Zero intelligence

Muddled thinking over drug use in prisons will help the criminals

UK: Ireland: Is there anyone in either the Dail or the Seannad with the courage and imagination of British Liberal Democrat Chris Davies?

The Welsh MEP raised a row in the UK when he suggested that perhaps it was time to rethink the Western world's policy on drugs. Davies put forward the idea long advocated by libertarians that legalising all narcotics would drastically slash the profits of drug smugglers and dealers while reducing crime rates caused by addicts prepared to pay astronomical prices for their fix.

Davies is, in a sense, stating the blindingly obvious: the West is losing the so-called 'war on drugs'. Demand for drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine and heroin in the EU and North America is, if you'll excuse the pun, at an all-time high. For instance, even in Afghanistan, the presence of thousands of American and Nato troops has not halted the growing of the poppy and the subsequent production of heroin. In fact, it appears that the 'war on drugs' is probably even less winnable than the 'war on terror', both of which are being prosecuted in that same country.

So far, no one within any of the Irish political parties has taken up the Lib Dem's imaginative proposal. Only the Greens favour the legalisation of certain soft drugs such as cannabis, while the others maintain a prohibitionist stance.

The underlying absurdity of Irish prohibition has led the present government down some ludicrous cul de sacs. In the autumn, justice minister Michael McDowell is going to fulfil the promise he made at the annual conference of the Irish Prison Officers Association last year and introduce a 'zero tolerance' policy regarding drugs in the republic's jails.

Last week, a virtually unreported joint statement from the International Red Cross and the Senlis Council, a Paris-based think-tank on drugs policies, denounced this new 'zero tolerance' position. The Red Cross condemned Ireland's plans to eliminate clean-needle distribution in prisons as a serious threat to public health in the republic, arguing that it will only encourage the spread of Aids and hepatitis C. Both the Red Cross and Senlis urged McDowell to reconsider what these 'damaging policies'.

This is what Dr Massimo Barra, vice-president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said about McDowell's plan: 'Zero tolerance has generally never paid off. Public-health promotion is in the interest of us all. Such measures have been proven to be key elements in strategies targeted at the most vulnerable groups, like drug users. Interventions should be cautious and based on evidence rather than ideology.'

Both the Red Cross and the Senlis Council said the new legislation disregards the recommendations of the World Health Organisation about distributing clean syringes and disinfectant to drug users in prisons.

Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of Senlis, pointed out: 'This new law will encourage the spread of disease in the penal system and will have serious consequences not only in prisons but on society in general.

'We cannot ignore the dangers of HIV/Aids and hepatitis C transmission within the prison system, but by introducing a "zero tolerance" approach, that is what is being done. Drug injection will continue, whether inmates are tested or not, and whether they have clean needles or not. It is vital this problem is approached differently if HIV or hepatitis C epidemics are to be avoided.'

In Ireland, 90 per cent of drug-injecting inmates have been shown to be infected with hepatitis C, according to a 1999 survey. The same study revealed that between 40 to 70 per cent of drug-injecting prisoners have shared equipment, including needles, while in Irish jails.

Meanwhile, a World Health Organisation study in May stated that public-health measures such as distributing clean needles does not increase the range of drug use in jails. Instead, the WHO concluded that such policies bring infection rates under control. Yet if the republic pursues its 'zero tolerance' of drugs in jail, it will result in the very opposite: more inmates suffering from HIV/Aids and hepatitis C, many of them eventually released back into wider Irish society.

The muddled thinking highlighted by both the Red Cross and Senlis over the 'zero tolerance' of drugs in jail is but a symptom of the wider confusion and intellectual dishonesty caused by the overall drugs prohibition policy. By contrast, legalisation would almost immediately wipe out the profits of the drug cartels at home and abroad. Thus the Irish criminals running their drug empires by remote control from southern Spain or the narco-terrorists such as Farc would be unable to hike artificially the price of narcotics which would be subject solely to the laws of supply and demand.

In the meantime, as prohibition reigns, more addicts both inside and outside the Republic's prison system are doomed to die because of political opportunism and cowardice.

By Henry McDonald posted 23 August 05

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Australian man denies owning drug stash

AN Adelaide man facing up to 10 years in a Bali prison for drug possession has denied owning a stash of hashish allegedly found at his rented bungalow.

John Julian Pyle, 42, is an internet businessman and frequent Bali visitor who is on the anti-drugs education committee of the Ubud Rotary Club.

He faces a maximum of 10 years' jail if found guilty of possessing a 1.8 grams of hashish.

Pyle, whose trial began today, has admitted owning 0.8 grams of the drug found at his bungalow in Gianyar, just outside the mountain tourist village of Ubud in early May, his lawyer Rifan Mohammad said.

But he denied owning the other 1.0 gram, saying it had belonged to an Indonesian woman he met at a bar in Ubud and took back to his bungalow, Mohammad said.

"He had some girl come to his house, and that girl brought that 1.0 gram of hash," Mohammad said after the charges against Pyle were read out in Gianyar District Court.

The woman's full identity and whereabouts are unknown.

Pyle claims he is not a resident of Bali but spends many months of each year on the island.

He appeared relaxed as prosecutor Dayu Surasmi told the court that police searched his bungalow on May 8 and found 1.8 grams of hashish allegedly bought in Kuta for 200,000 rupiah ($A27) per gram.

Pyle denied owning 1.0 gram found wrapped in plastic under a table cloth on a desk.

But he admitted owning 0.1 gram found inside a condom box and another 0.7 gram found inside bottles in a kitchen cupboard, Surasmi said.

His urine also tested positive for hash use, she added.

Surasmi said Pyle had admitted being addicted to the drug.

"He has been using this hashish for 25 years," she told the three judges.

"He uses it everyday."

Pyle faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if found guilty of the primary charge of possessing a category-1 narcotic under article 78 of Indonesia's tough anti-drugs law.

He also faces up to four years' jail if found guilty of a secondary charge relating to illegal drug use.

Dressed in a green and gold shirt and black slacks, Pyle had earlier arrived at the court un-handcuffed and was seen talking and joking in Indonesian with his police guard in a small holding room.

He would not speak to journalists except to say he was being treated well at Gianyar police station, where he has been held since his arrest.

The trial was adjourned until July 12.

By herbs 5 July 05

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UN links herb smoker...?

Antonio Maria Costa: "We know that even the occasional marijuana smoker is a link in a much longer and more dangerous chain."???

Lighting a cigarette--linked to bushfires!

Motor vehicles emissions--linked to cancer!

Alcohol linked--to corporate takerism!

Would you mind telling us why other dangerous products and legal drugs are not included in the UN'shit list?

Big Pharma linked to--WHOM?

Ford and Holden linked to--WHOM?

Mazda linked to--Zoom, Zoom Zoom!

Oil linked to-- greed and war!

And he tipped his hat and said 'happy motoring'...

ABC - SPECIAL: The United Nations drug agency has warned that even occasional use of marijuana is a link in a long and dangerous cycle of crime, degradation and terrorism.

I can see the versatility with those links now? All pot smokers are urban terrorists? Great way to curb the habit? Lock em all up and rendition them to china?

ABC: "The links between organised crime, drug trafficking, drug consumption, drug money, arms trafficking and terrorism become clearer every day," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

But not the link between organised governments, oil, corporations, big pharma, breweries, and tobacco? I wonder why that is?

Antonio Maria Costa: " We know that even the occasional marijuana smoker is a link in a much longer and more dangerous chain."

Just like a rock-- is linked to an-- earthquake?

We also know that even the occasional driver, pill popper, smoker and drinker is linked in a much longer and more dangerous chain. So what! All matter is linked no doubt.

In a message to mark an international anti-drug day, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan warned that drugs are "little more than tickets to a dead end."

Just like Central Governments, Wars, Big Phama, Texico Oil, Holden, and Ford perhaps, and also like some other corporate media giants.

Governments marked the day with drug bonfires, and, in the case of China, by executing convicted drug traffickers.

Beauty? We could start with hoWARd?

Is this another attack on the indigenous people of Afghanistan or what?

In Afghanistan, where the UN has warned that narcotics trafficking is undermining the country's fragile security, officials put almost 60 tons of opium, heroin and hashish to the torch, according to General Mohammad Daud, the deputy minister for counter-narcotics.

What has that got to do with smoking herbs you might ask?

Afghanistan is the world's largest drug producer and supplies almost 90 per cent of the opium used to make heroin.

In Burma, the world's second largest drug producer, the military regime used the occasion of the anti-drugs day, as it does every year, to burn a huge stash of opium, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines at a ceremony attended by diplomats and foreign journalists.

In China, still conditioned by the awareness that opium ravaged previous generations and opened the door to foreign imperialists, the Government marked anti-drug day by executing dozens of traffickers.

Is that a joke son? Perhaps Geoff Raby can put that on his Human Rights agenda with Minister Shen Guofang in the current discussions about Australia and China's human rights records.

In the southern city of Guizhou, 24 people were convicted of trafficking this weekend, and five were immediately executed with a bullet in the neck, according to official media.

The Vienna-based UNODC, which was to publish its annual report in Stockholm on Wednesday, estimates that 200 million people are users of illicit drugs around the world, with 40 million of those chronically addicted.

But killing people is good way to solve the problem? Immediately executed, but I wonder, 'were they given a fair trial'? That's what you call setting an example?

Thought police

Illicit drugs don't include central governments, corporations, big pharma, oil companies? The tobacco industry? Or even the Alcohol industry? Mmmmm!

'Tickets to a misinformed end me thinks'

ABC: In his message, Mr Annan said that drugs "might have names that sound colourful or enticing, such as crack, pot, junk, crystal meth and disco biscuits".

"But these are little more than tickets to a dead end," he said.

But not unlike illegal and degrading wars? Inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners, torture, and the Coalition of the Killing I suppose? As well as george w bushit, tony blurter, john hoWARd, oil, plonk, fags, diazepam, piss, Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels, or even margaritas? Not even a Tooheys or two?

But at last some good advice

As one means of combating drugs, Mr Annan recommended "participation in sports to improve health and well-being, teach the value of teamwork and discipline, and build self-confidence".

As long as it's not military training in the special-forces or army to improve teamwork, discipline, and to build self-irrationalism then that's okay!

All things in moderation can help as well and also to stay away from things that might harm you if you know about it that is?

A good place to start would be to stop illegal and degrading wars, killing, maiming and torture, motor vehicles, harmful products and some of the legal drugs first so the government's and corporations can set an example for the rest of us?

War in Afghanistan

ABC: "In Afghanistan, last year's poppy crop was the largest in history "because everyone thought they could grow poppy with impunity," said Habibullah Qaderi, the minister in charge of counter-narcotics.

He said that Afghanistan had "turned the corner" in the fight against drug trafficking, but Mr Costa said recently that while the area planted with poppies was shrinking, the productivity for each hectare was increasing.

Afghan and Western officials have said several senior officials, including provincial governors and police chiefs, were involved in the narcotics business.

Mr Costa, who also heads the UN's Vienna office, said "traffickers, warlords and insurgents in Afghanistan control quasi-military operations" in a trade that last year was estimated to be worth $A3.6 billion.

Burma, where the ruling military is accused by the United States of participating in the drugs trade, says it has destroyed drugs with a street value of almost $19.5 billion and slashed its production of opium.

Nevertheless, UNODC says at least 1.15 million people still depend on poppy crops, and narcotics produced in Burma continue to flood Asian markets, Europe and North America.

Despite draconian punishments for traffickers, the drug problem is getting worse in China, and contributing to the spread of AIDS through the sharing of contaminated needles.

The official China Youth Daily said the number of drug addicts in China reached 791,000 at the end of last year, an increase of 6.8 per cent on a year earlier.

But the official figure is "just the tip of the iceberg," legal scholar Pi Yijun told the Beijing News. The real figure, he said, is "shocking".

Still, the drugs agency was able to point to a few successes in the war against drugs, including Laos, which for the first time in many years is no longer consider a supplier of illegal opiates to the world market."

But what has all that got to do with smoking herbs in Australia? Nothing! Just more propaganda so the government can send troops to Afghanistan to help out with the occupation and to get everyone else hooked on legal drugs that they benefit from and can procure.

By Bud Hemp and Bongo Jack 27 June 05

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Court: Patients May Not Use Pot Legally?

US: WASHINGTON - People who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, overriding medical marijuana statutes in 10 states.

The court's 6-3 decision was filled with sympathy for two seriously ill California women who brought the case, but the majority agreed that federal agents may arrest even sick people who use the drug as well as the people who grow pot for them.

Justice John Paul Stevens, an 85-year-old cancer survivor, said the court was not passing judgment on the potential medical benefits of marijuana, and he noted ``the troubling facts'' in the case. However, he said the Constitution allows federal regulation of homegrown marijuana as interstate commerce.

The Bush administration has taken a hard stand against state medical marijuana laws, but it was unclear how it would respond to the new prosecutorial power. Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki would not say whether prosecutors would pursue cases against individual users.

In a dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the court's "overreaching stifles an express choice by some states, concerned for the lives and liberties of their people, to regulate medical marijuana differently.''

The women who brought the case expressed defiance.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. I don't really have a choice but to, because if I stop using cannabis, I would die,'' said Angel Raich of Oakland, Calif., who suffers from ailments including scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea, fatigue and pain. She says she smokes marijuana every few hours.

Diane Monson, an accountant who lives near Oroville, Calif., has degenerative spine disease and grows her own marijuana plants. "I'm going to have to be prepared to be arrested,'' she said.

The ruling does not strike down California's law, or similar ones in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state. However, it may hurt efforts to pass laws in other states because the federal government's prosecution authority trumps states' wishes.

John Walters, director of national drug control policy, defended the government's ban. "Science and research have not determined that smoking marijuana is safe or effective,'' he said.

California's law, passed by voters in 1996, allows people to grow, smoke or obtain marijuana for medical needs with a doctor's recommendation. Monson and Raich contend that traditional medicines do not provide the relief that marijuana does.

California has been the battleground state for medical marijuana. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in a California case that the federal government could prosecute distributors despite their claim that the activity was protected by medical necessity.

Two years later the justices rejected a Bush administration appeal that sought power to punish doctors for recommending the drug to sick patients. That case, too, was from California.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Monday that "people shouldn't panic ... there aren't going to be many changes.''

Local and state officers handle nearly all marijuana prosecutions and must still follow any state laws that protect patients.

"I think it would look bad if the federal government focused its prosecution authority on a sick person,'' said Daniel Abrahamson, with the Drug Policy Alliance. "Individual patients growing for their own purposes have not been the targets of the federal authorities. We hope that it stays that way.''

The government has arrested more than 60 people in medical marijuana raids since September 2001, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Congress could be the next stop for the debate.

While there are other legal options for patients, Stevens wrote, 'perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of voters allied with these (California women) may one day be heard in the halls of Congress.''

Still, even supporters say it is unlikely Congress would pass a law allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana.

O'Connor was joined in her dissent by two other states' rights advocates: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas. While conservatives may not necessarily support medical marijuana, they have pushed to broaden states' rights in recent years.

O'Connor, who like Rehnquist has had cancer, said she would have opposed California's medical marijuana law if she were a voter or a legislator. But she said the court was overreaching to endorse "making it a federal crime to grow small amounts of marijuana in one's own home for one's own medicinal use.''

Thomas said the ruling was so broad "the federal government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives and potluck suppers throughout the 50 states.''

The case was hatched when Monson's backyard crop of six marijuana plants was seized by federal agents in 2002. She and Raich sued then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, asking for a court order letting them smoke, grow or obtain marijuana without fear of arrest, home raids or other intrusion by federal authorities.

They claimed protection under the Constitution, which says Congress may pass laws regulating a state's economic activity so long as it involves ``interstate commerce'' that crosses state borders.

The case is Gonzales v. Raich, 03-1454.

By GINA HOLLAND 8 June 05

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Media invites to dawn drug raids, people evicted from homes?

NSW: When the NSW police burst into five Sydney homes in Redfern in the early hours of Thursday morning they took with them an entourage of media stooges and public housing authorities eager to find more vacant public housing for the 80,000 people on the DOH waiting list.

But if the police go into any home they could find something illegal, no doubt!

I saw police holding up a plastic bag on CH/10 news with what looked like a small marijuana bud about as big as a five cent piece saying words to the affect, "small green leaf matter."

Therefore the chances of the police and media sustaining some charge or conviction or making those people look guilty as sin is always there for the taking. In short you can be severely exploited by the powers that be!

Surely there are legal and privacy issues involved when police are going to arrest people. I call on civil liberty lawyers to look into those legal and privacy issues.

The fact that now, when people who reside in public housing who are arrested can be publicly evicted, that is another worry.

Joe Tripodi the Housing Minister was proud to announce in the NSW Parliament that those who were arrested would be evicted from their public housing. Even though they were not yet found guilty of any crime. And even worse than that made to look guilty by the media.

Were these people guilty of anything? Or simply drug users and not dealers? Yet to be determined by a court of law, but they were dealers according to the police and the media stooges at 6.am in the morning, all working together to sustain a public image that could have been so wrong and that could have severely misrepresented those people they arrested.

Police could go to any drug users housing commission home and seize drugs and the housing minister could throw any drug user out onto the street? This must concern the community because it is wrong that people who take drugs should merely be accused of dealing, charged for being a user and then dumped onto the street.

State Opposition Leader John Brogden just recently backed a plan by Bob Carr to overhaul public housing.

"We support a good plan like this," Mr Brogden said.

"For the hundreds of thousands of people across the state who are on the waiting list for public housing, this (plan) will make it easier for them to get into public housing."

Or just raid their homes and kick them out, 14 at a time?

Now PUBLIC housing tenants will no longer be entitled to government housing for life, and some tenants will face higher rents, the New South Wales Government has announced.

So there is a major public housing shortage at the present time. NSW Premier Bob Carr recently announced the biggest shake-up of public housing in 50 years, with tenants on moderate income to be encouraged to move into the private rental market.

New tenants will be given limited leases including short-term leases of up to two years and medium-term leases of between two and 10 years. Elderly and disabled people will be entitled to 10-year leases.

But the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) warned the reforms would only marginally cut the waiting list for public housing, which stood at 80,000 people.

"There's an element of that in it (cutting the waiting list) but it's only going to affect 2500 people at the most," council director Gary Moore said.

NCOSS doubted whether people forced into the private rental market would find affordable housing in Sydney.

"We're concerned about the group of so-called modest-income earners for whom the private rental market is seen as the salvation," Mr Moore said.

"It's very unlikely they'll find a way into affordable private rentals in Sydney."

Despite the reforms announced, fixed-term leases were not new and had been in place for all new public housing tenants since November 2002, he said.

Warnings went up when police and DOH decided to work together as a force now people are being accused and thrown out of their homes onto the streets of Sydney.

Department of Housing units in Morehead Street and Young Lane were raided. The raid was to be connected with the supply of drugs, predominantly heroin?

The police raid was to be connected? Is connected? Looks like it's connected, to drug dealing? So the dealers are not users? Drug users not yet found guilty of dealing should be kicked out of their homes?

The raids began at 6am (AEST) and police were still at the scene gathering evidence at 9.30am (AEST). The spokesman said those arrested had been taken away in paddy wagons and were 'expected' to be charged with drug supply and expected to be kicked out of their public housing because of a public housing shortage and anyone will do!

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'

People who are addicted to heroin usually take the drug because it relieves them of problems such as low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They may have poor communication skills & poor relationship skills.

Ed: Don't be suckered by Carr government propaganda

Whatever you might think about the right of individual tenants to keep their public housing if their situation improves the fact is that there are hard pragmatic reasons for maintaining a mixture of low and middle income earners in public housing estates.

The higher your income gets the less rent subsidy you receive, so in effect the middle incomers subsidise the maintenance of the whole estate.

Also, if you drive out everyone who can afford to beautify and properly maintain their place you eventually get to the point where all tenants with any sense of community pride abandon the estate. Then you get the sort of unsolvable problems we saw at the Villawood Housing Estate and the government sends in the bulldozers - followed by developers and their McMansions.

Tripodi is also being disingenous in suggesting that the police raids were the result of tenant complaints about drug dealing. Housing tenants are now required to keep 'incident diaries' about possible law-breaking on the estates. Those who refuse to be part of this DoH Stasi network are themselves liable to be evicted. So when the Department of Housing wants to evict tenants they can requisition the diaries, claim that they show tenants are worried about crime in the estate, send in the cops, then evict those arrested whether or not there is any evidence against them.

So its the government policies which lead to the destruction of trust and social capital in housing estates. Then the very community breakdown the government has caused is used as an excuse to shut down public housing and turn the real estate over to Carr's developer mates.

By Not Yet Guilty posted 6 May 05

Related:

'The Changing Face of Crime in Sydney?: Mean streets or Lost Suburbs' This forum will consider the recent social unrest on the streets of Sydney. The forum will look at areas such as: public order reporting; the essence of alienation for youth, indigenous and ethnic communities; tensions in public housing; political denial of social responsibility; and community/urban renewal and crime prevention.

NSW Police Force: 2 dead, $1 million dollars to catch a thief?
NSW police have expressed concern about their response to the Macquarie Fields riots in south-western Sydney after a police pursuit that killed two young youths Dylan Rayward 17, and Mathew Robertson, 19 that went horribly wrong.

Police PR Stunt: Farce force?
The POLICE FORCE were under increasing pressure last night, to arrest (police pursued) death crash suspect and alleged driver, Jesse Kelly, but were they?

CARR, FAITHLESS?, BROGDEN, SLAYER!
THE COMMUNITY has issued an ultimatum to the lawless Police Force holding Sydney's streets to ransom: If you want respect give respect....

All My Friends Are Getting Married
New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney says police will look to the future in the violence-affected area of Macquarie Fields, in Sydney's south-west.

NSW Police Force: Deaths in custody?
A police officer has been hit by a brick thrown by a community member in the third night of protest in Sydney's southwest.

Community disturbed by riot violence?
Don't blame it on the social mix, don't blame it on the housing estate, don't blame it on the dysfunctional community but blame it on the Police Force!

OUR STORIES MUST BE TOLD. THEY HAVE TO BE
On Sunday 13th February, a Community gathering will be held to enable all people to remember the death of one of our young Community members, 'TJ' Hickey.

Whitewash over Hickey's death
The New South Wales coroner has cleared police of any responsibility for the death of Aboriginal teenager Thomas 'TJ' Hickey.

Redfern police need education not weapons
NSW police want new offensive equipment including long-range capsicum spray guns and modified armoured vehicles capable of spraying tear gas following a damning report on the Redfern riots in Sydney earlier this year.

Carr defends Redfern riot fallout
But such is the fact that police can do no wrong according to authorities that one wonders what benefit to the community this report would be other than to protect the police again.

The Young Man From Kamilaroi
On Monday, 5 July 2004, the Hickey Family and their supporters will come together in the Glebe Coroners Court with the Redfern Police, the same police, specifically unknown at this time, who pursued the Young Man to his death by impalement.

Police stalkers set to escape
The real issue was posted it read "Wanted child murderers"!

Payback over Redfern riot after death in custody
A 37 year-old woman will appear in court today charged over her alleged involvement in a riot in Redfern on Sunday night.

Riot in Redfern over death in custody
The reported claim that 50 police were injured during rioting in Redfern over a death in custody is nothing more than a counter claim required to balance the argument that Thomas Hickey wasn't chased to his death by police.

Redfern police 'need to be made accountable'
POLICE have no right to demand increased support to patrol Redfern in the wake of one of the worst death in custody cover-ups by police in Australian history.

"If I Could Turn Back Time" Daily Terror, CH/7
THE real cause of last month's violent Redfern riots was the death of teenager Thomas "TJ" Hickey but perhaps only one element of the racism, harassment and bullying by the New South Wales police force and in this case Redfern police at the Block.

Was Thomas Hickey payback?
Yesterday it was alleged police faced a potentially deadly confrontation with locals of a redfern housing block last week when a gun was grabbed from an officer's holster and held to his stomach.

TJ HICKEY MEMORIAL MARCH AND VIGIL
Gather at the Block at 9am March to Phillip Street Redfern, "Turanga Block" vigial at site of "TJ's" death. March to Redfern Police Station to leave list of demands regarding the enquiries into his death.

Grandma's cooking pot

Marrakesh Chicken (Recipe Below)

Patricia Tabram last week became a convicted drug dealer for serving casseroles and cakes laced with cannabis to her friends. But, as she tells Laura Barton, she's unrepentant - the drug has solved her health problems.

UK: 'There is a new strain of very strong cannabis called organic skunk," Patricia Tabram explains of the crucial ingredient in her controversial cookery range. "Before I had the privilege of being able to obtain the organic skunk, I used one quarter of a level teaspoon of powdered fresh cannabis bud. Now I only use five-eighths of a level teaspoon of the organic skunk - that's half of what you'd put in a cannabis cigarette, so I have no way of getting high and it keeps me pain-free for 24 hours."

On Friday, the 66-year-old from Hunshaugh, Northumberland, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for cooking an array of cannabis-laced culinary delights for her friends, four elderly MS sufferers.

She was rumbled, she says, by a police informer on her street and remains utterly unrepentant.

"Cannabis lifts depression! Queen Victoria used it for her period pains!" Now she is hoping to tackle the secretary of state for Wales, Peter Hain, on the electoral battleground of his Neath constituency, on a platform denouncing most mainstream medicine. (She is standing in Wales for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, which is targeting the principality as a key battleground.)

"Since I started medicating with cannabis I don't use my walking stick any more, I don't wear my neck collar, I don't wear my hearing aid."

Tabram recalls quite vividly the first time she tried cannabis. "Originally, I suffered terrible depression after the death of my son when he was 14," she says. "And my husband had died and I had nursed my mother till she died, and I was placed on medication for the depression. Then I started to develop arthritis in my knees, and was placed on another kind of medication for that. And I developed - from the combination of medication - a lumpy red rash around my face, tinnitus, lost the hair from the top of my head and had very bad bruising on my arms and legs, blood in my stools and bleeding from my waterworks area. When you get up close to my face I look like an ugly old fossil.

"A year gone February, I was lying in bed and I was very depressed. And I said, how can I kill myself easy and quick? And I thought about alcohol and I thought about pills. But then I remembered a film called Thelma and Louise and I thought, that's what I'll do: I'll drive to South Shields where I was born; I'll drive along the coast road and I'll rev my car up and I'll drive off the cliff, and no one will get hurt because it's February and there'll be no one on the beach."

Before she could do so, however, a neighbour called round, concerned that she hadn't seen Tabram for a while. Worried by the physical and mental state in which she found her, the neighbour sought out a cannabis cigarette to calm her down. "I took one puff," she says, "and you know Tweety Pie? How her head is bigger than her body? I felt like that, and I started giggling and singing." Though she didn't enjoy smoking or being high, she did note that it improved her sleep, lifted the fug of her depression and significantly reduced her physical pain. She asked her friend whether there was any other way of taking it and was told that she might try cooking with it. Soon afterwards she found two cannabis recipe books in a shop in Newcastle. The problem was that they were recipes for people who wanted to get stoned.

"I started with scrambled egg, and I put in one teaspoon of cannabis and of course I threw it all up straight away. I never made that mistake again."

She has made other mistakes, too, in what she describes as her "voyage" of cannabis investigation.

In October, she spent two days in London, the first time in months that she had been without her "medicated" meals. and without her pain relief, Tabram noticed she had something of a toothache. The cannabis had so successfully masked the extent of her dental problem, that she had to have all of her bottom teeth removed. Consequently, she now uses cannabis only five days a week, "because I think if I have an appendix that wants to go off it will tell me on a weekend, won't it?"

And yet Tabram's habit has the unfortunate complication of being very explicitly illegal. Doesn't she worry about the fact that she now has a criminal record for supply? Tabram prefers not to engage herself with all that, repeating instead her assurance that conventional medicine has countless ghastly side- effects, and citing eye-popping figures of the many thousands it supposedly kills each year. "The government are so silly about cannabis - I believe it's because the pharmaceutical companies would go bankrupt if they legalised it."

As for her recipes, her best one, she says, is chocolate-chip cake, but her culinary repertoire extends to starters, main courses, biscuits, cakes and desserts. Meanwhile, her new-found fame has meant she has not had to actually buy any cannabis for two and a half months."You know," she insists, "that NHS medication has up to 85 side-effects? That is why Grandma eats cannabis."

Cannabis cuisine ... Tabram's recipes

Leek & potato soup with cannabis

4 medium-sized leeks
2oz butter
4 small potatoes
1 pint of water
1 pint of chicken stock
Salt & pepper
1 pint of double cream to which add 1 level tsp of powdered cannabis

1. Wash and trim the leeks and chop into small pieces using both white and green parts.

2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the leeks. Cover the pan and reduce heat so that the leeks cook slowly without browning, for about five minutes. Shake the pan occasionally.

3. At the same time, peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes, then add to the leeks with the water and stock. Add salt and pepper.

4. Bring the soup to the boil, cover the pan and simmer for 25 minutes.

5. Liquidise the soup and return it to the pan.

6. Add cream and heat, but do not allow the soup to boil.

Serves 4

Chicken Maryland with cannabis

2lb of roasting chicken in portions Salt & pepper
Plain flour
1 egg
2-3oz fresh breadcrumbs
2-3oz butter to which add half a level tsp of powdered cannabis
Oil for frying

Garnish:
2-3 bananas
1oz butter
1tin of creamed sweetcorn

1. Place the cannabis butter between the flesh and skin of each portion of chicken, then carefully replace skin.

2. Season the outside of the chicken with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.

3. Beat the egg, and dip in the chicken portions, followed by dusting with the flour.

4. Fry in the just-hot oil, until golden brown.

5. Peel and quarter the bananas and fry in butter.

6. Heat creamed sweetcorn and serve as sauce.

Serves 4

Picture: Marrakesh Chicken

3 tbsp butter 45 ml
1 tbsp oil 15 ml
2 chicken breasts 2
2 onions, sliced 2
1 can (19 oz/540 ml) chickpeas 1
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock 1L
2 tbsp browned cannabis 30 ml
1/2 tsp pepper 2 ml
1/2 tsp turmeric 2 ml
1/4 tsp ground ginger 1 ml
1/8 tsp saffron .5 ml
3 cups peeled turnips, in 1 1/2 inch chunks 750 ml
2 cups chopped turnip greens (or spinach) 500 ml
1/4 cup lemon juice 60 ml
1/4 cup chopped parsley 60 ml

By Medicinal Herb posted 15 April 05

Related:

Cautions on cannabis U-turn
UK: Political leaders will today be warned that reclassifying cannabis could lead to the "shameful" discriminatory treatment of black people in the mental health system.

Drugs firms 'creating ills for every pill'
The power of Britain's multi-billion-pound drugs industry has turned this country into an over-medicalised society that believes in a pill for every ill, a Commons inquiry will claim this week.

Family Wonders if Prozac Prompted School Shootings
US: RED LAKE, Minn., March 25 - In their sleepless search for answers, the family of Jeff Weise, the teenager who killed nine people and then himself, says it is left wondering about the drugs he was prescribed for his waves of depression.

ACLU Report: U.S. Drug Laws Harm Women
NEW YORK - America's war on drugs is inflicting deep and disproportionate harm on women - most of them mothers - who are filling prisons in ever-rising numbers despite their typically minor roles in drug rings, the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups contend in a major new report.

Four Corners [Walls]: Messing with your intellect
But obviously Danny has a mental problem most likely paranoid schizophrenia a problem that insidiously had been there long before he took up smoking?

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'
People who are addicted to heroin usually take the drug because it relieves them of problems such as low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They may have poor communication skills & poor relationship skills.

CWA wants pot legalised
PERCEIVED as the height of conservatism, the Country Women's Association has had a reputation for baking and handicrafts until now. The organisation yesterday confirmed it is seeking to have cannabis legalised for health reasons. A recommendation to be put forward to the annual meeting in May calls for the legalisation of the drug for the treatment of terminally ill patients.

One in six youth deaths caused by alcohol: report
ALMOST one in six deaths amongst young Australians can be attributed to the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, research by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) has revealed.

You're one of my kind?
Over 80% of the population consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with 11% of males and 6% of females drinking daily. In terms of risk of harm in the long term, 10% of males and 9% of females drank alcohol in a pattern that was risky or high risk. In terms of short-term risk, 24% of males and 17% of females drank at least once a month in a manner that was risky or high risk for short-term harm.

Canadian PM pledges to decriminalise marijuana
Prime Minister Paul Martin has pledged to reintroduce legislation this year to decriminalise the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana.

POSSESSION? OR INVASION?
UK: This absolutely preposterous idea/theory of allowing a person/s to be possibly charged with 'possession', if found to have a drug substance within their bloodstream, just goes to prove such hypocrisies which certain hierarchies feel justifies passing legislation, is another blow for democracy!

Four Corners [Walls]: Messing with your intellect

Four Walls: "Imagine taking every single emotion, memory, experience, tablet all into one... and those fighting each other to see who is the victor." - Danny, 22.

"It just f... with your head. I had to sleep with a knife under my bed 'cos I used to think people were going to come in and bash me during the night or something. Just for me mull or something, yeah." - Danni, 17. "

But obviously Danny has a mental problem most likely paranoid schizophrenia a problem that insidiously had been there long before he took up smoking?

Four Walls: "A whole generation of Australians has grown up believing that smoking pot is a harmless pastime."

That's because smoking pot is harmless to most Australians except for those who have some mental problems about 1 per cent of the population.

Four Walls: "They need to think again? The view of cannabis as a benign drug is under challenge - not from conservative family or religious groups but from the science and medical community. [corporations and government.] Clinicians now believe that modern strains of super-strength cannabis are increasingly triggering psychoses, depression and anxiety disorders in teenagers."

They need to think again if they have a mental problem like schizophrenia, because pot which is only a herb can make you more paranoid when you first start smoking it, but after a while that diminishes when the other well know benefits are felt. That is if you haven't got a mental illness.

Four Walls: "Many young people begin smoking cannabis before they have even hit their teens? - And experts are warning that the younger the smoker, the greater the risk of mental illness."

What else did they begin consuming? And like if your mother gives it to you when you're a baby then the experts warning makes sense? For instance what would petrol sniffing do to young people?

Four Walls: "About half the young people who seek help for psychosis have a cannabis problem."

So how many have an alcohol problem? How many of those had a mental illness before they had a cannabis problem?

For instance everybody has a shit as well but not all people who have a shit have a mental problem, so the dear doctor's diagnosis is flawed and pro-government?

Four Walls: "According to doctors the proportion of cannabis users among these young patients has doubled in 20 years?

"For some teenagers there is no second chance. Ten to 15 per cent of young people with serious mental illnesses commit suicide or die from other causes within a few years of diagnosis."?

But mental health has its own problems that are yet to be diagnosed and treated because of lack of funding?

Of course cannabis is popular. The proportion of cannabis users with mental illness merely points out that it is a popular herb, taken by a large section of the population some with mental illness.

Perhaps the consumer should understand what works and what doesn't when they have a mental illness? A mental illness, which does not agree with the herb and should not be taken with a mental illness.

Four Walls: "Even for those who do recover, only half return to meaningful work or study?"

What with a mental illness? Makes lots of sense like disability, only half of them return to meaningful work or study!

Four walls:

Q: "And Jake how old were you when you started smoking?"
A: "Twelve."
Q: "And when did it become a problem for you, how old were you?"
A: "About 14 I started smoking regularly." - Jake, 18.

Q: "Where would you be if you never smoked pot?"
A: "Still be at school. I.... didn't even pass year eight." - Sam, 16."

Common Sense

Q: And Bud how old were you when you started smoking?
A: Seventeen
Q: And when did it become a problem for you, how old were you?
A: It never became a problem and I am 47 years old and I don't have a mental illness. What about that!
Q: Where would you be if you never smoked pot?
A: That's a hypothetical question. How long is a piece of string?

Four Walls: "So what accounts for this new concern about cannabis and youth psychoses?"

Beats me it's probably pro-government spin because if you look into the statistics of how many of our youth are affected by alcohol and what that drug does to people you wouldn't be so concerned about cannabis which is at best a herb!

Four Walls: "About half the young people who seek help for psychosis have a cannabis problem."

What about alcohol? What proportions of the mentally ill patients who seek help for psychosis have an alcohol problem? Strange how the fact that they also had a shit and most likely had taken alcohol, but those figures were not realised in the promotion of the Four Walls segment.

One does wonder what this story was really all about? And if you ask me THIS IS a story about MENTAL ILLNESS on top of consumerism and as we all know consumerism is ripe! So what has the story got to do with smoking herbs?

High strains of the herb as suggested - Clinicians now believe that modern strains of super-strength cannabis are increasingly triggering psychoses, depression and anxiety disorders in teenagers.

But what a load of rubbish. Smokers of the high strains don't suffer adversely unless as I have said they already have a mental illness. Add anything to a mental illness and obviously you're in trouble.

So this story is really about MENTAL ILLNESS!

Alcohol abuse:

Alcoholism, also known as alcohol dependence, is a disease. Alcoholism is a chronic, often progressive disease with symptoms that include a strong need to drink despite negative consequences, such as serious job, relationships, or health problems.

Like many other diseases, it has a generally predictable course, has recognized symptoms, and is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors that are being increasingly well defined.

About prevalence and incidence statistics:

The term 'prevalence' of Alcohol abuse usually refers to the estimated population of people who are managing Alcohol abuse at any given time.

The term 'incidence' of Alcohol abuse refers to the annual diagnosis rate, or the number of new cases of Alcohol abuse diagnosed each year. Hence, these two statistics types can differ: a short-lived disease like flu can have high annual incidence but low prevalence, but a life-long disease like diabetes has a low annual incidence but high prevalence.

Prevalence of alcohol use in 1999

Experience with alcohol was high amongst secondary students, with use becoming more common as age increased. By the age of 14 around 90% of students had tried alcohol and by the age of 17 over 70% of students had drunk alcohol in the month prior to the survey.

The proportion of students drinking in the week prior to the survey (defined here as current drinkers) increased with age from around 22% of 13-year-olds to reach a peak of 55% among 17-year-olds.

Hazardous drinking was defined as having eight or more drinks in one day for boys and six or more drinks in one day for girls. Of current drinkers aged between 12 and 15 years, 12% of boys and 13% of girls had engaged in hazardous drinking in the previous week. Among 16-17-year-old current drinkers, 38% of boys and girls had drunk at a hazardous level in the preceding week.

Some type of spirit (eg vodka, scotch, rum) was the most common type of drink consumed by drinkers of all ages. Allowing for multiple responses, the most commonly consumed alcoholic drinks were spirits (47%), beer (33% ordinary beer; 5% low alcohol beer), alcoholic sodas (20%), wine (11%) and liqueurs (10%). While more girls than boys drank alcoholic soda, more boys than girls drank beer.

Across all age groups, 15% of boys and 12% of girls bought their last alcoholic drink.

Buying alcohol was related to age and increased from 5% of 14-year-old boys and girls to 42% of boys and 30% of girls aged 17.

Parents were the most common source of alcohol with 38% of boys and 32% of girls indicating their parents gave them their last drink?

The three main places for students to drink were the family home, a friend's home or a party. Over all age groups, 21% of students had not received any lessons about alcohol use in the previous school year, while 39% had received more than one lesson about this topic.

Four Walls: "Recent research shows that the human brain does not fully develop until a person reaches their twenties. Teenage brains, therefore, are more vulnerable than adults to cannabis."?

And what else? ALCOHOL

Modern technology multiplies the dangers. Hydroponically grown, [lettuce] genetically modified varieties of marijuana [Lettuce] plants are believed to contain much greater concentrations of the chemical THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. [Just plain Rubbish] Cannabis is cheap, too, making it more easily available to today's teenagers than it was for their parents' generation.

And what else? ALCOHOL

In this wake-up call to a disturbing new trend, young cannabis users in treatment for psychoses speak openly about their experiences to reporter Janine Cohen, while doctors and drug specialists explain what the new research means for young people's mental health.

Don't let them Mess With Your INTELLECT

1. ALCOHOL Background

Drinking alcohol by adults is both widely accepted and expected within the Australian community.

Correspondingly, alcohol is seen as a pleasant social beverage rather than a drug, with most people drinking in moderation and in a non-addictive manner. Because alcohol use is so accepted within the Australian community, limited use of alcohol by adolescents is often sanctioned by adults.

However, unsupervised and/or excessive use of alcohol by young people, while generally not sanctioned, is not uncommon.

Excessive use of alcohol by adolescents has been associated with long-term ill health as well as immediate harm-related behaviours such as drunk driving, accidental injuries, risky sexual behaviour and violent behaviours.

The extent of harm associated with alcohol use among adolescents and young adults is reflected in recent health-related statistics showing that alcohol dependence and its harmful effects is one of the leading causes of disease and injury burden among people between the ages of 15 and 24 years.

Preventing the abuse of alcohol among adolescents has been identified as one way of reducing the human and financial costs associated with alcohol abuse.

Young people are therefore a major target group for policies and programs aimed at reducing excessive use of alcohol. Education programs to inform adolescents about the dangers of the excessive use of alcohol and the negative consequences of getting drunk have been conducted since the 1980s.

National prevalence surveys conducted triennially since 1984 suggested that the introduction of these programs was associated with a decrease in the prevalence of drinking among students.

However, this trend seemed to be reversed in the early 1990s with increases in the prevalence of alcohol use being found between 1990 and 1996.

Australia was not the only country for which an increase in the prevalence of alcohol use was found among adolescents. Canada also noted that the prevalence of alcohol use among students increased between 1993 and 1999 and that this was accompanied by an increase in the proportion of students drinking five or more drinks in a row.5 In the United States of America, the results of the Monitoring the Future studies suggested that while the proportion of Year 12 students using alcohol in the previous year decreased during the 1980s, usage levels remained stable in the early to mid 1990s and increased slightly between 1996 and 1999.

Understanding current trends in the prevalence of alcohol use among secondary students in Australia is essential for planning and implementing appropriate interventions and campaigns.

This report had two aims. The first was to describe the alcohol-drinking behaviours of Australian secondary students in 1999. The behaviours focused on were the prevalence of never drinking, drinking in the year, month and week preceding the survey, drinking at hazardous levels, types of drinks consumed, sources of alcohol and places where students drink. The second aim was to examine both short and long-term trends in the prevalence of alcohol use among Australian secondary students. For this the 1999 prevalence estimates were compared first with those from a similar survey of students conducted in 1996, and secondly with those from similar surveys conducted every three years since 1984.3,7,8,9,10,11

The 1999 survey was a collaborative project between state member organisations of the Australian Cancer Society, state health and education departments and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.

By Janine Cohen and Just Us posted 8 March 05

Related:

Community links Ellison to corporate greed, organised crime, politics The Federal fascist Government has accused Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop of fostering organised crime under laws allowing people to grow small amounts of cannabis?

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'
According to an Australian Medical Association report, 83% of prisoners behind bars are there as a result of drug-related offences. In a NSW study it showed the frequent amount of burglaries depended on the rate of spending money on drugs. Neil Comrie, Victorian Police estimates 70% of all criminal activity is drug related. Inadequate treatment services as well as treatment of drug addiction as a crime, rather than a health issue has criminalised a huge number of people.

NSW police drug amnesty under review
A drug amnesty for the New South Wales police force is under review, Police Commissioner Ken Moroney has said. Under the amnesty, police officers who have come forward to say that they have used illegal drugs, are treated by rehabilitation counsellors.

One in six youth deaths caused by alcohol: report
ALMOST one in six deaths amongst young Australians can be attributed to the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, research by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) has revealed.

POSSESSION? OR INVASION?
UK: This absolutely preposterous idea/theory of allowing a person/s to be possibly charged with 'possession', if found to have a drug substance within their bloodstream, just goes to prove such hypocrisies which certain hierarchies feel justifies passing legislation, is another blow for democracy!

Prison guards test positive for drugs
NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet The visit is only for about one hour and any thing less than that is an insult. If it's proved that a visitor has broken the rules the punishment should apply to them. But collective punishment on all visitors should not be made general when others haven't broken the rules especially if it restricts all visitors from normal human needs like using a toilet.

Big Pharma snared by net
UK The web has helped consumers turn tables on the drug giants, says Cheryll Barron.

Fremantle police at centre of missing cannabis claims
Western Australian Police Minister Michelle Roberts says cleaning up the Fremantle Police Station will be a big test for new Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.

Research points to corporate journalists alcohol-schizophrenia link New research has revealed more evidence of a link between corporate media journalists and schizophrenia.

Canadian PM pledges to decriminalise marijuana
Prime Minister Paul Martin has pledged to reintroduce legislation this year to decriminalise the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana.

You're one of my kind?
Over 80% of the population consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with 11% of males and 6% of females drinking daily. In terms of risk of harm in the long term, 10% of males and 9% of females drank alcohol in a pattern that was risky or high risk. In terms of short-term risk, 24% of males and 17% of females drank at least once a month in a manner that was risky or high risk for short-term harm.

CWA wants pot legalised
PERCEIVED as the height of conservatism, the Country Women's Association has had a reputation for baking and handicrafts until now. The organisation yesterday confirmed it is seeking to have cannabis legalised for health reasons. A recommendation to be put forward to the annual meeting in May calls for the legalisation of the drug for the treatment of terminally ill patients.

Corby lawyer pleads for Australian help

The lawyer for a Queensland woman facing drugs charges in Indonesia says it is not too late for Australian authorities to assist her defence.

Schapelle Corby, 27, is accused of carrying over four kilograms of marijuana into Bali and could be sentenced to death if she is found guilty.

Corby has denied any wrongdoing.

Her lawyer Vasu Rasiah hopes the Australian Government or airport staff can assist the defence before the hearing resumes in a fortnight.

"Is there anybody having an enquiry on this one? Are they doing anything? They might as well put the girl against the wall and shoot [her] themselves," he said.

Mr Rasiah says it is vital that airport staff from Sydney or Brisbane testify.

"We are hoping by some miracle, some experts from Australia will come and give some testimony," he said.

"I mean at least on airport authority, or baggage handlers union.

"The baggage handlers union [said] that Sydney Airport has no security.

"We want them to come and testify here."

Mr Rasiah says his client is extremely anxious.

"Some days she's good, some days she's bad, and some day's she's worse," he said.

"She can't understand why she's being held there and she's mystified why her country can't do anything."

The court yesterday heard from Alyth McComb, who was the Gold Coast woman's travelling companion, and an Indonesian professor who helped draft the country's drug enforcement laws.

Ms McComb told the court she saw only a boogie board and flippers inside Corby's boogie board bag as her friend packed for their holiday in Bali.

She said it was not until Ms Corby was being interrogated in the customs office at Denpasar Airport that she saw a plastic bag full of marijuana.

Ms Corby's younger brother and another friend also gave evidence, telling the court that Schapelle Corby never used nor sold drugs.

By In Solidarity 4 March 05

Related:

THE DRUG-RIDDEN STREETS OF BALI:
Chris Allen, took to the streets of Bali and found it possible to buy a smorgasbord of illegal narcotics from dealers.

PLANNING TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS? BEFORE YOU GO, READ THIS!
Currently, 214 Australian citizens are languishing in prisons around the world. The majority of these having been convicted of drug-related crimes.

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'
People who are addicted to heroin usually take the drug because it relieves them of problems such as low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They may have poor communication skills & poor relationship skills.

Community links Ellison to corporate greed, organised crime, politics

Ellison buys into WA's home-grown debate.

The Federal fascist Government has accused Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop of fostering organised crime under laws allowing people to grow small amounts of cannabis?

Injustice Minister Chris Ellison has spoken in support of plans by Liberal leader Colin Barnett to toughen cannabis laws?

What, so we can all go to the doctor to get prescription drugs that doesn't include cannabis? The bottle-shop to get alcohol that doesn't include cannabis? And if we do want cannabis we'd have to buy it from a drug dealer and go down into the criminal underworld or get locked up?

Makes sense to me if you wanted to criminalise the community for smoking herbs, provide fodder for the victim industry and maximise corporate profit! As well as winning the state election for the neo-Liberal fascist party at the cost of the community for a political term.

Senator Ellison says WA Labor's policy on cannabis is too relaxed and undermines cross-border controls.

"One plant harvested four times a year can produce up to eight kilograms of cannabis a year," he said.

"That has a street value of around about $84,000.

"You can see that the potential for the development of organised crime is extremely dangerous."

Actually I can see that in reverse and say, 'that the cost to the community which includes judges, police, lawyers, prison guards, psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, more prisons and wrecked families, outweighs any concerns and in fact makes Ellison's concerns irrelevant'.

The truth is more likely that one plant can only be harvested twice a year at the most and produces up to about two kilograms of cannabis herbs before the plant dies.

And cannabis herbs have a home value of 'pure medicine', including relief from 'depression', drug dealers, corporations and police.

Ellison can see the real potential for the development of 'winning the state election' and corporate greed?

People can also see that the potential for the development of 'legal medicine' which is extremely healthy, and the development 'away from organised crime' which is extremely safe.

Senator Ellison says "grow-your-own cannabis policy" plays into the hands of criminals dealing in drugs interstate.

"In this state, it's well known we have a problem with bikie gangs," he said.

"They're notorious for the distribution of cannabis."

But if everyone who wanted the herbs could grow their own then the 'bikies' would not be notorious for distributing cannabis for the police force or some politician, would they now Mr Ellison?

So that's why the whole country needs to legalise this herb so the politicians, victim industry, drug dealers and corporations don't reek havoc over the community. And so judges, police, lawyers, prison guards, psychiatrists, doctors, and nurses have to find a new way of living.

By Bud West 4 February 05

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