Gary's Last Post

GARY WILLIAM MEYERHOFF passed away on Sun, 8 Oct 2006 in Western Australia from AIDS related illness.

NAPNT greatly misses Gary's incredible vision and committment to Human Rights activism in challenging the perpetrators of the War on Drugs.

Reefer Madness: It’s time to end the lies

There has been much debate of late around the issue of licit and illicit substances in remote indigenous communities.

Petrol sniffing and cannabis are going neck and neck for the title of causing the most havoc, followed by alcohol and kava.

Over the past few years, Australians have had to face a relentless anti-cannabis propaganda campaign, part of the ‘reefer madness’ push by the Drug Enforcement Administration in the USA.

This global campaign of misinformation has serious ramifications for remote indigenous communities across Australia and the people who live in them.

Cannabis has been blamed for everything from poverty, family violence to suicide. It has been a neat smokescreen for governments who want to take people’s attention off the real causes of hardship in remote indigenous communities; government neglect, racism and inequality.

They’re all in on it. Members of Parliament; the judiciary; the police; parts of the community sector; the clergy and the mainstream media are all willing participants in the promotion of the ‘reefer madness’ lie. All of these groups benefit by telling the lies about cannabis.

The MPs use their populist policies to gain votes, the judiciary justify their existence by sentencing an increasing number of non-violent cannabis offenders to prison; the police get more money and more power; the community sector and the Christian-based organisations get an increase in funding and import. The media get an ongoing series of sensational stories to help them bolster their ratings and increase their newspaper sales (and that includes the ABC).

Let’s take the courts for example. In February, Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Martin told the NT Supreme Court: “For a number of years this court has emphasised that those who supply cannabis to members of Aboriginal communities are committing serious offences which have devastating effects within the communities.”*

It is alarming that a man of his position and power could be so confused about cannabis. Many Australians would disagree with Martin’s cannabis analysis. They would argue that cannabis prohibition has devastating effects within remote indigenous communities, not the cannabis itself.

The courts and the police have been pushing the ‘reefer madness’ lie for so long they actually believe their own lies.

The reality is that the impact of cannabis on remote indigenous communities pales in comparison to the impact of the racism, poverty and neglect faced by communities on a daily basis. The lack of housing, employment opportunities and essential community services in some communities are the basis of much more harm than the use of cannabis.

In fact, if we didn’t have to deal with the culture of prohibition, cannabis could have a positive and beneficial impact in many remote communities. It could be used as an alternative to alcohol and it can be used to help petrol sniffers break that habit. It is a food source and it can be farmed to produce hemp fibre.

The proven medicinal qualities of the plant put it in a great position to help manage some of the chronic medical conditions that are a problem in so many communities.

The plant would be extremely useful to those remote indigenous communities that embraced it.

Sadly, the powers that be have chosen an irrational and illogical approach to cannabis out bush. An approach that has already caused significant harm to many communities as more and more indigenous people are incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offences.

Will the madness ever end?

* Wunungmurra v The Queen [2006] NTCCA 3

The Cannabis Wars: Blitzkrieg in Australia’s remote indigenous communities

The Cannabis Wars have begun and it is the remote indigenous communities in outback Australia that are bunkering down under the weight of the first wave of attacks by anti-cannabis warriors.

In the past few weeks, the communities of Alyangula, Mutitjulu and Ngukurr in Australia’s Northern Territory have been raided by police on a cannabis witch-hunt.

In Alyangula on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, more than two thousand kilometres away from the headquarters of the Cannabis Wars in Sydney and six hundred kilometres from the local general staff in Darwin, two people were arrested for possessing cannabis and liquor. There were also arrests in Mutitjulu and Ngukurr.

Indigenous people bound for home have also been targeted at Darwin Airport. On Friday February 3, police detained four indigenous women for possessing cannabis. One woman was bound for Maningrida and three were bound for Port Keats. The Maningrida woman was summonsed to appear in the Maningrida Magistrates Court while the Port Keats women were issued with cannabis infringement notices. Next time they may not be so lucky.*

The residents of these communities already suffer a significantly high level of disadvantage due to a number of factors including their isolation from the major regional centres, the lack of services in the communities – across the board, the absence of any real paid work and the racism that pervades the NT establishment (and Australia generally).

On top of this disadvantage, residents live with the loss of loved ones for extended periods of time. Nearly nine hundred indigenous Territorians are currently doing time in the NT prison system. These people are the latest ‘stolen generation’.

The introduction of the Substance Abuse Intelligence Desk (SAID) in Central Australia and the Remote Area Drug Desk in the Top End will simply result in higher numbers of indigenous people in the Darwin and Alice Spring’s prisons, resulting in significant social dislocation in the remote indigenous communities that are affected.

The Cannabis Wars will cause a considerable amount of lasting harm to the social fabric of the NT’s indigenous communities, with a parallel impact on the emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being of residents.

* As at February 2006 in the Northern Territory there is a cannabis cautioning system in place. You can be issued with a cannabis infringement notice (roughly $200 fine) for possession of a small amount of cannabis or cultivation of a small number of plants however this is subject to police discretion. The police have the option to send you to court. Anyone found guilty of a second or subsequent offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act is subject to a mandatory 28-day jail term.

** The author is a freelance journalist and an active member of the Northern Territory chapter of the Network Against Prohibition.

Introducing the new ‘drug-abuse resistant’ OxyContin®

For some reason I didn't publish it when I wrote it in September 2005.

Somebody on one of the email lists I am on asked about rumours that they had heard in Darwin regarding a new hybrid version of OxyContin®.

The rumours were true; although this new OxyContin® isn’t available yet on the Australian market.

“Addicts and abusers are going to find this very undesirable,” said Dr. J. David Haddox, senior medical director for Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn. “Before long they're going to say, 'Don't mess with that stuff; that's no good.’”

Introducing the new ‘drug-abuse resistant’ OxyContin®. Each ‘drug-abuse resistant’ OxyContin® tablet will have small beads of Naltrexone in it so that if it is crushed by any people who inject drugs they won’t get stoned off it when they inject it.

Obviously this new version of OxyContin® is more expensive than the current version; so, why has it been developed?

Patents

Until recently, Purdue pharmaceutical held the US patent for OxyContin®. The patent expired around 2000 and Purdue fought a number of battles in the US Supreme Court, arguing for an extension of the patent.

Basically, the company that owns a patent on something owns it, and only they can manufacture it. When it comes to pharmaceutical drugs, different corporations have different patents and make different drugs.

They all get a piece of the pie.

Every now and then though, the patents expire and the monopoly is lost; anyone can make the drug/product.

Purdue found themselves facing the loss of the patent on OxyContin® – one of their prime sources of revenue.

‘Drug-abuse resistant’ OxyContin® was their answer. But first, you have to create a market for the product and this will involve a massive publicity campaign by the Purdue marketing gurus.

Hysteria

What Purdue (and the other pharmas) needed was a little hysteria!

They wasted no time. In a 2001 Purdue media release, the company: “expects to receive notification soon of the publication of an international patent application for a pharmaceutical formulation that combines an opioid pain reliever with a “sequestered antagonist” that would work to help prevent the medication from being abused.”

The Purdue release goes onto say: “Purdue Pharma is concerned about increased reports of abuse of its pain medication, OxyContin® (controlled release oxycodone HCl) Tablets. As part of a comprehensive program of initiatives to combat this serious problem, the company has been investing tens of millions of dollars in research and development into pain relievers that are more resistant to abuse.”

All of a sudden we have a major offensive against ‘OxyContin® abuse’. Lawsuits against Purdue and websites like OxyAbuseKills.com – all create the illusion that our families and communities are under siege with OxyContin® that has been diverted onto the black market.

War on prescription drugs

This hysteria has spread to other pain relief drugs, basically all of the opiate drugs are being negatively targeted in some way. The US-based Drug Enforcement Agency has declared war on “prescription-trafficking” and they are pressuring governments around the world to adopt their position on the opiate based painkillers.

In March 2005, DRCNet’s Phil Smith said: “As you may or may not be aware, the undertreatment of chronic pain is a big problem in the United States, according to mainstream medical organizations. The problem has complex causes, but one of them is drug prohibition as practiced in the US. We have seen a wave of prosecutions of pain management doctors, especially those prescribing high doses of opioids (fully in line with accepted medical standards). These prosecutions--and convictions--have an exemplary effect: Other doctors are scared to prescribe, and many people in pain go un- or undertreated.

“There are additional obstacles if the patient has a history of illicit drug use. The DEA currently views any prescribing of opioids to someone with a drug history as highly suspect and a good indicator that the doctor is running a "pill mill." Thus, patients with legitimate medical needs for opioids are denied them for fear of running afoul of the feds.”

Phil’s statement: “Other doctors are scared to prescribe, and many people in pain go un- or undertreated”, is something that many doctors and chronic pain patients will be able to relate to. Many doctors in our home town Darwin have been targeted by the local health authorities, including Dr Henry Pang.

In Australia opiate-based drugs such as morphine and methadone, used widely to treat pain and opiate “dependence”, are referred to as Schedule 8 drugs. Over the last decade, these drugs, in particular the various forms of morphine and the people using and prescribing them, have been increasingly under the spotlight of public health and law enforcement organisations on a federal and state/territory level.

Once enough of a frenzy has been whipped up, governments will legislate to ensure that the use of ‘drug-abuse resistant’ drugs is mandatory.

Reckitt Benckiser are an example of one the drug companies using patents to maintain their profits. Another a company can obtain a patent is to re-batch a new version of an old drug; maybe altering the dose or mixing it with something else. Subutex and Suboxone are perfect examples of this. Perfectly placed to tackle the scourge of ‘Oxycontin abuse' and the 'abuse' of the other opiate-based drugs.

Different drug companies are taking their piece of the pie. In the meantime, a lot of people suffer.

What can we do about it?

Not much at this stage. The corporations and their mass media machine are overwhelming us at the moment. What we can do is Spread the word; join grass-roots campaigns; explain to your friends and family the real motives behind the ‘war on prescription-trafficking’ and ‘drug abuse resistant drugs’ – profit!

The end of the brick and tile dream

I wrote this letter to the editor of the West Australian Newspaper in early January in response to an article on the shortage of bricks in WA, the land of double-brick homes. They didn't publish it.

The West Australian Government should be applauded for their attempts to diversify housing construction methods (Is it over for brick and tile dream?, West Australian 04th January).

However, the Government would be negligent if it failed to recognise Hemp houses as an option.

Hemp houses are the ultimate solution to the problem of rising housing costs and construction delays in WA.

Hemp is a natural product; it is environmentally friendly; produces no toxic by-products and is fully recyclable. It is thermally efficient resulting in lower heating costs. It absorbs sound and is non-flammable.

Most importantly, the first crops could be available within just four months.

Hemp Homes could be the future.

A figment of your imagination

Another letter to the editor that the NT News didn't print.

B. Baggley of Northlakes is concerned that people like me may start praising the 'pushers' at the school gates for luring our children into drug use (NT News, December 22).

I just wanted to let you in on a secret.

There are no 'pushers' at school gates and there never have been in Australia.

The image of the 'drug pusher' is a product of the blatant anti-drug lies and propaganda laid on the Australian public by subsequent Commonwealth and State and Territory Parliaments.

Like everyone else, young people actively seek drugs as and when they want to use them.

The only people pushing drugs on our young are the major alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical corporations.

The War on Drugs is a seditious enterprise

Howard Young believes that the Parap hangman story was not seditious (NT News, November 10).

Section 44 of the NT Criminal Code defines a seditious intention as an intention "to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of persons so as to endanger the peace order or good Government of the Territory."

One of the tactics of the US-led War on Drugs is to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility towards people who use illicit drugs. The corporate media play a major role in this demonisation of illicit drug users or anyone deemed to be pro-drugs. The Parap hangman story is just one example of the constant flow of anti-drug propaganda that we are forced to endure in the major print media and on our television screens.

This media support of the War on Drugs is clearly seditious.

The Criminal Code defines a seditious enterprise as "an enterprise undertaken in order to carry out a seditious intention."

That would make the NT News a seditious enterprise.

I wonder when ASIO will raid Printers Place, and I wonder whose going to report it.

Fish stocks more important than Nguyen Tuong Van

The Federal Government's inaction over the pending doom faced by Nguyen Tuong Van is sickening.

The Government can and should do more.

The worse part about it is that the Federal Government is threatening trade sanctions on countries that allow vessels flagged in their countries to fish in our waters.

But there are no trade sanctions for Nguyen Tuong Van.

It seems fish stocks are more important than this 25-year old Vietnamese-Australian brother, son and friend.

More on Nguyen's situation

Victorian man Ngyuen Tuong Van is on death row in Singapore over a drug smuggling conviction.

ABC News Online - Friday, October 21, 2005. 8:37pm (AEST):

Melbourne man to be hanged

Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, lost his final bid to be spared from execution when the Singaporean Government today rejected a plea from the Australian Government for clemency.

He was convicted for smuggling a large quantity of heroin into Singapore in December 2002.

At the time of his arrest he was en route to Australia after travelling to Vietnam.

He could now be executed within a week.

Mr Nguyen's lawyers will now seek to lobby international figures, including the Pope, in a last-ditch bid to free their client.

Mr Nguyen's Melbourne-based lawyer Lex Lasry QC says it is devastating news.

"We're obviously extremely disappointed with the news and the fact that the Singapore Government have decided to execute our client," he said.

"Indeed it's news that's devastating for him and for his family."

Prime Minister John Howard says Singapore's confirmation of the death sentence for Nguyen is a terrible reminder of the tough drug laws in Asia.

Mr Howard says the Australian Government has done all it could.

"It's a sad thing for his family, it is a terrible reminder of the consequences of taking and dealing in drugs in Asian countries," he said.

"It was made very clear to me when I saw the Singapore Prime Minister at the beginning of this year, when I raised this matter in my meeting with him that the Singaporeans took a very tough line on drugs."

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says all avenues of appeal have been tested and Nguyen Tuong Van now faces death by hanging.

"We've appealed for clemency," he said.

"The Governor-General has [appealed] to the President of Singapore, the Prime Minister has to the President, and quite recently when I met with the Singapore Foreign Minister in Perth, I repeated our plea for clemency.

Mr Downer says he is saddened by the news.

"There's no question that due process has been followed here, it has," he said.

"Singapore does have a mandatory death sentence for trafficking in heroin and they're applying it which I'm afraid doesn't come as a great surprise to us. I've been pessimistic about this case for some time we've done everything we can to plead for his life."

Mr Lasry says Mr Nguyen's family is in Singapore.

URGENT: Nguyen Tuong Van

Nguyen has lost his plea for clemency and will be executed some time in the next 10 days.

We MUST do something. We should try and coordinate protest actions around Australia and the Globe. When should we do it and how are we gonna arrange this?

Here's the latest from the Age and news ltd:

Death row Australian loses clemency bid

By Staff reporters, the Age

October 21, 2005 - 3:53PM

A plea for presidential clemency for Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van has been turned down in Singapore.

Nguyen was caught in Singapore trying to smuggle almost 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia to Australia three years ago.

The Australian Government had appealed for clemency for Nguyen, who has been on death row in Changi prison since being sentenced in March last year.

He now faces execution, possibly within 10 days.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia had done it's utmost to save Nguyen's life.

"We are very sad that this has happened," Mr Downer said.

"We have done our best, we have done everything we can to save his life."

Nguyen's Australian lawyers described the decision as "devastating for him, his family and friends".

Lex Lasry QC said Nguyen had always admitted his guilt and given constructive help to authorities including the Australian Federal Police.

"The decision appears to pay no heed to the provisions of the Singapore Constitution that make specific reference and provide for clemency to those who assist the authorities with information which can be used to prosecute others," he said.

Mr Lasry called on the Singapore Government to reverse its decision.

Nguyen was sentenced to death last year after being found guilty by a Singapore court of smuggling almost 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia via Singapore.

He was found to have 396 grams of heroin strapped to his back and also in his hand luggage.

Nguyen said he had the drugs because he was trying to raise money to clear debts incurred by his twin brother.

Mr Downer said Australia had pleaded for clemency via Prime Minister John Howard, Governor General Michael Jeffery and himself.

Nguyen is set to become the fourth Australian sentenced to death by Asian countries on drug charges, following the hanging of Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow in Malaysia in 1986.

In a lesser-known case, Queenslander Michael McAuliffe died by hanging in Malaysia in June 1993 after serving eight years in jail.

In Singapore, the death sentence is mandatory for drug smuggling and more than 400 people have been executed there in the past 10 years.

Australia's Council for Civil Liberties says Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country in the world.

Two other Australians are currently facing the death penalty after being convicted of heroin-related charges - both in Vietnam.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd called on the Singaporean cabinet to reconsider its position.

"Singapore law provides for mercy to be sought and we strongly believe that mercy should be applied in the case of this young Australian," he said in a statement.

"We appeal to the individual members of the Singaporean cabinet to find it in their hearts to save this man's life.

"While drug trafficking is a very serious crime and we respect Singapore's right to protect its citizens from such crimes, we do not believe that putting a young man to death in these circumstances serves any purpose."

Mr Rudd expressed his sympathy to Nguyen's family.

"This is a truly tragic case and our hearts go out to this young Australian and his poor mother in Melbourne," he said.

"We will do everything in our power to ask the Singaporean government to reconsider this decision."

Nguyen's mother fled Vietnam alone in a boat in 1980 and had her twin sons in a transit camp in Malaysia before being accepted into Australia four months later.

- with AAP



Australian drug runner faces death
From: AAP courtesy of news ltd.

October 21, 2005

A MELBOURNE sales executive is facing execution in Singapore after the failure of Australian pleas for clemency, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
The Australian Government had appealed for clemency for Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van, who has been on death row in Changi prison since March last year.

Nguyen was sentenced to death last year after being found guilty by a Singapore court of smuggling almost 400 grams of heroin from Cambodia via Singapore.

He was caught in transit at Singapore's Changi airport in December 2002 while on his way from Cambodia to Melbourne.

Nguyen was found to have 396 grams of heroin strapped to his back and also in his hand luggage.

Mr Downer said today Australia had failed to stop Singapore enforcing the death penalty on Nguyen, who said he had the drugs because he was trying to raise money to clear debts incurred by his twin brother.

"We are very sad that this has happened," Mr Downer said.

"We have done our best, we have done everything we can to save his life."

Nguyen, 25, was expected to be executed in the near future, Mr Downer said.

"(He) will be hanged as a result of this decision," Mr Downer said.

"There is no further appeal, this is the end of the processes of appeal.

"The execution is expected to be carried out fairly quickly which is the custom in Singapore."

Mr Downer said there was no question Singapore had followed due process.

"Singapore does have a mandatory death sentence for trafficking in heroin and they are applying it," he said.

"I'm afraid it doesn't come as a great surprise to us, I have been pessimistic about this case for a long time."

Mr Downer said Australia had pleaded for clemency via Prime Minister John Howard, Governor General Michael Jeffery and himself.

Nguyen is set to become the fourth Australian sentenced to death by Asian countries on drug charges, following the hanging of Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow in Malaysia in 1986.

In a lesser-known case, Queenslander Michael McAuliffe died by hanging in Malaysia in June 1993 after serving eight years in jail.

In Singapore, the death sentence is mandatory for drug smuggling and more than 400 people have been executed there in the past 10 years.

Australia's Council for Civil Liberties said Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country in the world.

Two other Australians are currently facing the death penalty after being convicted of heroin-related charges – both in Vietnam.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd called on the Singaporean cabinet to reconsider its position.

"Singapore law provides for mercy to be sought and we strongly believe that mercy should be applied in the case of this young Australian," he said.

"We appeal to the individual members of the Singaporean cabinet to find it in their hearts to save this man's life.

"While drug trafficking is a very serious crime and we respect Singapore's right to protect its citizens from such crimes, we do not believe that putting a young man to death in these circumstances serves any purpose."

Mr Rudd expressed his sympathy to Nguyen's family.

"This is a truly tragic case and our hearts go out to this young Australian and his poor mother in Melbourne," he said.

"We will do everything in our power to ask the Singaporean Government to reconsider this decision."

Nguyen's mother fled Vietnam alone in a boat in 1980 and had her twin sons in a transit camp in Malaysia before being accepted into Australia four months later.

Nguyen's Melbourne-based lawyer, Lex Lasry, said he was "appalled" by the news.

Nguyen's Australian legal team, Mr Lasry and lawyers Julian McMahon and Joseph Theseira, issued a statement deploring the imminent execution.

"The news that the Singapore Government intends to hang our client, Van Nguyen, is devastating for him, his family and friends and for anyone who values humane treatment of their fellow human beings," they said.

"Death by hanging is hideous. Further, it is grossly out of proportion to the crime committed.

"The mandatory nature of the execution represents a gross unfairness to our client and all others who have never been given the chance to say to a judge why such a final penalty should not be applied to them."

They said the decision was especially unfair considering their client's admissions and assistance to authorities.

"Our client has always admitted his guilt and given constructive help to authorities including the Australian Federal Police.

"The decision appears to pay no heed to the provisions of the Singapore Constitution that make specific reference and provide for clemency to those who assist the authorities with information which can be used to prosecute others.

"The only people who will take comfort from this result will be those who exploited Van for their own purposes to profit from drug trafficking and who now know that with the death of our client their criminal conspiracy will go unpunished.

"We call on the Singapore government to reverse this decision.

"We make this call in the name of fairness and justice.

"The rule of law in Singapore and the effectiveness of the constitution will be diminished by the execution of Van Nguyen."

More on Mardani Hussin

Indonesian gets death for dadah trafficking

By A. Hafiz Yatim, New States Times - Malaysia (Gaz note: I've added the links in the story)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16:
"You should be ashamed of yourself and apologise to your country and countrymen who come here to find a job and earn an income legally."

High Court judge Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong said this to Mardani Hussin, 29, an Indonesian charged with trafficking in 927g of cannabis.

"You should also apologise to Malaysians for being involved in dadah," he said.

"You entered Malaysia illegally in February 2002 and within eight months you were caught with the drug."

In sentencing Mardani to death, Abdull Hamid said there was only one sentence for dadah trafficking.

Mardani looked stunned and cried after Abdull Hamid passed the sentence.

Mardani, a labourer from Aceh, was charged with trafficking the drug in Jalan Raja Mahmud, Kampung Baru here about 9.30pm on Oct 22, 2002.

The seven-day trial began on Sept 8 and the prosecution called six witnesses.

Earlier, counsel Ameenud-din Ibrahim told the court that Mardani wished to apologise to the court and the public.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abazafree Mohd Abbas prosecuted.

Abdull Hamid in convicting Mardani said the court could not accept his evidence.

"It failed to create doubts to the prosecution’s case and hence the court convicts you."

Abdull Hamid, in his grounds of judgment, said it was "illogical" that Mardani did not attempt to deny that the package containing the cannabis was his, after he was caught by the police.

"If he had claimed the package belonged to a friend by the name of Roy who wanted it to be taken to his friend Md Nor, he should have quickly informed the police when he was arrested."

Mardani was jailed for four months in Oct 2002 by the magistrate’s court for not having a passport.

[article ends]

Click here to send a letter to the editor of the New Straits Times - Malaysia.

Remember Barlow and Chambers?

Man Sentenced To DEATH For 2lbs Of Cannabis!

Compliments of http://medpot.net/forums

http://www.medpot.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=25969

Malaysia sentences Indonesian to death for drug trafficking: Report

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A Malaysian court has sentenced an Indonesian man to death by hanging for trafficking cannabis, local media said Saturday.

Mardani Hussin, 29, a laborer from Aceh province, Indonesia, had entered Malaysia without a valid permit in April 2002 and committed the offense six months later, the national Bernama news agency said.

"Many of your fellow countrymen came here to earn a proper living," High Court judge Abdull Hamid Embong was quoted as telling him. "I am sure they are ashamed of your act."

Mardani was charged with trafficking 927 grams (32.5 ounces) of cannabis in the capital on October 22, 2002. He was riding on a motorcycle when he was stopped by police who searched him and seized a parcel with the drug.

Drug-trafficking in Malaysia carries a mandatory death penalty, and the country has executed 229 people for the offense in the past 30 years. (**)

Ten things you should know about petrol sniffing

By Gary Meyerhoff, September 5, 2005

As a former youth worker working over the mid to late nineties with a large number of chronic ‘chromers’, and a two-year stint facilitating an illicit drug program for the Danila Dilba Medical Service, I have a unique insight to the petrol sniffing issue.

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, petroleum is a: “hydrocarbon oil found in upper strata of earth, refined for use as fuel for heating and in internal combustion engines”. So why on earth is the NT Labor Government seriously considering the prohibition of petrol in remote indigenous communities and just what is the “Volatile Substance Abuse Prevention Bill”?

According to the NT Department of Health and Community Services (DHCS), they have given up on addressing the petrol sniffing problem and they have turned to the ‘justice’ system for answers. You’ll agree with their statement that: “Many of the causes of inhalant substance abuse, such as boredom and lack of employment and education options on remote communities, are not things which a health department is primarily responsible to change.” Derr!!!

No guys, that’s our – the people’s – responsibility!

If the proposed ‘Volatile Substance Abuse Prevention Bill’ is passed; members of the NT police will have the power to seize substances such as petrol, glue and paint where they suspect they are being inhaled, or abused. They will also have the power to apprehend a petrol sniffer where they feel that they can be a danger to themselves or others.

For people with a chronic substance misuse problem the bill provides the capacity for courts to order compulsory treatment programs. If they fail to comply with the treatment, a Magistrate can issue a warrant to take them to the place of treatment. They will not incur a jail sentence for leaving a treatment program, but for how long that clause lasts remains to be seen.

Where a compulsory course of treatment is not adhered to, support staff - with the support of the court - “will intervene to encourage compliance”. If a chronic sniffer commits crimes that do carry jail penalties, then that will be considered by a court however the Government wants to reassure us by stating that an “act of petrol sniffing on its own will not involve a prison sentence.”

The NT Government is promising ten million dollars over five years to go towards treatment programs that “support the legislation”.

They have promised ‘treatment centres’ that will be set up throughout the Territory and will involve isolating sniffers from substances and "providing them with a supportive environment to help them to get back on track." There is scant if any detail.

The bill is also aimed at cracking down on people who “sell or supply volatile substances to users.” In true ‘war on drugs’ parlance, the FAQ information sheet put out by the NT Department of Justice (DOJ) states: “We take restricting supply so seriously that we are giving protection to informants.” There is no indication as to whether or not their will be a new offence of ‘petrol-trafficing’, let alone an indication of the number of litres of petrol considered a trafficable or commercial quantity under the threatened regime.

As an aside, the NT Police claimed in July 2004 that: “A 23-year-old man will face court following his arrest for allegedly supplying petrol to teenagers.” He was charged with “supplying a volatile substance.”

The Greens have called for a Royal Commission or Senate Inquiry into the issue but I fail to see how another inquiry can benefit anyone other than the legal eagles involved. Look at the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody. Many of its recommendations are still ignored.

Take recommendation 143 for example: “All persons taken into custody, including those persons detained for intoxication, should be provided with a proper meal at regular meal times.” This is one example of a recommendation being ignored. It is breached every afternoon when Berrimah prison inmates are given a pitiful ‘breakfast’ that they are supposed to save until morning; the result being that the prisoners go without a decent breakfast. But I digress.

Some indigenous Community Councils and many Territory youth agencies have put in their two-bobs-worth. Their solution: ‘Opal’, BP’s ‘non-sniffable’ petrol. A lot of people are arguing that this should be introduced as the only petrol available in Central Australia. This would give BP a lovely monopoly.

BP of course, with a profit after tax of $852 million in 2004, maybe isn’t as innocent as the company appears at first glance.

What would you expect from a corporation with a turnover last year in excess of 285 billion US dollars? You can bet your bottom dollar BP has the patent for Opal and they see this whole issue as a lovely revenue-raiser!

The BP website tells us: “Petrol sniffing has become a concern in outback communities in Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia and it is estimated that more than 1,000 people are affected by sniffing, which leads to permanent disability and premature death.”

The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) is also on the bandwagon with regards to petrol sniffing. In a July 2005 media release, ANCD member and Chair of the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee (NIDAC), Associate Professor Ted Wilkes stated: “The ANCD has again heard about the extent and impact of petrol sniffing in Indigenous communities.”

Yes, petrol sniffing has “become a concern”, thanks to the ongoing alarmist and sensationalist media coverage of the issue - fuelled by the marketing and publicity people at BP’s Elizabeth Street offices in Melbourne.

Alice Springs Alderman and ‘Opal’ supporter Melanie van Haaren recently told ABC radio: “We are taking on a cause with enormous commitment and gusto.”

The ANCD are also backing Opal.

Commitment and gusto are admirable qualities. However, when deciding what to do about petrol sniffing, the fundamental principle you should keep in the back of your mind is that any ‘solution’ must reduce harm - not maximise it (The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'maximise' as: "increase or enhance to the utmost").

The following are some things you should consider when trying to address the issue of petrol sniffing in remote indigenous communities:

1. The criminalisation of petrol sniffing is just another bandaid that we would expect from those wound up in electoral politics. It takes the focus away from the root cause of the problem - the inherent structural racism faced by the Indigenous community in Australia and the reality of the poverty that some communities are forced to endure. As Major Michael Mori, the lawyer representing David Hicks said (referring to recent changes to the military tribunal faced by Hicks): “You can slap a new coat of paint on the outside of a house with broken foundations, but it doesn’t fix the problem.”

2. Together with the NT Government’s ‘war on longgrassers’. The criminalisation of petrol sniffing will further marginalise and criminalise a section of the community who are already targeted disproportionately by the ‘justice’ system. Young people and members of the indigenous community generally suffer an inordinate amount of police harassment and attention. The Territory’s indigenous incarceration rate is higher than ever before. This can only increase under the proposed legislation. The recent establishment of the 'Remote Area Drug Desk' by the NT police Drug Enforcement Section is only compounding this.

3. It is public knowledge that Berrimah jail is well overcrowded. With the one hand, The Territory's Attorney-General, Peter Toyne MLA, says his department is working on alternatives to prison for non-violent crimes to ease pressure on the jail system – with the other hand they risk increasing the number of non-violent offenders in the prison system. This is typical of prohibitive approaches to substance misuse. It contradicts what Family and Community Services Minister Delia Lawrie has said. Delia claims: “part of that (our) approach is treating teenage substance abuse as a health issue not a criminal problem.”

4. There are much cheaper alternatives to criminalisation. We must see the implementation of the full-range of youth services, crisis services, accommodation services as well as the mainstream youth services and drop-in centres. These are only bandaid solutions but surely we need a positive way for the government to spend its money instead of the zero-tolerance approach; and surely that is a saner way to expend money other than the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!

5. Prohibition has never worked and there is no reason to suggest that it will work in remote indigenous communities. It failed with Alcohol in the USA, it is failing now despite the US led ‘war on drugs’ and it even fails in countries such as Singapore and China, who execute people for possessing certain amounts of certain substances deemed illegal by the state. Why on earth would we want to increase the list of substances that we prohibit in vain? The stated aim of the NT Government is to: “To provide a strategic framework that reduces the occurrence of, and harm resulting from, petrol and other inhalant substance abuse in the Northern Territory”. The prohibition of petrol and/or petrol sniffing will maximise – not reduce – harm.

6. Police aren’t trained to deal with petrol sniffers and the jails have no facilities to cope with them either. Placing petrol sniffers behind bars is extremely dangerous and it flies in the face of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The seriously under-funded mental health system is already feeling the strain with a high burden of substance misuse in the Territory. The NT Government should be spending money on improving the Territory’s mental health services rather than building more jails.

7. Despite all the hype - damage from petrol sniffing is reversible. A Northern Territory research centre has discovered the brain can completely recover from damage caused by petrol sniffing. Sheree Cairney, a researcher at the Menzies School of Health Research, told ABC radio in November last year that former petrol sniffers can regain the ability to concentrate, remember, learn and control emotions. Psychiatrist Rob Parker, who has been treating petrol sniffers for more than twenty years, says the research will provide an incentive for sniffers to stop. This is a far cry from the total social devastation focussed on by some parts of the media. As we know, the corporate media play an important role in diverting our attention from the genocide faced by Australia's indigenous community and the illegal Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

8. The responses to petrol sniffing reek of racism. Despite claims that the Volatile Substance Bill will target ‘chromers’ in the urban centres, it appears that ‘as usual’, people in remote indigenous communities are the target of the legislation. The Federal and State/Territory Governments are well aware that it is their policies of neglect and impoverishment that result in substance misuse in remote indigenous communities. The State’s aim is to manage public perception until the next election, when who ever wins comes out with a whole raft of ‘new’ ideas. While the State looks like the good guy as it funds a series of bandaid projects, it uses issues like petrol sniffing to deflect blame for the impoverishment in remote communities. The blame is deflected firmly onto the community elders. The oppressor blames the oppressed for their own oppression. It is another diversion from the Federal Government’s war on Iraq and Afghanistan, costing the taxpayer a whole lot more than the ten million they have committed for the introduction of ‘Opal’.

9. The NT Police already have way too much power. With the ‘drug house’ laws, asset confiscation laws (supported by the Northern Territory News) and pending legislation targeting longgrassers, the NT Police have far too much power. They are even involved in writing legislation. In the past year, police have used their powers to seize 119 cars, the penalty for grog-running in the NT being automatic confiscation of the vehicle. This practice disproportionately effects remote indigenous communities and is another example of the racist application of laws in Australia’s Top End.

10. The sad reality is that in the current climate, where the corporatists have free reign, close to nothing will be done to address the root causes of petrol sniffing. Remote indigenous communities are one of the key dilemmas faced by state officials. There is often limited transport in and out of the community, the services – including schools – are totally inadequate, the housing is overcrowded, there is no work. Alcoholism and in some cases violence and sexual abuse are rampant. There are no business opportunities… and when they come to one of the major centres we tell them: “no humbug” and order them “back to their country”.

The Magistrates even ‘banish’ people to their communities. This only applies to indigenous people. Obviously I couldn’t be banished to the UK (well, not easily). This is another example of the pervasive racism that has a stronghold in Australia’s Top End.

Rather than banish indigenous people from our midst and making them feel extremely unwelcome when they visit Darwin, Katherine or Alice Springs (or any other Australian town or city), we should put those pesky army helicopters, constantly flying overhead in Darwin, to good use. Maybe, we should evacuate people from remote communities such as Mutitjulu, especially if you accept that the root causes are never going to be addressed; not until we see a radical change in the way this country is governed.

This is the crux of the issue. As long as indigenous people are treated as second-class citizens, petrol sniffing and other substance misuse will continue unabated. Relegated to third-world conditions and no hope of making it in the white man's world, many indigenous young people out bush have no alternative other than wiping themselves out. They just want to forget. They're well aware that they are not welcome in town. There are no jobs for them, cheap housing is virtually impossible to obtain and they constantly face the threat of being sent 'home'. They know that the white man doesn't want them hanging around. Just as Lindsay Murdoch wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald last month, "out of sight, out of their minds."

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This article has also been published on UK Indymedia, US Indymedia, Perth and Sydney Indymedia in Australia as well as the Sydney-based Greg's Kables Community News website. Feel free to publish this in your publications and on your websites.

About the author

Gary Meyerhoff, ex Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Combat Systems Operator, now an activist and freelance journalist, is the Convenor of the Territory Users Forum (TUF), a Director of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) and a member of the Network Against Prohibition (NAP). He also liaises with the International Coalition of NGO's for Just and Effective Drugs Policy. A former chairperson of Rockingham Youth Services, member of the Rockingham Local Drug Action Group (LDAG), board member of the NT AIDS and Hep C Council and the WA AIDS Council, and a former member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of People Living With HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), he has extensive experience in the fields of youth work, with two years coordinating the 'Alienated Student Program' for the Education Department of WA and harm reduction. As such he is a regular attendee at conferences organised by the International Harm Reduction Association. He has presented on his work in Delhi and Miami and he presented at the 2004 conference of the Association for Prevention and Harm Reduction Programs (ANEX). He has had a number of articles published in various media and on a more academic note, he had a literature review on injecting drug use in urban indigenous communities published by Danila Dilba Medical Service in Darwin in 2000. There is a collection of his published writings on his own web log.

At the time of publishing, Meyerhoff and a number of other NAP members face jail terms for charges arising from peaceful drug law-reform protests. Rob Inder-Smith and Stuart Highway will join Gary to appear before the full bench of the NT Supreme Court on October 31 to appeal against their conviction for invading parliament in May 2002. Gary will appear again the next day to appeal against his conviction for bill-pasting. More trials loom.

Quelling dissent

Members of the NT Police Association are worried that they may have to “quell resistance to unpopular, unnecessary, and socially divisive legislative changes” (Northern Territory News, August 4).

Someone should remind them that this is their job.

Police are not workers, they are officers of the law. Their primary role is to protect the rich and subdue the poor.

As our society moves further towards complete corporatism, dissent will increase and the police will be there to maintain the status quo.

Just like the members of the judiciary, the police must enforce the law no matter how immoral the law may be.

If members of the NT Police are uncomfortable with this they should get out now.

It does seem strange that Vince Kelly is expressing these concerns. His members have targeted the Darwin-based drug law-reform group, the Network Against Prohibition, with much vigour over the past three years.

BBC: Boy, 15, wins curfew legal battle

"But they shouldn't be allowed to treat me like a criminal just because I'm under 16."

A 15-year-old boy has won a landmark High Court challenge to the legality of child curfew zones used to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The teenager said the use of dispersal zones in Richmond, south-west London, breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Unaccompanied under-16s found in zones after 9pm can be held and escorted home, whether badly behaved or not.

The Home Office said it would be appealing against the ruling.

The police and Richmond Council had argued that curfew zones reduced anti-social behaviour.

The High Court ruled that the law did not give the police a power of arrest, and officers could not force someone to come with them.

Lord Justice Brooke said: "... All of us have the right to walk the streets without interference from police constables or CSOs unless they possess common law or statutory powers to stop us.

"If Parliament considered that such a power was needed, it should have said so, and identified the circumstances in which it intended the power to be exercised."

In a statement after the ruling the boy, known in the case as "W" and described as a "model student", said: "Of course I have no problem with being stopped by the police if I've done something wrong.

"But they shouldn't be allowed to treat me like a criminal just because I'm under 16."

Q&A: Teenage curfews

BBC Home Affairs correspondent Rory McLean said the test case ruling had major implications for the government's anti-social behaviour policy and may require legislation in order to deal with the issue.

A Home Office spokeswoman said dispersal zones already in place and future applications were unaffected by the judgment.

"These powers provide the police with a powerful tool to tackle intimidation and anti-social behaviour by groups of people," she said.

"Whilst not limited to young people, 'teenagers hanging around' is a big cause of concern to the public as cited in the British Crime Survey."

During the case heard in May, Javan Herberg, appearing for the teenager, said the curfew zones violated the human rights of "wholly innocent" young people.

He told the court that more than 400 zones had been introduced under the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act. While this case involved Richmond, its implications could be much wider, he said.

The Home Office, backed by lawyers for the police and council, argued the application for judicial review should be dismissed and said the zones did not breach human rights or common law.

They said the 15-year-old could not bring the claim because he had never been stopped by police inside a dispersal area.

The boy was backed by civil rights group Liberty.

Alex Gask, Liberty's legal Officer acting for "W", said: "This is a victory for the presumption of innocence, and the right of everyone, no matter what their age, not to be subjected to coercive powers without good cause".

This report was published by the British Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday, July 20, 2005. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also reported on the story.

Read more about this case on the Liberty UK website.

Mourning the loss of Steve McWilliams

From SF Bay Area Indymedia:

Cal NORML is sad to report that San Diego medical cannabis patient activist Steve McWilliams has taken his life. McWilliams, who had been fighting federal charges for growing a modest home garden for the Shelter from the Storm Collective, was depressed over the Supreme Court decision and in terrible pain, having been denied access to medical marijuana since his arrest in 2002. Steve was a courageous fighter for the cause and will be sorely missed.

Read more at SF Bay Area Indymedia.

Resolve the prison crisis

The NT Police Association have hit out at plans to lock up prisoners at the Darwin watch house (Police slam jail plans, NT News, July 12, 2004).

A prison source told the NT News about the problem over a month ago (Prisons overcrowded, NT News, June 4).

Members of the Network Against Prohibition share the concern of the police and prison staff.

The Northern Territory has the dubious distinction of having an imprisonment rate nearly as high as the United States.

In fact, the NT imprisonment rate (532 per 100,000) is five times higher than Qatar, Algeria and Myanmar.

This problem could easily be resolved if Clare Martin's Labor Government ordered the immediate release of all non-violent drug offenders from Territory jails.

Petrol sniffing is not a crime, is it?

The latest from the NT Drug News Vault:

"A 2004 NT Government report found about 360 young Territorians sniff petrol - mostly in remote communities.

It also found children as young as five were sniffing and some mothers were using petrol-soaked rags to calm their babies.

Following the report, the Territory Government developed a $10 million plan to tackle the problem - including new laws banning petrol sniffing.

Part of this funding will go towards the residential rehabilitation centres. Under the program, sniffers will be able to check themselves in for voluntary treatment.

But for the first 12 months the service will only be for people on treatment orders - issued by a court or police."

Read the whole article here.

Indymedia: As Bono and Geldof praise G8, NGOs say G8 deal is a "betrayal"

Responding to the outcome of the G8 summit World Development Movement (WDM) Head of Policy, Peter Hardstaff said:

The final communiqué is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders' claim that they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More importantly it is a disaster for the world's poor. The agreements on trade, debt, aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to tackle the global poverty and environmental crisis we face.

Read more at UK Indymedia.

Mixing drugs

It is obvious that members of the Northern Territory judiciary need to be educated with regards to the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

I am referring to “Butter is better” (NT and Beyond, July 2). A person facing a charge of possessing 50g of cannabis butter had that charge dropped after a confusing exchange between Magistrate John Lowndes and the prosecutor.

Mr Lowndes said he did not know how one could quantify the amount of cannabis in the butter.

This is quite odd as the law clearly states that there is no need for a judge or magistrate to quantify the amount of cannabis in the butter. According to the law, it was 50g of cannabis.

Labor’s “Tough on Drugs” package, implemented in 2002, included amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act that ensure that the total weight of a mixture of substances which contains an illicit drug is now taken to be the weight of the drug contained in the substance.

For example 0.5gm of amphetamines mixed with 0.5gm of glucose equals 1gm amphetamines. Cannabis butter is no different.

Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act is clear. A reference to a dangerous drug includes a reference to: “a preparation or mixture of that dangerous drug (which may include a substance that is not a dangerous drug) that contains any proportion of that dangerous drug”.

Supreme Court Justice Dean Mildren has already questioned these new provisions.

In October last year, he refused to accept a man's guilty plea to having a commercial quantity of amphetamines because the amount was not specified as "pure".

He said: “I would be astounded if Parliament meant you could mix 1 per cent of a dangerous drug with flour and even if it was 99 per cent harmless the whole amount was to be taken into account” (‘Drugs in the mix’, NT News, October 24, 2004).

It is sad to say, but that is exactly what Parliament meant.

Pushing drugs

Dear Sir

On Thursday, June 30, you reported on a Palmerston mother’s brush with the law, “Mum of two fined $500 for cannabis”.

The woman’s defence lawyer, Ian Read, told the court “she has not been going out peddling and pushing it and there is no suggestion of selling to kids”.

I was hoping that Ian may be able to tell me where I can find these drug dealers who are peddling and pushing their wares in the NT. Maybe the lawyers at Legal Aid are onto something my friends and I are not.

From my experience, I can assure you that the market for illicit drugs is extremely healthy.

No peddling or pushing is required, and there is no need to sell drugs to the “kids”.

The only people peddling or pushing drugs onto our “kids” are the pharmaceutical giants, and of course, the tobacco and alcohol giants.

Yours truly,

Gary Meyerhoff
Rapid Creek

Note: I emailed this letter to the editor of the NT News on July 02, 2005.

Prohibit the dogs

Dear Editor

I note with interest the recent outcry over barking dogs.

Perhaps Clare Martin should implement a zero-tolerance policy on this issue.

Although the vast majority of dog owners are responsible, loving, law-abiding citizens and provide a more than adequate level of care for their pets, it seems there will always be a small anti-social minority who abuse dogs.

The Government and the police are always crowing about the success of their war on drugs.

Just like dog owners, only a minority of users abuse drugs and engage in what could be seen as anti-social behaviour. This hasn’t stopped the Government from punishing everyone by putting a blanket prohibition in place.

If the Government believes that prohibition is so successful when it comes to the drug war, why not prohibit the dogs and put an end to the barking once and for all?

And, for that matter, why not prohibit cane toads and alcohol while we are at it?

Yours truly,

Gary Meyerhoff
Rapid Creek

Note: I emailed this letter to the editor of the Australian and the NT News on June 20, 2005.

The NT Election

Dear sir

For me the saddest thing about elections is that they remind me that the vast majority of Australians still believe that their vote counts.

It really doesn't matter who is elected on June 18, the same Corporations will still be running the Territory, and the world for that matter.

But how have our 'leaders' managed to fool the masses for so long?

Mussolini told The London Sunday Express in 1935: "The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of the nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad."

"The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one."

Yours truly

Gary Meyerhoff
Rapid Creek

Note: I emailed this letter to the editor of the Australian and the NT News on June 12, 2005.