Press statement: Maximising harm in Australia’s remote indigenous communities

Northern Territory residents are determined to continue their struggle against the increasing rate of imprisonment of non-violent drug offenders in Australia’s outback.

That’s the message from the Darwin based Network Against Prohibition who will smoke a giant joint at their 20th community smoke-in for human rights in Darwin’s Raintree Park on Saturday.

NAP spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff said “The fact that we are holding our 20th smoke-in is testament to the level of support for positive drug law reform in the community. The Martin Labor Government is accelerating attacks on all illicit drug users and we must continue to struggle against them.”

The NT Police recently established a ‘Remote Area Drug Desk’ which is ‘targeting the supply of cannabis to aboriginal communities’ and further increasing the NT imprisonment rate.

Mr Meyerhoff said “The Remote Area Drug Desk claim to be stemming the flow of cannabis into remote communities when nearly all the people they are actually busting are small-time growers in the Darwin rural area. These people only grow cannabis to supply themselves and close friends.”

The Murdoch-owned Northern Territory News is playing a major role in the police propaganda campaign, regularly reporting that cannabis seized in the Darwin rural area is ‘believed to have been grown specifically for remote communities’. The NT police have no evidence to support these claims.

Mr Meyerhoff said “Why the police are targeting remote communities anyway we don’t know… what we do know is that they are contributing to the ridiculously expensive price of pot in those communities ($100 for a $25 deal) and to the ever increasing rate of imprisonment of indigenous people. More than 80% of NT prisoners are indigenous.”

The flow of cannabis into Australia’s outback continues unabated and demand is inevitably continuing to grow.

Meyerhoff said “Drug squad head Les Martin must be a little bit stoned if he seriously thinks he is having a positive impact on the Territory community.”

Senior-Sergeant Martin has told the media “We have had some very successful recent results which will severely affect the flow of drugs to remote communities… those operations have often involved members from several different sections and the teamwork, support and cooperation has been outstanding.”

Mr Meyerhoff said “If the aim of the police is to disempower indigenous people and keep their communities in poverty, they are achieving their aim. If their aim is really to ‘stem the flow of cannabis into remote communities’, then the new drug desk is a disaster, not the success the NT police claim it to be.”

It seems Superintendent Kris Evans has also been smoking some of the seized wacky backy. Yesterday, she told local media “By minimising the supply, a reduction in demand follows and the result is harm reduction can be more adequately addressed.”

Coupled with the ongoing seizure of cars owned by indigenous people, the so called ‘grog runners’, this anti-cannabis campaign is having devastating effects. The NT Government and their police are maximising harm in indigenous communities.

The 20th Community Smoke-in

The Network Against Prohibition, formed in March 2002, has held regular smoke-ins since the Labor Government moved to implement the draconian ‘drug house’ laws. At the first smoke-in held on the 20th of April 2002, police attacked the rally, arresting five people for cannabis, loitering and other charges.*

The police attacked another NAP smoke-in on October 12, 2002, sparking a mini riot and the arrest of a number of NAP members. Four members of NAP face a trial in the NT Supreme Court next May as a consequence of those arrests.

These police attacks on NAP smoke-ins are only one aspect of the ongoing intimidation and harassment that supporters of drug law reform have faced from the NT establishment. This year, Darwin City Council refused to issue permits for the smoke-ins despite doing so for nearly two years. The Council also recently prosecuted Gary Meyerhoff for bill-pasting, resulting in a conviction and $710 costs. This was the first time the Darwin City Council had prosecuted anyone for this ‘offence’.

On Monday the 1st of November, within hours of releasing a press statement reporting that the NT Government’s drug laws were a ‘laughable failure’, three members of NAP were arrested by NT Police in the middle of the night and incarcerated ‘by mistake’ in the maximum security section at Berrimah prison.

They were subsequently released on Wednesday the 3rd after an overwhelming display of support and protests from the Darwin community.

For more information call the Network’s Gary Meyerhoff on 0415 16 2525 (from os +61 415 16 2525), police media spokesperson Peter Cain on (08) 8922 3535 (from os +61 8 8922 3535 or see http://www.napnt.org.

*All of the charges arising from the 1st smoke-in were later dropped and the NT Ombudsman found that the arrest of NAP spokesperson Gary Meyerhoff was ‘unlawful’.