5 years fighting the stupidity of drug prohibition

The handing down of his decision on the Parliament case sentence by ‘Justice’ Steve Southwood at the Supreme Court on Monday, 26 February 2007, was in a way the culmination of almost 5 years’ work and struggle by Darwin-based community organisation Network Against Prohibition, or NAP.

NAP is a revolutionary class war-orientated group dedicated to using direct action to end the War on Drugs. It seems to have been a pioneer in its field. We know of no other organisation in the world that’s been so militant and forward in taking the fight up to the capitalists. Northern Territory capitalists in the form of the Northern Territory government with its police state apparatus have been using the US-based War on Drugs as a pretext to commit human rights violations such as harassment, raids and imprisonment, mainly against working class sections of the community.

They have used the spectre of illicit use of substances such as cannabis, and more recently, ice, to create fear in the community. Compliant media outlets are happy to provide sensationalist coverage of the issue.

The result is that human rights and civil liberties concerns are discounted as people get hammered with repressive drug laws. The government and its bootboys can pretend they’re doing something positive with their ‘tough on drugs, tough on crime’ approach. They believe this will stand them in good stead for the next election campaign.

It’s nothing new really. A look at history reveals that while the words change, the deeds remain much the same. The working class gets kicked in the guts. Poor people are made to suffer. It doesn’t matter what pretexts are given – drugs, terrorism, communism, take your pick – as long as the job gets done. Keep the rich in power. Capitalism MUST prevail.

The make-up of the NT prison population – according to the latest figures 81% of prisoners are Aboriginal – shows us the main targets. Superficially the NT Labor government appears non-racist, with its six indigenous members of parliament. However, the reality is that most Aboriginal people STILL live in poverty, with the worst health, lowest life expectancy and the highest incarceration rates of any group in the community.

Instead of working to change this deplorable situation, too often the response of the authorities has been to blame the victims of their policies, to place the blame for sniffing petrol, abusing alcohol and cannabis, solely on the people themselves. While these things are significant issues in themselves, really they are symptoms of the underlying problems of poverty, racism and the dispossession and despair of Aboriginal people.

When things look grim, it’s not surprising that people look to wiping themselves out with whatever substances they can get their hands on. Some of these substances, like petrol, are more dangerous than others.

Using its drug house laws the government has spent a lot of resources hounding Territorians such as the so-called ganja granny Margot Laughton. Margot is a member of the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal people taken from their parents by the government. Instead of doing something to help her overcome her trauma, the government imprisoned her twice because she persisted in selling cannabis. The second time the police drug squad went to a lot of trouble to set her up. She ended up doing 5 months gaol for that one. Former Attorney-General Peter Toyne made an example of her, saying that people like Margot had to be taken off the streets.

NAP’s position is that regulation, following re-legalisation of currently illicit drugs, would be a better system of distribution than the current one. Under prohibition, distribution of drugs still occurs in spite of law enforcement efforts, but without proper regulation. The black market drugs business is in many cases under the control of criminals and unscrupulous people, out to maximise their profits regardless of the harm done to the community.

Re-legalisation and regulation would be the commonsense way of minimising the harm done to the community by these currently illicit drugs.

Over the last 5 years NAP has held 30 community smoke-ins in Raintree Park in Darwin, with speakers and an open mike, to highlight the stupidity of drugs prohibition.

On top of that, we carried out a series of non-violent direct actions throughout 2002. Chief among these was the NT Parliament walk-in of 14 May 2002, when 10 Napatistas entered Parliament through an unlocked door to publicise concerns with the draconian drug house legislation.

NAP was founded on 7^th March 2002 at an evening meeting at the Railway Club in Parap. Its principal driving force was Gary Meyerhoff. Gary had spirit and passion, coupled with an amazing ability to connect with and inspire people. His energy was intensified by the knowledge that his days were numbered because of an HIV infection. That disease was to claim his life on 8^th October 2006.

The first NAP action took place on 22^nd March at the Department of Justice building in Mitchell Street, Darwin. Five people sat in front of a line of police, making a racket with pots and pans and spruiking on a megaphone about the perils of the War on Drugs. The five of us were eventually arrested.

Not long after that, a bunch of us handed ourselves in at the city police station for the crime of self-administration of a dangerous drug, cannabis. We were in fancy dress costumes: Batman, Robin, Santa Claus, Ned Kelly and a gorilla. Even the police couldn’t help raising a smile. No charges were laid.

The first community smoke-in on 20 April 2002 met with a zero tolerance response by the police. They moved in to arrest Gary at noon, after having warned him not to speak in Raintree Park. The community responded with spirited resistance that saw 5 people arrested. In spite of the police intervention the smoke-in continued afterwards!

A drug users’ tent embassy was established on the lawns in front of Parliament House following the Mayday march on 1 May. It was violently evicted by the police after only 24 hours. This prompted NAP to address the politicians directly with our concerns about the War on Drugs.

Organisation was minimal on 14 May. We made our point non-violently but firmly. We hurt no-one and damaged no property. We only occupied Parliament for 5 minutes, but the NT government never forgave us for invading their precious little sacred place. Parliament is supposed to be the House of the People, but the people had better watch out if they insist on having their say directly! Democracy and free speech are OK in theory but you’re not allowed to actually put these principles into practice. The meaning of the word parliament is to do with speech. [‘Parlare’ means ‘to speak’ in Italian, ‘parler’ means the same in French.] But if you go in there you’d better keep your mouth shut and let your ‘elected representatives’ do the talking. Otherwise you’re likely to be dragged through the courts for years, as NAP was, for the ‘crime’ of exercising your right to speak out against injustice.

We continued with our actions for the rest of 2002 and beyond, refusing to be silenced by the forces of authority and their lackeys in the media.

We have no regrets. We know that truth and real justice will prevail eventually and the drug laws will be repealed. However, capitalism and its partner in crime, government, which has been responsible for the drug laws, will take a little longer to get rid of.

Rob Inder-Smith will commence a 28-day prison sentence soon for the part he played in the Parliament walk-in. People are urged to send letters of support to:

Robert Inder-Smith
PO Box 1407
Darwin NT 0801