discrimination Act, minimum wage, training, contract workers and managing change.