'Ice' blamed for escalating violence

Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan has warned the rising use of methamphetamines in Western Australia is escalating the level of violence in the community.

In the past few months there have been scores of extremely violent assaults across the state, and Commissioner O'Callaghan says many are fuelled by drugs such as methamphetamines, also known as 'ice'.

In recent weeks there have several high-profile assaults including the weekend bashing of Bruce Norton in Cooloongup with a metal picket.

Commissioner O'Callaghan says a proposal put forward at the State Government's recent ice summit to punish dealers who push drugs near schools or nightclubs should be pushed through quickly.

"People are committing what we call street-level robberies to get money to buy drugs or to buy alcohol or whatever," he said.

"People who sell amphetamines to young people or sell amphetamines in the vicinity of schools or licensed premises will be subject to much more severe penalties than they would otherwise," he said.

"Probably starting this week we're going to send a senior officer around to all of the licensed premises in an area like Northbridge and say we're going to blitz this area on Saturday night so get your act together."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Aug 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Man to front court accused of gun, drug offences

A 40-year-old man is due to face court today in Murwillumbah, in northern New South Wales, after police allegedly found guns and drugs on his property.

Police raided a Kyogle Road property yesterday, allegedly finding an underground bunker that housed an elaborate hydroponic cannabis set up.

It is also alleged that amphetamines, prohibited weapons, explosives and a large quantity of ammunition was found.

The man was charged with a number of drug and weapon offences.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 9 Aug 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation North Coast, NSW (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Police dismantle illegal drug lab

Adelaide police say a two-year-old child has been found inside a Salisbury Downs house where the occupants had allegedly been growing marijuana and making amphetamines.

Police have been dismantling an illegal laboratory at the house in Martins Road.

They were given a tip off and arrested four people, including the child's parents.

Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Shanahan says clandestine laboratories can be very dangerous.

"To have a child present during these times is extremely dangerous, chemicals aren't stable," she said.

"We have seen occasions where there have been explosions as a result of hydroponic crops, there's been fires and as a result of clan labs we have seen fires as well."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 9 Aug 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Cannabis linked to use of amphetamines

Doctors have tracked 2,000 Victorian high school students for 10 years and found those who were smoking cannabis at the age of 15 were as much as 15 times more likely to be using amphetamines in their early 20s.

The work, to be published in the August edition of the journal Addiction also dispels the image of ice and speed users as young, wealthy party-goers.

"That's something which people have speculated on for decades and decades - that there was some progression in the way in which young people are introduced to drugs. You start with tobacco and alcohol, move to cannabis, once you feel comfortable with the former, once you feel comfortable with cannabis, you're more likely to move onto other drugs. And that's certainly the progression that we found with amphetamine use," one of the report's authors, Professor George Patton, said.

"So the message here is not that this was a group of sort of aspirant party-going young adults who didn't have a history of some other use. These amphetamine users look very much like our very heavy cannabis users, and those who are using other illicit drugs.

Professor Patton says there are a number of things we can learn from this research.

"One, I think we need to remain vigilant about drug use. We've seen tremendous rises in amphetamine use in a relatively short space of time, a lot more people using. If they were to move on and young people were to be using amphetamines more frequently, then that would be a major problem," he said.

"But, look, I think the message is that use of drugs to excess, misuse of drugs, is something which really begins back in the teens. That's where we need to have a major focus."

Professor Patton says the research also does away with the idea of harmless experimentation and soft drugs.

"Well, yeah. Even experimentation at a young age is a problem," he said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 18 July 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Australian DJ 'addicted' to cocaine

• Took drugs 'to beat anxiety'
• Taylor says unknown person gave him cocaine
• Faces possible 10-year prison sentence

AUSTRALIAN musician Nicholas Bernard Taylor had fallen into a full-blown cocaine addiction in an attempt to beat chronic anxiety, physical tremors and Parkinson's disease, a court in Bali heard yesterday.

Taylor, 41, was arrested at a party in a private villa in the upmarket Balinese suburb of Kerobokan two months ago with 0.32g of the drug.

Police alleged Taylor was trying to run away when they apprehended him and two others.

Taylor, who had hours earlier been performing as a disc jockey at the nearby Club 66, said he was given the cocaine by an unknown person in the club, and had later consumed some at the villa.

He faces 10 years' jail under Indonesia's harsh drugs laws, but that will be reduced to just three months if he can convince judges he is an addict - an increasingly common strategy, and one already used with success in other cases by Taylor's defence team.

Evidence was presented in Denpasar District Court yesterday by a prominent Indonesian psychiatrist, an Australian general practitioner, Taylor's Australian girlfriend and the two men arrested with him that he been dependent on cocaine for several years.

The Australian doctor, Peter Dobie, from Lismore on the NSW north coast, swore in a written affidavit that he had been treating Taylor since 2004 for addiction, anxiety and hand tremors, which were "most likely due to the early onset of Parkinson's disease".

Bali psychiatrist Denny Thong, who two years ago provided crucial evidence that helped free Sydney model Michelle Leslie early after her arrest with two ecstasy pills at a dance party, said he was convinced Taylor was addicted to cocaine.

Dr Thong visited Taylor in his police cell at the request of the musician's lawyer, Erwin Siregar - the same attorney who failed in his bid to have Australian marijuana trafficker Schapelle Corby escape her drug importation charges in the same court almost three years ago.

"He admitted to me that he was addicted, and that without cocaine he had no confidence in himself (as a DJ)," the drug law reform campaigner told judges.

Italian businessman Andrea Baldini, 40, who rented the luxury villa raided on June 11, and Belgian chef Jean-Francois Brouck, 32, also admitted in court yesterday that they had been found in possession of cocaine by arresting police.

Both Baldini and Brouck denied having ever used drugs with Taylor, although the Italian testified he had known for "about a year" of the Australian's addiction.

All three are being held in Bali's Kerobokan jail, also home to Corby and Australia's Bali Nine heroin trafficking gang.

Taylor's case returns to court next Monday, when prosecutors will make sentencing submissions.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/
Pubdate: Tues, 7 Aug 2007
Source: news.com.au(Australia- Web)
Reporter: Stephen Fitzpatrick
Website: http://www.news.com.au

Aussie DJ on trial in Bali

AN Australian music DJ facing drugs charges in Bali has apologised for using cocaine but says it makes him feel relaxed, comfortable and less anxious.

Nick Taylor, 41, from Bangalow in NSW, told a court of three judges yesterday he was addicted to the drug.

His girlfriend told the court he had been using cocaine for five years, for "insecurity, nerves" and "shaking" caused by Parkinson's disease.

And a Bali doctor testified that Taylor had told him he needed cocaine to help his job as a DJ and that without the drug he lacked confidence. It was an all too familiar scene with an equally familiar cast – an Australian in Denpasar District Court, caught in Bali with drugs.

His lawyer is Erwin Siregar, the same lawyer representing Schapelle Corby, some members of the Bali Nine and Ronald Ramsay, the drug addict brother of millionaire British TV chef Gordon Ramsay, whose case was postponed yesterday.

And the local doctor, psychiatrist Denny Thong, who testified in Taylor's trial yesterday that he was an addict, is the same doctor who testified in Ronnie Ramsay's trial, the case of Australian model Michelle Leslie caught with ecstasy and a host of other foreigners arrested on the island.

Taylor was arrested on June 10 this year along with an Italian and Belgian man after police, acting on a tip-off that a drug party was under way, raided a private villa in Kerobokan.

He faces three separate charges, the most serious of which is drug possession, which carries a maximum 10-year jail term.

Taylor testified that he had been given the drug during a stint of DJ work at the popular Double Six club in Seminyak but had not known it was cocaine until later when he went home and used some before going to the villa where he was arrested.

Asked if he felt sorry, Taylor replied: "Yes, very much."

His girlfriend, with whom he has lived for 10 years, Brigitte Hedwig Kaelin, testified on his behalf that Taylor had been seeing a doctor in Australia for anxiety and drug problems, mostly the use of "uppers, cocaine".

Prosecutors will deliver their sentence demand in one week.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/
Pubdate: Tues, 7 Aug 2007
Source: couriermail.com.au (Australia- Web)
Reporter: Cindy Wockner and Komag Suriadi
Website: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/

'Ice' found in marble tables

Two men have been charged with trying to smuggle 16 kilograms of the drug 'ice' into Australia hidden in two marble tables.

Customs officers discovered the drugs more than two weeks ago after two packages from Vancouver in Canada aroused suspicion during a routine X-ray at Sydney Airport.

Officials found powdered crystal methamphetamine, or 'ice', inside when they drilled a hole in the marble slabs.

The Australian Federal Police then substituted the drug with a dummy powder and monitored its delivery to a residential address in Kingsford, in eastern Sydney.

A 25-year-old Canadian national was arrested at the house as he allegedly received the packages.

A 23-year-old Hong Kong citizen was also seized at Sydney Airport as he tried to return to Hong Kong.

Both have been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled substance and have been refused bail in Parramatta Local Court.

No application for bail was made and the case was adjourned to Central Local Court on Tuesday.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 28 July 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Mokbel brother facing more charges

The brother of gangland identity Tony Mokbel is facing new drug-related charges.

Horty Mokbel has appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court via video link from Barwon Prison.

The Purana task force has been granted an application to question Horty Mokbel about the alleged supply to himself and his brother, of a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamines and chemical between October last year and April this year.

Horty Mokbel will be questioned on Monday.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate:Fri, 20 July 2007
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia -Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Israeli man charged over $37m drug haul

• Powder could have made 1.2 million ecstasy pills
• Police tracked movements after substituting drug
• One man charged after raids in two states

AN Israeli national has been charged with trying to import the synthetic drug MDMA, with a street value of $37 million, into Australia inside three hot water tanks.

About 113kg of MDMA powder, usually found in ecstasy, was discovered inside 172 tennis ball cans packed in three of six solar hot water systems in a cargo shipment.

Customs officers at Port Botany spotted the cans during an X-ray last month of the container, sent from Israel.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers substituted the drug with another substance then monitored the cargo's delivery to a warehouse in Artarmon, in Sydney's north.

A 46-year-old man from Bellingen, on the mid-north coast, was arrested yesterday, police and customs said.

Police raided the warehouse, a property in Marrickville, in Sydney's inner-west, a car in the inner-city and a Melbourne house, where officers seized $25,000 in cash.

The man was charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drug, namely MDMA and one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

He is due in Coffs Harbour Local Court today.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 24 April 2007
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 AAP
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au

Mokbel brother refused bail on drugs charges

THE brother of fugitive drug baron Tony Mokbel was refused bail when he appeared in a Melbourne court on drug-trafficking charges today

Horty Mokbel faces five charges, including trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.

His lawyer, Stephen Shirrefs SC, told Melbourne Magistrates Court that several factors made his client's case exceptional - including a weak crown case, a lack of relevant prior offences and family ties to the jurisdiction.

But the prosecution said it feared Mr Mokbel could flee the country, just as his brother had.

Magistrate Donna Bakos refused the 43-year-old bail, saying he did not meet the exceptional circumstances threshold required.

Mr Mokbel was charged last week with trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, attempt to possess methylamphetamine, traffick a commercial quantity of phenyl 2 propane and dealing with $9205 being the proceeds of crime.

Police allege an amphetamine cook - who has been convicted of drug trafficking - made statements to them that he manufactured amphetamine for Mr Mokbel between May 2005 and April 2006.

Mr Mokbel was ordered to reappear in July.

Tony Mokbel, 41, went missing in March last year. He failed to appear towards the end of his Victorian Supreme Court trial over the importation of 2kg of cocaine.

He was subsequently found guilty of trafficking cocaine and sentenced in absentia to 12 years' jail.

He has also been charged in his absence over the death of a Melbourne crime figure.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Mon, 23 April 2007
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 AAP
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au

Police seize drugs to make Ice

INDONESIAN police, with assistance from their Australian counterparts, have foiled a shipment of drugs used to make “Ice” which they say could have eventually been destined for Australia.

The 336kg of a powder believed to be NorEphidrine could be used to make about 200kg of the drug Ice and would be worth about $A2.8 million.

The powder was found secreted in bags of a shipment of shrimp food from India about one week ago in Jakarta. So Far, one Indonesian has been arrested and police are still hunting two Taiwanese nationals.

Announcing the bust yesterday, the Indonesian National Narcotics Bureau said the Australian Federal Police had forwarded it information about the shipment.

Brigadier General Indradi Thanos said the drugs could have reached Australia.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 7 Apr 2007
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au

'Strawberry ice' targeting kids

This is a transcript of an Australian tv show A Current Affair

US drug agencies are warning Australians to brace for a new wave of strawberry-flavoured amphetamines specifically designed to appeal to juvenile taste-buds.

The flavoured drug, known as "strawberry ice", has already proved popular with young addicts in the States, according to US drug enforcement agent Sarah Cullen.

"During the manufacture process, they are cooking it with a strawberry flavouring and some pink reddish food colouring," she reveals to A Current Affair. "They're manufacturing and pushing them into pills and really they’re marketed towards kids."

Cullen also warns that Australia’s wide open spaces could lead to the kind of easy "superlabs" which operate all over the US.

The labs can be set up or disassembled in a matter of hours with minimal equipment, Cullen said. The equipment used to set up the lab can fit into a suitcase.

"We might not be able to get vehicles close enough to see it (the lab) without being detected," she said.

High-level security at the drug labs allows their operators to know when police or other law enforcement agencies are watching them and shut down quickly.

"A lot of the times these labs will have booby traps or their own surveillance equipment set up to watch people who might come and check it out."

The Us took too long to confront ice's devastating effect on users, crime and society, says agent Cullen. She warns Australia against becoming complacent.

"This is something you'll never stop. We're at the US/Mexico border, where every day and night drug mules are lining up here to smuggle ice in from Tijuana," agent Cullen said. "Australian authorities have a similar problem, the only the difference is our international enemy in the crystal meth war is China."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/
Pubdate: Tues, 6 Mar 2007
Source: A Current Sffair (Australia- Web)
Reporter: Amanda Paterson
Website: http://aca.ninemsn.com.au

New Zealand: Drug gangs said to be exploiting Pacific

International criminal gangs exploiting New Zealand and Australia's growing hunger for amphetamines are believed to be using unpatrolled Pacific Islands as drug manufacturing hubs.

New Zealand and Australia have the highest numbers of amphetamine users per capita in the developed world.

Australian Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison told an Australian newspaper yesterday that authorities needed to concentrate their efforts on combating the use of amphetamines and shutting down their manufacture in the South Pacific.

"I am very, very concerned about the increase in amphetamines production on a very large scale in the South Pacific," Ellison told The Sunday Age.

"Because it is such a vast area, with many small nations and thousands of small islands, it is just an ideal place for transnational criminal syndicates to operate and base their drugs operations."

Highly professional, wealthy organised crime gangs were using the Pacific for the manufacture, storage and transport of amphetamines. Some laboratories could produce up to 100kg of amphetamines a week, Ellison said.

Two years ago New Zealand police helped bust a billion-dollar methamphetamine lab in Fiji capable of producing 1000kg of the drug in a fortnight.

Police seized drugs and chemicals with a street value of $F1 billion ($NZ870m) bound for New Zealand, Australian and European markets.

New Zealand Customs drug investigations manager Simon Williamson said yesterday the Fiji bust was an example of the potential for drug manufacture in the South Pacific.

"It does send a strong sign that international crime drug producers and manufactures are looking to operate out of the South Pacific," Williamson said.

"That was clearly being set up to produce methamphetamine in substantial quantities and New Zealand was to be a destination for some of that."

However, he did not believe manufacturing in the Pacific Island was a bad as Ellison suggested.

Williamson said the Fiji bust had been the only superlab found in the Pacific, although smaller labs had been found in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

New Zealand police and law enforcement was already focusing some attention on drug production in the Pacific islands.

Williamson said Customs was seeing increases in both the seizure of amphetamines at borders and their precursors. To date this year, 109kg of crystal methamphetamine had be seized at New Zealand borders, a 10-fold increase from the whole of 2005.

Earlier this year, a New South Wales police report said New Zealand was being used as a hub for trafficking "ice" – a purer form of amphetamine similar to pure methamphetamine – from Asia into Australia.

Last month Australian law expert Dr Andreas Schloenhardt said New Zealand had one of the highest methamphetamine production rates per capita in the world.

Schloenhardt, who was speaking at an International Criminal Law Conference in Canterbury said "extraordinarily" high methamphetamine usage in New Zealand and Australia was creating a shift in making drugs domestically.

New Zealand's Ministerial Committee on Drugs chairman and Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said most amphetamines came from China, but if there was some Pacific Island involvement he would be very concerned about it given the close proximity of the islands.

"We're concerned about the manufacture of methamphetamines anywhere – here in New Zealand or overseas," Anderton said yesterday.

He said police and Customs efforts in New Zealand had impacted on the production of amphetamines domestically, which might mean producers were looking elsewhere.

"There's some sense that the production of methamphetamines in New Zealand has peaked and it's set to fall away."

New Zealand Drug Foundation chief executive Ross Bell said Australia's focus on the Pacific Islands had revealed greater production there. Bell said demand for amphetamines drove supply and until resources were spent on addressing the problems of drug use in New Zealand, there would always be supply coming from somewhere.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/
Pubdate: Mon, 11 Sept 2006
Source: Stuff (New Zealand - Web)
Reporter: Janine Bennetts
Website: http://www.stuff.co.nz

Australia: Crime gangs producing amphetamines

International criminals are exploiting Australia's deadly thirst for amphetamines by making drugs on unpatrolled Pacific islands.

Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Australia needed to fight the craving for amphetamines and shut down their production in the South Pacific, Fairfax newspapers reported.

"I honestly think amphetamines are the biggest challenge we face as a nation," Senator Ellison said. "We need to shine a very big spotlight on this."

Organised crime gangs are using the islands to process drugs, including ecstasy, crack, ice and speed.

Australian Federal Police are worried at the ability of organised crime to evade detection in the South Pacific and import the drugs into Australia, which has the highest per capita use of ecstasy in the world.

Ecstasy use in Australia has almost tripled in the past 13 years, while users of other amphetamines have increased from 2 per cent to 3.2 per cent.

"I am very, very concerned about the increase in amphetamines production on a very large scale in the South Pacific," Senator Ellison said.

Their manufacture and transportation was suited to countries where the infrastructure for government was not strong or robust, he said.

Because the South Pacific is such a vast area, with many small nations and thousands of small islands, "it is just an ideal place for transnational criminal syndicates to operate and base their drugs operations".

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 10 Sept 2006
Source: The Age (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 AAP
Website: http://www.theage.com.au

Australia: Transcript: ice

This is the transcript of the 60 Minutes television program.

Here are the facts. It's more potent, more addictive, more dangerous than heroin. And it's easier to get.

It's called ice, speed, crystal meth. But whatever name they give it, this is quite possibly the most destructive drug yet. All the more frightening because it's considered fun, a party drug, aimed squarely at the young.

In fact, now more Australians are hooked on ice than heroin. And this means real trouble. Not only does ice give a fast and powerful high, it can transform quiet, ordinary kids into psychos.

You can see the results in just about any hospital, any night of the week.

STORY

PARAMEDIC: Anthony, breathe for us, mate.

LIZ HAYES: This 16-year-old boy is a regular methamphetamine user. He's collapsed from a possible cardiac arrest, but quickly he displays other symptoms of this drug — paranoia and aggression.

PARAMEDIC: It's all right. Hang on. Hang on, mate.

ADDICT: Help me, man, help me.

LIZ HAYES: How often would you have it?

MELISSA: Every day.

LIZ HAYES: Every day?

MELISSA: Yeah. Every day.

ADDICT: F---, I'll get you.

LIZ HAYES: Would you describe yourself as an addict?

MELISSA: Yeah. But back then I didn't realise.

LIZ HAYES: What did you think of yourself back then?

MELISSA: I just thought I was having fun.

LIZ HAYES: Today, Melissa looks like the girl next door — attending college, learning how to surf. Not so long ago, it was a very different story. Her speed addiction was so bad she was prostituting herself for her daily fix.

MELISSA: I would sleep with a lot of different guys to get drugs, yeah.

LIZ HAYES: Is that part of what the drug was doing to you or was it because you were an addict?

MELISSA: Part of the addict. Like it went against everything that I believed and my morals, but I'd do anything to get drugs and it didn't worry me what I had to do to get them. And if I had to sleep with different men to get them, then I'd do that.

DARREN MARTON: It was nothing I had ever experienced in my life. It was such a high that, you know, I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep for a couple of days when I had my first taste of ice, yeah.

LIZ HAYES: You had all these other drugs, but methamphetamine was the most potent drug?

DARREN MARTON: Without a doubt. Crystal meth's a highly potent stimulant and a really powerful and addictive drug.

LIZ HAYES: Thirty-six-year-old Darren Marton is the coach of the under-16 Gymea Gorillas.

At their age, Darren was one of the best players in Australia, a member of the NSW under-16 rugby league team. Then drugs and eventually methamphetamines took hold. I don't imagine you held down a job at all?

DARREN MARTON: Of course not. Well, when you're addicted to drugs as heavily as what I was, it can be a full-time job, in a sense.

LIZ HAYES: Taking drugs was your job?

DARREN MARTON: Well, that's virtually it, you know. You don't get Christmas Day off and you don't get your Sundays off either. It's full-time, seven-day-a-week, once you've developed a strong habit for drugs.

LIZ HAYES: After cannabis, methamphetamine, or speed, is now the illegal drug of choice. Twice as many Australians are addicted to speed than heroin. You can buy it in the form of pills, paste or the most potent form of the drug, known as ice. Ironically, this stuff is known as a party drug because it can give users a high that lasts for hours, if not days. But it's also known as the devil's drug because it can turn seemingly normal people into psychopaths.

The driver of this tank was out of his mind on speed when he caused this carnage in San Diego. He was eventually shot dead by police.

BY-STYANDER: He just looked at us. He knew that it was trying to kill us.

LIZ HAYES: The speed plague is international. In Thailand, a young boy is held captive by a man delirious on the stuff. In Australia, Bradley Murdoch, who murdered Peter Falconio by shooting him in the head, was also a heavy speed user.

DR DAVID GREEN: We've had punching, injuries, assault, fractures, a range of issues across the board.

LIZ HAYES: So it's dangerous for everybody?

DR DAVID GREEN: Absolutely.

LIZ HAYES: Dr David Green runs the accident and emergency department of the Gold Coast Hospital. It's right at the epicentre of Australia's methamphetamine problem. In this hospital, security guards stand shoulder to shoulder with the doctors and nurses.

NURSE: Just a little bit more.

ADDICT: No, no, no, no. What is that? What is that big thing you have there?

LIZ HAYES: The problem is getting so bad every major hospital around the country now has its own secured isolation room.

DR DAVID GREEN: This window over here, the original form got pushed, the entire frame, out of the wall. We've had people go through the ceiling.

LIZ HAYES: What do you mean go through the ceiling?

DR DAVID GREEN: Leap up, pull the panels up. That whole door frame has been replaced where someone has lifted the door, the frame and everything else out of the wall.

ADDICT: Oh, my f---ing god. Look at the size of it. Oh, you f---ing stick that in me.

LIZ HAYES: Methamphetamines have a stronger link to psychosis than any other drug and it's caught Australia's health system off-guard, according to psychiatrist Dr Bill Kingswell.

DR BILL KINGSWELL: You see enormous numbers of people admitted to mental health units with the complications of these drugs. That is a small number compared to the number that present to emergency departments with the complications of these drugs. That is a picture of a very swollen brain that has just extended out — clearly there isn't enough room in her skull for that.

LIZ HAYES: These brain scans show the permanent damage methamphetamine can cause. The blood vessels in this young man have constricted, cutting off blood supply.

DR BILL KINGSWELL: He has killed part of his brain, cells in his brain have died. That is something he will not recover from.

LIZ HAYES: Another young user paid the ultimate price. The drug caused a fatal brain haemorrhage.

DR BILL KINGSWELL: The idea that these are safe drugs couldn't be further from the truth.

LIZ HAYES: There's the physical proof.

DR BILL KINGSWELL: That's right.

MELISSA: When I look back now, like, at the time when I was smashing things and yelling at people, I couldn't see it back then. But when I look back now, I am quite surprised that I was that violent.

DARREN MARTON: I'm not a violent man by nature and I never have been, and when I developed a heavy psychosis there, I quite easily could have injured people.

LIZ HAYES: How would you have done that?

DARREN MARTON: Well, because I thought everybody was following me and I was under surveillance and people were out to get me. It led me to carry a knife in my pocket for protection.

LIZ HAYES: Did you ever pull that knife?

DARREN MARTON: I will be honest, I never pulled it out on any — to injure anyone, but I did, on a couple of occasions, use it as a … if you like to say, a scare tactic.

LIZ HAYES: To threaten people?

DARREN MARTON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR PAUL WILLINGHAM: The search warrant we've applied for allows us to be on site all night. Detective Inspector Paul Willingham runs the chemical operations unit for the NSW drug squad. It's their job to bust the speed labs that have sprung up across the state. From backyard chemists to large-scale organised crime.

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR PAUL WILLINGHAM: Each drug lab is different. It may be using a method known to us. Every cook has a different style. They use different techniques. Unfortunately they cut corners.

LIZ HAYES: Trying to police the speed plague is a nightmare. The labs can be set up and dismantled in hours and police have to get their timing just right if they are to catch them in the act.

POLICE OFFICER: You're under arrest for the manufacture of a prohibited drug.

LIZ HAYES: And it's not just the raid that is risky. It's also the dirty toxic minefield of the lab.

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR PAUL WILLINGHAM: Some of the chemicals on their own, that are the ingredients, burn through your skin. They damage your eyes, they destroy your lung tissue; it causes contamination on properties. It causes explosions. It causes fires.

LIZ HAYES: As extreme and dangerous as these raids look, they're not rare. Last year across Australia, police busted 398 drug labs. That's more than one a day. But it's the health impact of the drug that is just as devastating. These mug shots from an American county jail show what methamphetamines can do over time. It's an addiction that scars both physically and mentally.

DARREN MARTON: There is one occasion where I wrote a suicide letter and left it and I was going to jump off the Harbour Bridge. When I got to the Harbour Bridge, there was a wire fence that went about six feet in the eye and curled all the way back. So, you know, luckily, because I probably would have done it. Because I thought everyone was following, was out to get me.

MELISSA: I guess it's a miracle that I'm not dead. Like, but at the time I probably wouldn't have cared if I did die. There was just something in me that just wanted to self-destruct and just — I don't know, I just hated myself and I hated the world. That's the space that I was in when I was using drugs.

LIZ HAYES: In her psychotic state, Melissa thought she was a champion surfer but was so paranoid she would only paddle out at night. She lost her mind completely in the heart of Gold Coast suburbia, pitching a tent by the Burleigh canal. How long were you here for?

MELISSA: I was here for two weeks, but I thought I was only here for half an hour.

LIZ HAYES: Two weeks?

MELISSA: Yeah.

LIZ HAYES: That's a long time.

MELISSA: Yeah, it is.

LIZ HAYES: Were you eating?

MELISSA: No, I wasn't eating.

LIZ HAYES: How were you living?

MELISSA: I don't know. I was just using drugs, and that was about it. That's all I was doing and playing the one-string guitar that was blue tacked on.

LIZ HAYES: If you had the opportunity to speak with young people, have you got anything that you would say that could be quite persuasive?

DR DAVID GREEN: Just don't go there. It's just not worth it. You only get one brain, and it doesn't repair itself.

DARREN MARTON: I believe that teaching them about the real dangers and consequences of what can happen. I believe that's the only way. There's no other way but to say no.

LIZ HAYES: Speed does indeed kill. It's maiming young Australians every day. And it's a drug the country is struggling to come to terms with. Just like the people who use it, it's a problem sliding out of control.

MELISSA: It ruins your life. Like, it makes you into someone that you're not. You get addicted to it. You want it every day. You do things that are against what you believe. You lose your family. People around you are devastated. And it leads only to three places, which is death, institutions and jails.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 9 July 2006
Source: 60 Minutes (Australia)
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Website: http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au

Australia: Use of party drugs soaring

DEMAND for amphetamines and ecstasy is skyrocketing, with both domestic production and imports of the illegal drugs rising fast.

A joint parliamentary inquiry into amphetamines and other drugs was warned yesterday that Australia would continue to lose the war on drugs while policies kept targeting users instead of suppliers.

The inquiry, chaired by Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, heard from law enforcement agencies, health authorities, researchers and drug users.

The Australian Crime Commission said demand for amphetamines and drugs such as ecstasy was rising. "Intelligence gathered by the ACC and its partner agencies indicates the domestic demand for amphetamines and other synthetic drugs is increasing, with little likelihood this trend will alter in the near future," its submission said.

Law enforcement agencies detected 358 clandestine amphetamine laboratories in 2004, compared with just 58 in 1996, the ACC said.

Ecstasy use almost tripled in the past 13 years, with 3.4 per cent of Australians having used the drug in the previous year, while users of amphetamines increased from 2 per cent to 3.2 per cent.

The Australian Federal Police said most amphetamines were made domestically, but agencies were seeing increased imports of concentrated forms of the drug, such as ice.

Agent Michael Phelan said the AFP devoted most of its resources to catching drug suppliers. "The arrest and charging of users is extremely limited," he said. "Well over 95 per cent ... would be those involved in importation or manufacture, not users."

His comments followed criticism from the Australia Institute, which told the inquiry that policies focused too heavily on policing and failed to recognise addiction as a health problem.

The institute's Andrew Macintosh said police were wasting resources raiding dance parties to prosecute teenagers carrying small amounts of drugs.

AAP


Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/amphetablog.html
Pubdate: 08 June 2006
Source: The Australian (Australia)
Email: letters@theaustralian.com.au
Website: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Australia: CMA announces crystal support groups

The Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA) group has announced its latest Sydney meeting times and locations. The group is now meeting every Tuesday and Friday evenings, and has put out a call for people experiencing problems with crystal meth use to attend.

“Crystal Meth Anonymous is a fellowship for people for whom crystal use has become a problem,” a CMA spokesperson told SX. “We now have two meetings in Sydney each week, one in Surry Hills, and one in Potts Point. People can come to either or both, depending on how much help they need or which meetings they can get to.”

He said that the meetings, which ran for approximately an hour, were overseen by a convenor, but that the key to the meetings was shared knowledge and support.

“A typical meeting will see people share their experiences, talk about strategies they use to overcome their crystal use, and talk about what works and what doesn’t work ... It’s guided by a 12-step framework, with the ultimate goal of staying off crystal. Unlike some programs which are based around managing drug use, CMA is an abstinence-based program.”

CMA’s ‘A Way Out’ group meets 7pm Tuesdays at the Mission Australia Building, 4-10 Campbell St, Surry Hills. The ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ group meets 8pm Fridays at the Reg Murphy Activist Centre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Potts Point. Visit www.crystalmeth.org for further details.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thurs, 8 June 2006
Source: SX News - Evolution Publishing (Web Australia)
Website: http://www.evolutionpublishing.com.au/sxnews

Australia: Agony behind ecstasy

AARON'S friend overdosed on drugs and collapsed on the footpath in front of a Fortitude Valley nightclub. There were police officers nearby. Fear stopped Aaron from assisting his mate.

"That was the saddest thing, we had to keep walking. We knew he'd be looked after by the police, but I was carrying drugs and I would have been questioned and searched," he says.

This is one of the darker sides of drug use in Brisbane's nightclub districts. As a whole, it paints a picture far seedier than the individuals involved would appear.

Aaron (not his real name) is typical of a trend in so-called party drug users. He is 26, has never been in trouble with the law and holds a full-time job. He also uses drugs regularly. Lured into the scene two years ago, Aaron initially found obtaining drugs difficult. But over time, he has become fully immersed, participating in regular weekend binges and even dabbling in drug dealing.

Aaron says in the beginning he took drugs to enhance his mood, but recently realised drug taking had grown to be more like a game of dare: "It became a case of seeing how f---d up we could get."

He realised he had to disentangle himself, but that has been hard to do. "At first, the drug scene was hard to find," he says. "But after going out a few times, I met a few people very, very quickly. You get to know where the quality is – which dealers you can trust and others who you would only use if you were desperate."

Aaron says the most popular drug of choice is ecstasy (pills, E). He also lists gamma-hydroxy-butyrate, (GHB, GBH – short for grievous bodily harm – G) and crystal methamphetamine (crystal meth, ice) as other favoured options.

He says the current price for ecstasy is $35-$50 a pill if buying in small amounts, or $20-$25 a pill if buying in bulk. GHB costs about $25-$30 a 4ml vial and crystal meth can cost from $40-$80 for one "point", although, Aaron says, he would never pay more than $50. A single night out on "recreational" drugs can cost less than a night on alcohol, but a drug binge racks up quite a bill if it lasts all weekend.

"I can go out on E and have four for about $100. But it keeps you awake and you keep going, so you end up getting more and going all weekend," Aaron says. "I would spend more money on alcohol (in one night), but I'd get drunk, go home, have a hangover (and the binge would stop after one night)."

Aaron's last all-weekend drug bender ended up costing him $180.

For quality control, he refers to the pill.reports website, which lists user comments on different ecstasy pills. He has never had access to a pill testing kit. Aaron does not know of any nightclub where drugs can be obtained over the bar.

Researchers at The University of Queensland's Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre have been recruiting regular ecstasy users such as Aaron for surveys over the past three years.

The latest annual Party Drugs Initiative was released this month, its purpose to monitor ecstasy use. Key experts consulted for last year's report noted that regular ecstasy users were mostly aged in their twenties, most were tertiary educated and in fulltime employment. Many were "middle-class types", and 60 per cent were male. However, a PDI researcher says that ecstasy use appears to be so wide spread that it involves people from all walks of life.

The researcher says the most concerning factors are bingeing, consuming alcohol with drugs or consuming a night's drugs in one hit to avoid sniffer dog detection and the risk of unknown contaminant or drug strength due to the illicit status of pills sold as ecstasy.

The last National Drug Strategy Household Survey found about 3.4 per cent of the Queensland population had recently used ecstasy or other designer drugs in a 12-month period.

Meanwhile, submissions recently have been collected for a Parliamentary Joint Committee involving the Senate and Australian Crime Commission Inquiry into Amphetamines and Other Synthetic Drugs. The aim of the research is to inquire into the production and consumption trends, and determine how adequately law enforcement agencies are handling this.

Caroline Salom, director at the centre for addiction research and education at Drug Arm, says drug users should educate themselves about what they are doing to their bodies by taking illicit drugs.

Physical effects include liver and kidney damage, especially if drugs are taken in tandem with alcohol. The consumption of alcohol with drugs is a worrying trend, she says. "There is no safe way to take drugs. Drugs are not necessary and there are plenty of ways to achieve a natural high."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Mon, 22 May 2006
Source: The Courier Mail (Australia)
Author: Rachael Langford
Website: http://www.couriermail.news.com.au

Australia: High society

ILLEGAL drugs including cocaine and ecstasy have penetrated almost every level of society.

Once seen as the exclusive domain of young nightclubbers or celebrities, experts warn that so-called "party drugs" are just as likely to be used by the local builder or family accountant.

The Sunday Mail this week used accredited police tests to find a cocktail of drugs almost everywhere from restaurants to trendy bars and other public areas.

Rugby union star Wendell Sailor's career is on the brink of destruction after he returned a positive test for recreational drugs.

Queensland police also recently moved to crack down on illicit drugs by using sniffer dogs in public raids on young people lining up to get into nightclubs.

But as the random tests by The Sunday Mail reveal, drug use is far more widespread than many realise.

Avoiding nightclubs police have raided in the past, we performed surface tests in the toilets of a range of Brisbane restaurants. Cocaine was detected in five out of six.

Some of the restaurants have bar areas that typically attract high-fliers from business and government for after-work drinks. Amphetamines were also detected at two of the restaurants.

In tests on bars throughout the City, Valley and Caxton St entertainment precincts, six out of seven venues tested positive for cocaine or amphetamines.

At yesterday's Doomben Cup race meeting, which attracted a crowd of thousands, toilets tested positive for cocaine.

Information gathered by The Sunday Mail also backs up reports that illegal party drug use has gone "mainstream" and is spreading at an alarming rate. We have been told about:

• Weddings where the bride, groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids all use ecstasy or cocaine.

• Birthday parties which include cake, candles, presents – and a bag of cocaine or an ecstasy pill for each guest.

• Daytime backyard barbecues where the drugs follow the snags.

• Drugs wrapped up as gifts for anniversaries, birthdays and promotions.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre spokesman Paul Dillon confirmed people were taking drugs for "special occasions".

"In the past, they might have bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Now they're making other choices," he said.

"The problem, of course, with that choice is it is an illegal drug and there are consequences if you get caught."

Mr Dillon said there was a misconception that teenagers were the main users.

The reality was that an incredible one in two teenagers had used cannabis, but few had tried ecstasy or cocaine.

"Overwhelmingly, the biggest users of these drugs are people in their 20s and we're increasingly seeing people in their 30s," he said.

Mr Dillon stressed that people who used drugs were still in the minority. In the peak group – men in their 20s – about one in five had used ecstasy, cocaine or similar drugs.

But the numbers were still staggering, and growing, and the idea of a drug user as a "person who lives in the gutter" did not ring true.

"In our surveys, we interview doctors, lawyers, butchers, carpenters, teachers – a range of different people with a range of different experiences and reasons for using," he said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 21 May 2006
Source: The Sunday Mail (Australia - Web)
Author: David Murray
Website: http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au

USA: Flying too high on ecstasy

NEW YORK: A US military pilot and a master sergeant each face 20 years in prison after pleading guilty yesterday to charges they flew a US air force jet from New York to Germany to pick up 300,000 pills of ecstasy.

Captain Franklin Rodriguez, 36, and Master Sergeant John Fong, 37, of the US Air National Guard entered pleas to conspiracy charges in a US court, admitting their roles in the April 2005 flight.

As part of his plea, Rodriguez agreed to forfeit $A952,000 in cash found in a safe in his apartment, a 2001 silver BMW and $A65,000 he had deposited to buy a property in New York. He admitted the money came from drug sales.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sun, 21 May 2006
Source: Sunday Territorian (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au/

Australia: Drug capital

AUSTRALIANS use more ecstasy than any other nationality and are the world's second-heaviest users of amphetamines.

A day after experts denounced the use of the term "party drugs" as lessening the impact of illicit substances, the state's top drug police attacked Australia's "culture of acceptance" as driving the disturbing statistics.

A federal parliamentary inquiry in Sydney yesterday heard a United Nations study put Australians at the top of the international list for the consumption of MDMA – also known as ecstasy. Australia also had the highest use of amphetamines in the Western world and was second only to Thailand.

"Even though we are isolated we have developed a culture of acceptance of these types of harmful substances," NSW drug squad Detective Inspector Paul Willingham told the inquiry into amphetamines and other synthetic drugs.

The National Drug and Alcohol Reseach Centre estimates 500,000 Australians have used amphetamines – including ecstasy – in the past year.

Of those, 73,000 are dependent on the drug, with up to 66 per cent using ice – a more potent crystalline form of methylamphetamine.

Insp Willingham said while ecstasy was more expensive here compared with Europe and the US, users continued to take it due to an increased supply from Asia and a culture of acceptance.

Drug squad Detective Superintendent David Laidlaw said a drop in heroin use had increased the market for amphetamines.

"To us it wasn't a heroin drought. They (users) just decided to go with an amphetamine type," he said.

"We as a law enforcement agency have to educate people (that) it is illicit." He said this should begin with students as young as those in Year 6.

A UN report released in 2003 estimated 2.9 per cent of Australians aged over 15 were using ecstasy. That rate was the world's highest, with Ireland the next highest (2.4 per cent), then Britain (2.2 per cent), Spain (1.8 per cent), Belgium (1.7 per cent) and the US (1.5 per cent).

Australia also had the second highest rate for amphetamine use at 3.4 per cent, behind Thailand (5.6 per cent).

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 17 May 2006
Source: The Daily Telegraph (Australia-Web)
Website: http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au

Australia: Operation Austrans nets 167 offences

Victoria Police have charged 12 heavy vehicle drivers with possession of amphetamines as part of an annual interstate traffic operation.

Road Safety Task Force Highway Unit officers patrolled Wangaratta and Cobram from May 9 to 13, targeting the activities and behaviour of heavy vehicle drivers.

Task Force Sergeant Allan Tickner said Austrans is conducted by the following jurisdictions each May: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.

Operation Austrans netted a total of 167 offences, which included log book, illicit drug possession and driving-hours offences.

A 39-year-old Grovedale man was also found to be in possession of a loaded, sawn-off shotgun which had the trigger guard removed and trigger filed down, with no safety mechanism. He has been charged with possessing an unregistered handgun, failing to safely store ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, possessing a firearm without licence, possessing amphetamine and making a false log book entry.

Another driver was found to be in possession of a trafficable quantity of amphetamine, and another driver possessed both amphetamine and cannabis.

“This operation is quite well known throughout the heavy transport industry and yet despite awareness of additional scrutiny at this time of year, we’ve still detected an alarming number of offences,” he said.

About one in seven of heavy vehicle drivers who were pulled over as part of Austrans were detected in possession of illicit drugs.

“Heavy vehicle drivers who use illicit drugs to combat fatigue threaten the safety of all other road users,” Mr Tickner said.

“Driving under the influence of illicit drugs significantly increases the likelihood of a collision. Operations like Austrans are designed to keep Victorian roads safe.”

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Tues, 16 May 2006
Source: Victoria Police - Media Release (Australia-Web)
Website: http://www.police.vic.gov.au

USA: Measure to restore pot penalties approved

The Alaska House passed legislation Friday night that would restore criminal penalties for marijuana possession and make it tougher to buy the ingredients to manufacture methamphetamine.

The bill, approved by a 21-17 vote, was passed by the Senate last month and now goes to Gov. Frank Murkowski to sign into law. Murkowski sought to override a landmark Alaska Supreme Court decision that legalized the use of small amounts of marijuana. The Senate tacked on the marijuana provisions to legislation seeking to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 6 May 2006
Source: The Seattle Times (USA-Web)
Website: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com