Australian, The _Australia_ 1/1/1997 - 31/12/2024
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21 Singapore: Singapore's hand in Golden TriangleWed, 23 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:McKenna, Michael Area:Singapore Lines:111 Added:11/22/2005

WHILE Singapore has an unwavering policy of hanging drug mules such as Australia's Nguyen Tuong Van without mercy, it has for years been one of the strongest backers of Burma, the world's second-biggest producer of heroin.

Despite the pariah status of the military junta-controlled country as a flagrant breacher of human rights and the engine-room of the notorious opium golden triangle, Singapore has long been one of its key trading partners.

In the 10 months to October, Singapore - Burma's second-biggest source of imports - shipped more than $650 million of goods to the country. By comparison, Australia's exports to Burma last year were valued at $27 million or 0.01 per cent of total exports.

[continues 660 words]

22 Australia: Turn Our Backs On The Island Of DeathTue, 22 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Adams, Phillip Area:Australia Lines:106 Added:11/22/2005

SINGAPORE is a serial killer. In recent years, hundreds of its citizens and quite a few foreigners have been executed. When it comes to state murder, on a per capita basis, the sterile, claustrophobic Singapore exceeds the dubious records of China, Russia and governor George W. Bush's Texas.

Recently China has started to rein in regional magistrates, bringing the decision-making on the death penalty back to Beijing. Those accounts of instant executions - of prisoners being dragged from the dock to be shot behind the ear and their families being charged for the bullets - have become too embarrassing.

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23 Australia: Cannabis Is Worst Drug for PsychosisMon, 21 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Kearney, Simon Area:Australia Lines:100 Added:11/22/2005

FOUR out of five people with incurable schizophrenia smoked cannabis regularly between the ages of 12 and 21.

Andrew Campbell, of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal, warned that a hidden epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis could make the so-called soft drug more dangerous than heroin.

"It's much safer to take heroin -- you can live to be 90 with heroin," Dr Campbell said.

A five-year review of the histories of mentally ill patients in NSW who had been committed to an institution or needed compulsory treatment found four out of five had smoked marijuana regularly in adolescence.

[continues 554 words]

24 Australia: Hanging In The BalanceTue, 22 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Chong, Florence Area:Australia Lines:204 Added:11/21/2005

AUSTRALIA'S campaign to save convicted drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van from the hangman's noose has created an increasingly dangerous undercurrent in an otherwise stable bilateral relationship. Despite representation from the highest political levels in Australia, Singapore will almost certainly proceed with the hanging on December 2.

While Prime Minister John Howard is disappointed at Singapore's decision to hang Nguyen, he maintains it will not affect relations between Canberra and Singapore. "It's not going to contaminate our relationship with Singapore," Howard maintained on Sunday. Others are not so sure.

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25 Australia: PM Urges Nation To Get Tough On DopeMon, 14 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Karvelas, Patricia Area:Australia Lines:82 Added:11/14/2005

JOHN Howard has called for a crackdown on cannabis use, saying marijuana is linked to mental illness, and warning that decriminalisation has gone too far.

"Far from embracing further decriminalisation, authorities should be examining going in the opposite direction," he said.

"There is a higher rate of drug use among people experiencing mental health problems. When it comes to cannabis, the time has arrived for us -- legislators and parents -- to get tougher."

The Prime Minister said that while there was some debate about the specific relationship between drug use and mental illness, there was a consensus that people with drug problems had an increased risk of mental health problems.

[continues 397 words]

26 Australia: Old And Off Their FacesMon, 14 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Egan, Carmel Area:Australia Lines:179 Added:11/13/2005

The Number Of People Still Using Marijuana In Their 30s And 40s Is Escalating And Their Children Are Following Suit, Writes Carmel Egan

JOY expected one of her children to experiment with cannabis. It was almost inevitable, living on Sydney's northern beaches where the drug culture is as entrenched as the pursuit of surf and sun.

She anticipated her child would be induced by a friend to take that first toke, just as she was as a schoolgirl in the 1970s.

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27 Indonesia: Model Set To Be ReleasedSat, 12 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Fitzpatrick, Stephen Area:Indonesia Lines:61 Added:11/12/2005

INDONESIAN prosecutors have given the first sure indication Australian model Michelle Leslie could be home within days, saying they accept she was not a pusher when she was arrested with two ecstasy tablets in her handbag.

State prosecutor Risman Tarihoran said he was convinced by evidence presented on Ms Leslie's behalf that she had turned to amphetamines - chiefly the anti-hyperactivity drug Ritalin, but also the party drug ecstasy - after a difficult relationship with her mother.

Mr Risman said there was now a "strong possibility" the prosecution would ask next Tuesday that a drug possession charge carrying a maximum of 15 years be reduced to one of using drugs, which carries a jail term of three months.

[continues 238 words]

28 Indonesia: Silent Bomb Destroying BaliMon, 07 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Fitzpatrick, Stephen Area:Indonesia Lines:191 Added:11/07/2005

Long Before The Kuta Explosions, The Island Of The Gods Was Being Torn Apart By Heroin And HIV, Writes Stephen Fitzpatrick

WITH the junkie's combination of ease and anticipation, Riky squeezes a forearm between calf and thigh as he squats in the corner of his Kuta boarding house room, waits a brief moment for the bruised vein on the back of his hand to engorge, then plunges the needle in deep.

The heroin starts working within seconds. Riky, 24, who's been shooting smack in Bali's most popular tourist district several times a day since arriving from his native Sumatra three years ago, releases the arm, leans against the tiled white wall and half closes his eyes.

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29 Australia: Act Now to Halt 'Cannabis Disaster'Wed, 02 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Cresswell, Adam Area:Australia Lines:271 Added:11/05/2005

THE liberalisation of the laws regulating cannabis has gone too far and the states must clamp down now to avert a health disaster, the nation's top doctors' body has warned.

And Coalition MPs meeting in Canberra yesterday sounded their alarm over the effects of cannabis use on mental health, after The Weekend Australian reported the rising number of people using illicit drugs was a "time bomb".

Australian Medical Association national president Mukesh Haikerwal said decriminalisation of cannabis had been taken to extremes in some states, particularly when users were able to escape penalty by multiple cautions.

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30 Singapore: Singapore Knocks Back Latest Appeal To Spare VanFri, 04 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Robinson, Natasha Area:Singapore Lines:40 Added:11/03/2005

SINGAPORE has rejected more pleas from Australia to spare a Melbourne salesman convicted of heroin trafficking and insisted he will die at the end of a noose.

The decision means Nguyen Tuong Van - caught in a transit lounge at Changi airport with 396g of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage - is almost certain to become the first Australian to be hanged in Singapore. His family will receive two weeks' notice of his execution, which is expected to occur early next month.

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31 Australia: 'Stamp Out Dope' To Tackle PsychosisMon, 31 Oct 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Roberts, Jeremy Area:Australia Lines:94 Added:10/31/2005

MARIJUANA users should be treated like cigarette smokers and told to "quit for life" if Australia is to tackle the rising incidence of drug-induced psychosis.

A drug conference heard yesterday that the fashionable strategy of "harm minimisation" was not working as greater numbers of people suffered from mental illness.

Acting magistrate Craig Thompson called on governments to wind back the decriminalisation of marijuana and impose "coercive rehabilitation" based on abstinence for people addicted to drugs.

He said it was "totally incomprehensible" that the laws had evolved so people could be fined for smoking a cigarette but cautioned for marijuana use.

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32 Australia: Drug Mixers Spike Nurse's WorkloadTue, 01 Nov 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Kearney, Simon Area:Australia Lines:68 Added:10/31/2005

NINE out of 10 of Beaver Hudson's psychiatric patients arrive with a cocktail of drugs in their bodies that would make Rolling Stone Keith Richards blush.

St Vincent's Hospital, where Mr Hudson works, is right in the middle of Sydney's drug scene. Described as drug-psychosis central, it is about to open a ward dedicated to the burgeoning number of drug-related psychiatric patients.

Mr Hudson, an emergency psychiatric nurse who has been at St Vincent's since 1998, has seen more than the typical variety of cases. From street walkers to stockbrokers, St Vincent's catchment area handles them all.

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33 Australia: Government 'Powerless' In Death Row CaseMon, 24 Oct 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia)          Area:Australia Lines:64 Added:10/28/2005

FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer says there is little more the Government can do to save the life of a 25-year-old Melbourne man on death row in Singapore.

Nguyen Van Tuong was sentenced to death after being found in possession of almost 400 grams of heroin at Changi Airport in December 2002.

The Australian Government's pleas for clemency were rejected by Singapore last week.

Mr Downer says while he feels terrible about the tragic situation, the Government has exhausted all available options.

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34 Indonesia: Bali Nine Trial Dates SetThu, 29 Sep 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Carroll, Marian Area:Indonesia Lines:65 Added:09/30/2005

THE trials of the Bali Nine, who face the death penalty for allegedly trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia to Australia, will start in less than a fortnight.

A series of seven separate trials is scheduled to begin from October 11 before the Denpasar District Court and could run for at least four months, defence lawyers for the accused said today.

Trial dates have been set for all except Renae Lawrence, 27, of Newcastle, the only woman facing charges.

Hearings are expected to be held once a week for each case.

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35 Australia: Agony Of One Ecstasy PillFri, 30 Sep 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Aap, Area:Australia Lines:30 Added:09/30/2005

ECSTASY users who swallow one pill on a night out are not necessarily any safer from the drug's negative effects than those who take several, a study has found.

Studies at rave parties indicate the blood concentrations of ecstasy and methamphetamine are higher in some individuals than previously thought.

Some clubbers registered levels of the drug which, when mimicked in monkeys, caused permanent brain defects, the study found. The University of Adelaide's research results were presented yesterday to Club Health 2005: Sydney, the first national conference examining nightlife health issues.

The findings from interviews, blood tests and body temperature checks of clubbers indicated users could not control the concentration of ecstasy in their system by taking less.

[end]

36 Indonesia: All Bali Nine Face ExecutionTue, 27 Sep 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Taylor, Rob Area:Indonesia Lines:81 Added:09/27/2005

ALL members of the Bali Nine will be facing possible death penalties when their drug-trafficking trials begin over the coming weeks.

Prosecutors in Bali have handed over files to the Denpasar District Court, clearing the way for trials to begin. Defence lawyers had been hoping they would only be charged with possession, which carries a 10-year jail term.

The team of six provincial prosecutors have asked court officials to schedule seven separate trials.

Four of the nine Australians, detained at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport in April with blocks of heroin weighing between 1.3kg and 2.9kg allegedly strapped to their bodies, will each be tried separately.

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37 Indonesia: Corby Judges Seek More TimeMon, 26 Sep 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Taylor, Rob Area:Indonesia Lines:78 Added:09/26/2005

CONVICTED drug smuggler Schapelle Corby may have to wait another month to learn if she can go free from a Bali jail after judges wrote to Indonesia's highest court to ask for more time to make up their minds.

The appellant court, which could theoretically increase Ms Corby's 20-year sentence, had been due to rule by Thursday whether it would agree to quash or cut Ms Corby's sentence.

But lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said today the judges had written to the Supreme Court to request another 30 days.

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38 Australia: Dealer 'Sold Drugs As Nurse Died'Tue, 20 Sep 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Jenkins, Melissa Area:Australia Lines:86 Added:09/25/2005

A FORMER soldier continued selling party drugs as a young nurse lay dying of a drug overdose in his car, a Victorian court has been told.

Belinda Maree Davey, 21, was celebrating a friend's 21st birthday party at the Pure Hard Dance rave in Melbourne's CBD on February 19 this year.

She died in a nearby carpark after taking ecstasy and GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) supplied by drug dealer Abraham Wong, 28.

Wong pleaded guilty today in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to eight charges including trafficking GHB and introducing a drug of dependence into the body of another.

[continues 356 words]

39 Australia: Acute Pain Not Helped By PotWed, 24 Aug 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Cresswell, Adam Area:Australia Lines:62 Added:08/24/2005

CANNABIS has no role in the treatment of acute pain, contrary to popular belief, according to Australian guidelines designed to improve doctors' and patients' "abysmal" knowledge of pain relief options.

Although many experts believe cannabis may help relieve chronic (or long-term) pain, the guidelines launched in Sydney yesterday by federal Health Minister Tony Abbott say solid evidence now shows it has little efficacy with acute pain. Acute pain is defined as pain lasting up to two to three weeks after surgery, trauma or a medical condition such as kidney stones.

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40 Australia: PUB LTE: Bob CarrFri, 29 Jul 2005
Source:Australian, The (Australia) Author:Meyerhoff, Gary Area:Australia Lines:25 Added:08/05/2005

ILLICIT drug users in NSW won't be sorry to see the back of Bob Carr. This is the man that escalated the domestic war on drugs with the introduction of the "drug house" legislation, sniffer-dogs on the streets of Sydney and the militarisation of the NSW police.

Hopefully the next premier will be someone who realises that their drug war does more harm than it is supposed to prevent; or maybe that's just collateral damage.

Gary Meyerhoff

Rapid Creek, NT

[end]


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