Regardless of how you feel about New Zealand's blanket prohibition of drugs such as cannabis - you really ought to be concerned with an insidious set of regulations that demonstrably cause harm, with absolutely no comprehensible justification - namely, the regulations regarding the illegality of drugs utensils.

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the prohibition of drugs utensils results in a lower usage of the drugs for which they are designed. Rather, the lack of availability of utensils simply forces drug users to adapt, and fashion their own home-made bong or pipe (or perhaps heat up some spot knives).

Bongs have been illegal in New Zealand for several years - but this at least, was vaguely acceptable - because it is quite simple, it seems, to fashion a bong from a coke bottle and a piece of hose.

With the advent of herbal vaporizers - devices used for administering cannabis vapour, which is almost entirely devoid of carcinogens - users now had a much safer means of getting high. Vapes were legal to buy and sell, since the NZ Drugs act defined a 'drugs utensil' in such a way that vapes were not classified as one.

Apparently, this was unacceptable to our friends in the ministry of health - who quickly cobbled together new descriptions of what constitutes a drugs utensil, so as to include vaporizers.

So what are the consequences of the new regulations?

Well, we already know that it will not deter drug use - so all that is achieved in reality, is a denial of the opportunity for people to smoke cannabis safely. Apparently our government despises the humble stoner so much that they would deny him the right to consume cannabis without compromising his health.

And anyway, the higher health care expenditure that will inevitably result from some unlucky potheads who favoured spot-knives because they could not purchase a vape, and ultimately wound up with lung cancer, will be footed by our government. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

All of this really gets our gall rising.

Of course, this is all quite irrelevant to us here at BudBuddy, since the items we sell are not for the consumption of cannabis - as clearly stated throughout our website.

We would certainly never spurn these ridiculous laws in order to provide drugs users with safer alternatives to smoking dope. Nope, not us.