NAP: A brief explanation

Just what is NAP? A lot of people that have heard of NAP tend to think that we are a bunch of drug-crazed lunatics or some sort of psychedelic cult… but that is only part of the truth.

The Network Against Prohibition, or NAP, is a part of the growing International Drug User and Harm Reduction movements which sprung out of the AIDS crisis in the early eighties. You could say that NAP is where the drug law reform and harm reduction movements meet the movement against capitalism and corporatism. Members of NAP view the ‘war on drugs’ as an evil manifestation of capitalism, a class and race war that is devastating our communities. The Darwin based chapter of NAP, originated in March 2002 as a response to the Northern Territory Labor Government’s ‘drug house’ legislation. This draconian legislation raised the ire of the legal fraternity and civil liberties groups but it was a grassroots movement of drug users and other concerned members of the community who realised that it was time to stand and fight against this and other repressive drug laws. NAP is now moving into its fourth year and continues to engage in a range of activities aimed at achieving drug law reform in the NT and beyond.

Community Smoke-Ins

We continue to engage in direct action and protest activities. Our regular community smoke-ins must be the best example of this. Since 2002, we have held twenty community smoke-ins. The events, now held bi-monthly, are essentially drug law reform rallies where participants are encouraged to bring along some cannabis and to have a smoke and a BBQ in defiance of the NT Government’s repressive drug regime. Our first smoke-in this year will be held on the 12 of March in Darwin’s Raintree Park as per usual and we encourage you to come along and be a part of the festivities. We will be celebrating the third birthday of the network so it will be well worth coming along. Any budding musicians are encouraged to join us for a jam session and if you are involved with another community group you are welcome to set up a stall at the event. Dates for all 2005 smoke-ins can be found on our site.

Syringe Festival

Coined as a joke by Stuart Highway back in 2002, the Darwin International Syringe Festival is slowly becoming entrenched as part of the Darwin scene. The Syringe Festival makes it clear that NAP supports the legalisation of all drugs, not just cannabis. They are a protest, wake and celebration rolled into one, a week packed with activities. In 2003, we were able to assist two members of the fledgling Thai Drug Users Network to attend the SyringeFest and we always encourage other international and interstate people to attend. 2005 will see the Fourth Darwin International Syringe Festival and the organising committee will be releasing more information soon. If you enjoy your drugs, and you are creative, this could be something you might want to get involved with this year.

Peer Education Activities

We acknowledge that the majority of injecting drug users do not wish to access government funded needle/syringe programs and that many people are wary of buying fits in chemists. NAP provide an ‘Underground’ needle and syringe distribution service.

Although this is not a 24 hour, 7 day per week service, it is pretty easy to get hold of someone from the NAP peer education team and to access injecting equipment. We can also point you in the direction of the closest needle and syringe program to you. To access the ‘Underground’ call 8942 0570 or 0415 16 2525.

We provide a number of other services from NAP Headquarters including provision of pamphlets, posters, and other information and resources, provision of condoms, an extensive library with fiction and non-fiction books as well as a library of health journals etc.

There is internet access and we can also give you some informal support and refer you to an appropriate agency if you need it.

Court cases

You might have seen some of the NAP crew on television going in and out of the Magistrate’s and the Supreme Court. Yes, many NAP members have been charged with criminal offences as a result of our protests and other activities.

More than 100 charges were laid against our members in our first two years. In most cases, NAP members plead not guilty and represent themselves and this has allowed us to use the court as another vehicle to promote positive drug policy reform.

Our ‘invasion’ of parliament on the 14th of May 2002 is probably the best known NAP court case but we have many more. This year we will have three trials in the Supreme Court. One for occupying Clare Martin’s electorate office in Parap on the 1st of August 2002, one for charges arising from our sixth community smoke-in, held in October 2002 and last but not least… drum roll… the trial of the elusive Scott White, a NAP member who escaped the original parliament invasion hearing but was extradited from Tassie.

Scott has elected to have a trial with a jury and the beautiful part is that all of the ‘eyewitnesses’ from the parliament will have to give evidence again, including Clare Martin and her cabinet cronies.

On a serious note, some of us are facing jail for some of these ‘crimes’ and we appreciate all of the support that we can get. Keep an eye on our website or join our email list to keep up to date and so that you can come and support us in court.

napnt.org

The NAP website (http://www.napnt.org) is an extensive resource for anyone interested in drug policy issues in the NT and beyond. The site is updated regularly and includes a range of features including the latest NAP news, an archive of NT drug news going back to mid-2001, articles written by NAP members, transcripts of NAP court cases, an image gallery and a search facility.

The site has some really important health information for people who use illicit drugs and we also have a section of the site dedicated to the Federal Government’s proposed ‘Retractable Syringes’. Our links page boasts one of the most extensive collections of drug policy reform links on the net. If you are studying in the Alcohol and Other Drugs Program, or if you are just interested in drug policy reform in general, you really should checkout our site.

How can you get involved?

First they came for the injecting drug users…

Don’t be alarmed by the prospect of being locked up for being involved with NAP… although the state might come and get you anyway if you sit and do nothing. There are heaps of different activities that you could get involved in with NAP and they don’t all include chaining yourself to Syd Stirling’s Corvette. There is office work, media liaison, publicity work, web design, health stuff – like maintaining the Underground NSP or talking to someone about safe injecting… there is event organising, right through to the more direct action activities and things like postering and graffiti.

Don’t be put off because you haven’t done any activism before either. We can provide you with the training and support you need to be an active member of the crew.

If you are interested, call us, send us an email or come along to one of our fortnightly NAP meetings. These are where we plan and organise our campaign.

That’s a brief introduction to NAP and we hope to meet you sometime in 2005.

NAP Contact Details:

Postal address: PO Box 701, Parap NT 0804
Phone: 8942 0570 or mobile 0415 16 2525
Email: naphq (a) bigpond.net.au
Website: http://www.napnt.org
NAP email list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/napnt

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: 18th February 2005
Source: Delirra (Charles Darwin University Student Union Newspaper)
Author: NAP web team
Website: http://su.cdu.edu.au/delirra/
Email: delirra@su.cdu.edu.au