NAPNT - Gary’s Drug War RantzWelcome to Gary Meyerhoff's Drug War Rantz. I am one of the founding members of the Darwin-based drug law reform and human rights group the Network Against Prohibition (NAP). I'll be using this blog to post my opinions on the myriad of issues that surround the war on drugs from the perspective of someone who is heavily involved in the Australian and the global drug user movements as well as keeping you up to date with some of the horrendous 'war on drugs' news and more...tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133000672006-12-07T01:49:17ZBlogger
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truefi2006-12-07T11:12:00+09:302006-12-07T01:49:12Z2006-12-07T01:49:12Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-116545615232993051Gary's Last PostGARY 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.falseGary Meyerhoff2006-04-08T11:28:00+09:302006-04-14T01:15:31Z2006-04-08T02:12:17Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-114446233723138439Reefer Madness: It’s time to end the liesThere 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 DrugfalseGary Meyerhoff2006-02-07T23:07:00+09:302006-04-30T01:14:03Z2006-02-07T14:02:57Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-113932097753485214The Cannabis Wars: Blitzkrieg in Australia’s remote indigenous communitiesThe 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 offalseGary Meyerhoff2006-02-05T05:43:00+09:302006-02-06T09:04:00Z2005-09-15T20:31:22Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112681628203454320Introducing 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,falseGary Meyerhoff2006-01-05T12:44:00+09:302006-02-06T03:16:45Z2006-02-06T03:16:45Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-113919580577627495The end of the brick and tile dreamI 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, thefalseGary Meyerhoff2005-12-23T13:10:00+09:302006-02-06T03:44:10Z2006-02-06T03:44:10Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-113919745020010864A figment of your imaginationAnother 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 productfalseNAP web team2005-11-10T16:01:00+09:302005-11-10T06:36:17Z2005-11-10T06:36:17Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-113160457727104132The War on Drugs is a seditious enterpriseHoward 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 feelingsfalseNAP web team2005-11-04T04:15:00+09:302005-11-30T02:10:41Z2005-11-03T18:47:03Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-113104362349494862Fish stocks more important than Nguyen Tuong VanThe 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 morefalseGary Meyerhoff2005-10-22T10:58:00+09:302005-10-22T01:30:01Z2005-10-22T01:30:01Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112994460132936250More on Nguyen's situationVictorian 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 afalseGary Meyerhoff2005-10-21T17:56:00+09:302005-12-04T09:43:01Z2005-10-21T08:32:39Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112988355903466481URGENT: Nguyen Tuong VanNguyen 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 forfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-09-22T11:53:00+09:302005-09-21T11:48:47Z2005-09-21T10:15:12Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112729771294976197More on Mardani HussinIndonesian 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 chargedfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-09-21T11:11:00+09:302005-09-21T01:43:39Z2005-09-21T01:43:39Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112726701979817594Man 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 withoutfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-09-05T23:53:00+09:302005-09-17T11:41:42Z2005-09-05T03:44:05Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112589184544209445Ten things you should know about petrol sniffingBy 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 offalseGary Meyerhoff2005-08-04T22:27:00+09:302005-08-04T13:00:15Z2005-08-04T13:00:15Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112316041532437809Quelling dissentMembers 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 furtherfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-21T11:54:00+09:302005-07-20T14:32:27Z2005-07-20T14:32:27Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112186994767170867BBC: 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 infalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-20T02:06:00+09:302005-07-19T16:46:38Z2005-07-19T16:46:36Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112179159600989939Mourning the loss of Steve McWilliamsFrom 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 arrestfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-12T05:29:00+09:302006-02-06T03:52:48Z2005-07-11T20:26:11Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112111357180176608Resolve the prison crisisThe 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 distinctionfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-09T21:02:00+09:302005-07-09T11:34:35Z2005-07-09T11:34:35Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112090887544389743Petrol 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 lawsfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-09T18:42:00+09:302005-07-09T09:14:00Z2005-07-09T09:14:00Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112090044088171210Indymedia: 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,falseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-03T20:47:00+09:302005-07-02T18:56:04Z2005-07-02T18:49:33Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112033017346648824Mixing drugsIt 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 notfalseGary Meyerhoff2005-07-02T16:41:00+09:302005-07-01T15:13:41Z2005-07-01T15:13:41Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-112023082141284670Pushing drugsDear 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 theirfalseNAP web team2005-06-21T02:51:00+09:302005-06-20T05:24:34Z2005-06-20T05:24:34Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-111924507463226466Prohibit the dogsDear 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 thefalseGary Meyerhoff2005-06-12T17:17:00+09:302005-06-12T07:50:36Z2005-06-12T07:50:36Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13300067.post-111856263611748829The NT ElectionDear 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 Sundayfalse