Indonesia's Attorney-General says Schapelle Corby should be sentenced to life in prison. "The 20 years in jail handed down by the Denpasar District Court is too light," Abdul Rahman Saleh told the Bali Post yesterday. "She deserves to be sentenced to life." Mr Saleh is supporting an appeal by prosecutors, who also say 20 years in prison for Corby is not sufficient punishment for drug-running. Mr Saleh's comments came as the Australian Government lobbied Indonesia to enter into a prisoner transfer treaty to get the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman out of Bali's Kerobokan jail so that she can serve her sentence in Australia. [continues 139 words]
SCHAPELLE Corby has been found guilty of importing drugs into Indonesia and sentenced to 20 years prison. Scenes of pandemonium broke out in the courtroom after the sentence with Corby's family shouting "Schapelle is innocent". Corby then appeared to turn to her mother and mouth the words: "It's okay mum". Judges also fined Corby 100 million rupiah ($A13,870). The judges said they accepted the evidence of police and customs officials that Corby admitted to owning the drugs, despite her denials. [continues 217 words]
SOFT new cannabis laws in Western Australia would place young people at risk of serious physical and mental health problems, the state opposition said yesterday. From today, possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis and the cultivation of up to two plants will be decriminalised, attracting a fine or education session. Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said it was "irresponsible in the extreme" to soften penalties for using and growing the drug in the face of mounting evidence of its dangers. [continues 209 words]
A 24-year-old prison officer has been charged after allegedly reporting for work with drugs. The industrial officer at Perth's privately run Acacia Prison was arrested after entering the jail. It is the second time in six months a West Australian prison officer has been charged over drugs following a joint operation by police, the Justice Department and the state's Anti-Corruption Commission. The man, who allegedly was carrying cannabis and ecstasy tablets, was charged with four counts of possessing a prohibited drug and one count of possessing a smoking implement. He is expected to face Perth Magistrates Court today. Last November, 55-year-old Hemi Ewene Lewis was charged with intent to supply prohibited drugs to inmates. Lewis had been arrested as he entered Hakea Prison. He was sentenced to six years jail. [end]
Moderate NSW Liberal leader John Brogden was today handed his first stick of dynamite with the government's announcement to extend the controversial heroin injecting room trial The heroin injecting room trial split the Liberal Party in November 1999 when it was first debated in parliament. Mr Brogden was among six Liberal MPs who spoke in support of the move - against the leader of the day, Kerry Chikarovski. "I regard myself as a pragmatist in this area," he told parliament at the time. [continues 193 words]
Three people have been charged over a 14kg ecstasy haul at Sydney airport. Some 42,000 ecstasy tablets with a potential street value of more than $2 million were discovered yesterday when customs officers searched the baggage of a couple who had arrived on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany. The drugs were detected in two large suitcases using ionscan particle analysis equipment, a statement from Customs Minister Chris Ellison's office said today. They were allegedly concealed in false bases inside the suitcases. [continues 120 words]
Federal police have charged three people over a 14kg drug haul at Sydney airport. Officers allegedly discovered 14kg of the drug MDMA, or methamphetamine, yesterday during a search of the luggage of a couple who had arrived on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany. The drugs were detected in false bases of two large suitcases using ionscan particle analysis equipment, a statement from Customs Minister Chris Ellison's office said today. MDMA is used in the production of ecstasy, and a spokesman from Mr Ellison's office said the 14kg had the potential to lead to the production of 42,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of more than $2 million. [continues 119 words]
Welfare leaders meeting in Victoria say youth workers who help young solvent abusers by monitoring them while they sniff paint fumes should do so only as a last resort. But participants in the forum, convened by the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, have released a joint statement which says the need to supervise chroming reveals society's failure to help at-risk youths. VAADA executive officer, CAROL BENNETT, says solvent abuse is a symptom of far deeper personal problems in young people. [continues 81 words]
A DRUG dealer has told a police corruption inquiry he had sold LSD on behalf of officers and paid them bribes in a bid to get lighter sentences. The drug dealer turned police informant, dubbed P4, told the Police Integrity Commission hearing in Sydney he paid former Drug Enforcement Agency detectives about $45,000 for "letters of assistance" in order to get a lighter sentence for himself and his sister. The Operation Florida hearing is investigating allegations of corruption by DEA detectives and the use of "letters of assistance" or "letters of comfort" tendered by police in sentencing procedures. [continues 216 words]
MELBOURNE - Media reporting of the practice of chroming is dangerous because it encourages dangerous experimentation, a parliamentary committee was told today. Victoria's Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee today began public hearings for its inquiry into the abuse of volatile substances. Media reports in February, based on a discussion paper released by the committee, revealed that youth workers supervised chroming - inhaling paint thinner fumes from aerosol cans - by solvent abusers in one residential Melbourne facility. The chroming affair cost the then Minister for Community Services Christine Campbell her portfolio. [continues 343 words]
QUEENSLAND Premier Peter Beattie has rejected renewed calls for a national heroin trial. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope this week wrote to Prime Minister John Howard and state leaders proposing a jointly funded national heroin trial. But Mr Beattie said he did not believe the trial, which would involve prescribing heroin to addicts, would work. "It may well be that what (Mr Stanhope) is seeking to do may work in the ACT," Mr Beattie said. "I am pessimistic because drug problems are not the same around the world or around Australia." [continues 158 words]
A UNITING Church pastor says Australian governments will eventually allow a prescription heroin trial because they will not be able to deny the success of overseas studies. The ACT has revived its campaign by calling on Labor States to support a national trial despite Prime Minister John Howard opposing it. The New South Wales government is continuing with its heroin injecting room trial at Kings Cross but Premier Bob Carr has previously ruled out an over-the-counter trial. Ray Richmond, pastor of the Uniting Church's Wayside Chapel crisis centre at Kings Cross, says politics would ultimately give way to commonsense and international evidence. Mr Richmond says a trial offers hope to hardcore users who need to break not only their drug addiction but also their dependence on crime to fund it. [end]
PRIME Minister John Howard has again ruled out supporting heroin trials after the ACT today launched another lobbying effort to get a prescription trial off the ground. ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope will write to Mr Howard, as well all state leaders and health ministers, proposing a jointly funded national heroin trial involving the ACT. Mr Stanhope is hoping for support from his Labor colleagues, who hold government in all states and territories, but NSW has already poured cold water on the plan. [continues 399 words]
SYDNEY -- The world anti-drugs body revelation that ecstasy injecting in Australia had increased in the last 12 months was already common knowledge, a leading drug expert said. Drug use analyst David Crosbie said the United Nation's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) announcement in its annual report that Australian ecstasy users were increasingly injecting the drug had been documented for years. "Two to three years ago it was revealed that over 50 per cent of amphetamine users had injected the drug," he said. [continues 166 words]
LONDON - Sydney's heroin injecting room is in breach of international drug conventions and must be closed down, the world anti-drugs body says. In its 2001 annual report the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) condemned the opening of the medically-supervised Kings Cross facility and called on the federal government to bring its states into line. The injecting room - and the governments which allowed it to open - condoned illicit drug taking and drug trafficking, the board said. The board, a quasi-judicial body set up to enforce the 1961 United Nations convention on drugs, said the room's potential for harm reduction to addicts was outweighed by its potential to damage the anti-drugs fight. [continues 336 words]
Eight people had been arrested following the seizure of 124 kg of ecstasy, worth more than $20 million, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said today. He said customs officers found 410,000 ecstasy tablets in a container from a ship that had entered Brisbane from Singapore via Belgium on November 20. Senator Ellison said the eight people arrested included a Sydney solicitor and a foreign national alleged to have masterminded the shipment. It was the country's third largest ecstasy seizure and resulted from a lengthy investigation by the National Crime Authority (NCA), he said. [continues 221 words]
INJECTING rooms will not be an option for West Australian heroin addicts, after the government rejected the notion on the basis that WA's drug problem was not as concentrated as in other cities. And, despite a state government endorsement for prescription heroin trials, WA addicts will not be able to access this treatment either because of lack of federal government support. The government was responding today to recommendations made in August by a community drugs summit, set up to look at ways of reducing drug use in the community. [continues 269 words]
Information on the impact of illicit drug use on families and the community was scant despite the mass of data on substance abuse, a new report has found. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) guide to the availability of data on the use of illicit drugs identified gaps in a number of areas. "Illicit drug use is of international concern and has become a major cause of concern within the Australian community as it affects so many facets of society," the ABS said. [continues 222 words]
INJECTING rooms will not be an option for West Australian heroin addicts, after the government today rejected the notion on the basis that WA's drug problem was not as concentrated as in other cities. And, despite a state government endorsement for prescription heroin trials, WA addicts will not be able to access this treatment either because of lack of federal government support. The government was responding today to recommendations made in August by a community drugs summit, set up to look at ways of reducing drug use in the community. [continues 344 words]
Narcotics abuse among pregnant women in the northern rivers region of NSW results in a high rate of newborns suffering withdrawal and stillbirths, a study has shown. Pediatricians who conducted the survey at Lismore Base Hospital also found that nearly 90 per cent of the drug-taking mothers tested positive for hepatitis C. Dr Christopher Ingall and registrar Dr Rebecca Richardson warned that more than half of these women were missing out on antenatal care and their babies had multiple problems including prematurity and growth retardation. [continues 351 words]
NSW Cabinet is to consider a report which found most people want cannabis to be used for medical purposes, particularly for pain relief. While cannabis is illegal in NSW, the state government is investigating whether to follow other countries which allow people with serious illness to use it for pain relief. A report on the results of community consultation into the drug's usage released in state parliament today found more than 70 per cent of 117 respondents said its use for medical purposes should be allowed. [continues 239 words]
Prime Minister John Howard should "wake up, get real" and support a heroin trial, the Australian Democrats have argued. Leader Natasha Stott Despoja said she backed the idea put forward by the National Crime Authority. Mr Howard has said there will be no heroin trial while he is in government, claiming figures show a sharp decline in heroin deaths while seizures of illegal drugs are up. But Senator Stott Despoja said heroin abuse was not a criminal issue but a health problem. [continues 146 words]
Australia's top level crime fighting body, the National Crime Authority (NCA), has lent its support to a heroin trial with addicts being supplied out of a government repository. The NCA said options previously deemed unpalatable needed to be considered to help tackle the rising problem of drugs and organised crime. In a commentary on organised crime, the NCA said the reach of organised crime in Australia was pervasive, multi-faceted and with enormous social and economic costs. It said drugs remained the most lucrative commodity for organised crime and drug abuse cost the community an estimated $1.7 billion a year. [continues 304 words]
A Labor government would consider favourably any proposal for a heroin trial, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today. Australia's top level crime fighting body today backed a heroin trial with addicts supplied out of a government repository. The National Crime Authority (NCA) said options previously deemed unpalatable needed to be considered to help tackle the rising problem of drugs and organised crime. Mr Beazley said a Labor government would consider any proposal for a trial put to them by one of the states or territories. [continues 62 words]
Australian Medical Association president Kerryn Phelps today accused the government of playing politics with heroin addicts' lives. The National Crime Authority (NCA) has recommended considering a heroin trial to strengthen the fight against the rising tide of organised drug crime. However, Prime Minister John Howard rejected the suggestion and said there would not be a heroin trial in any state or territory while he was leader. Dr Phelps said the time had come to consider all options in fighting drugs. "I would like to think that this matter should be above politics, unfortunately it is not," she told reporters. [continues 234 words]
Treasurer Peter Costello today said the National Crime Authority (NCA) should stick to fighting crime and leave policy matters to the politicians. The NCA, Australia's top crime fighting body, yesterday supported a legalised heroin trial, with addicts supplied out of a government repository. But Mr Costello said he did not support heroin trials, saying drugs were bad and people should be warned against them. "My view is that the National Crime Authority should be fighting crime and it ought to be leaving policy matters to the elected representatives." [continues 129 words]
Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty today defended police amid claims Australia was losing the drug war. National Crime Authority chairman Gary Crooke yesterday admitted Australia was able to intercept only a fraction of drugs imported to the country. But Mr Keelty said police were having an significant impact. "The reality is that the seizures that we've had in the past two years particularly demonstrate quite clearly that we are having an effect in the supply-reduction strategy," he told ABC radio. [continues 188 words]
Prime Minister John Howard today reaffirmed his government's opposition to free heroin for drug addicts. Australia's top crime fighting body, the National Crime Authority (NCA), yesterday supported a heroin trial, with addicts being supplied out of a government repository. The NCA said options previously deemed unpalatable needed to be considered to help tackle the rising problem of drugs and organised crime. However, Mr Howard said as long as he remained prime minister, heroin trials would not be held. "Claims we are losing the fight are not borne out by the evidence," he told Brisbane radio 4BC. [continues 59 words]
The federal government's decision to subsidise a new treatment to fight heroin addiction was one of the most significant breakthroughs in decades, a high-profile Melbourne clinic said. Buprenorphine was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) on Wednesday to increase access and affordability for heroin-dependant people. The Raymond Hader Clinic has been using the drug since it was approved in April. "I decided to introduce buprenorphine into the clinic from day one, even though it wasn't yet on the PBS," clinic director Doctor Richard Smith said today. [continues 114 words]
NSW police now had greater powers to arrest drug house lookouts in their fight against crime, Premier Bob Carr said today. They also had more power to arrest anyone entering or leaving a suspected drug house along with owners or occupants who knowingly allowed their property to be used as such, Mr Carr said in south-west suburban Cabramatta. The new laws were aimed at shutting down such premises and also included powers to move on people believed to be "go-betweens" or who were trying to arrange drug deals, the Premier said. [continues 77 words]
THE pro-marijuana candidate for the Aston by-election today said he would be a shoo-in if he received the vote of everyone in the middle-class seat who has smoked pot. Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party candidate Graeme Dunstan, 59, who describes his occupation as an itinerant change agent, promised a strong campaign. "HEMP will be waging a guerilla theatre campaign in Aston to put cannabis law reform on the federal political agenda," Mr Dunstan said. "If everyone in Aston who has ever smoked pot voted for us, we'd win hands down." [continues 82 words]
The Police Integrity Commission has recommended the introduction of random drug testing for NSW police officers in the wake of the Roni Levi shooting on Bondi Beach. In a report tabled in State Parliament today, the PIC said officers involved in critical incidents such as shootings should be required to immediately give both blood and urine samples. Police Minister Paul Whelan has responded by saying random drug testing of officers using urine and hair samples would begin from September 1. "The issue of using blood for random drug testing however has significant health, industrial, privacy, logistical and cost implications," he said. [continues 393 words]
A recent drop-off in heroin overdose deaths could signal the end of the epidemic but drug experts today warned against complacency. Overdose deaths have been on the decline for two years with marked falls on the east coast this year. In Victoria, overdose deaths dropped to 22 this year from 148 the same time last year. In New South Wales fatal overdoses have fallen from a peak of 491 in 1998/99 to 296 in 1999/2000. A joint report by the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD), the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and Australian Intravenous League, of intravenous drug users found there were about 15,000 fatal and non-fatal overdoses each year. [continues 191 words]
BRISBANE - PERTH doctor George O'Neil has questioned the ability of the Medical Board of Queensland to investigate a controversial drug treatment. Dr O'Neil said two investigations into the use of naltrexone implants had been triggered by campaigns by two "monopoly" newspapers. "I think there are two monopoly newspapers, one in Perth and one in Brisbane, and the effect of those newspapers running questions day after day has had a big impact on medical boards and lots of people asking what the heck is going on," Dr O'Neil said today. [continues 81 words]
STUDIES of chronic cannabis users were reinforcing the belief that daily marijuana smoking could cause depression and possibly suicide in young adults, mental health group beyondblue said. Beyondblue spoke out today after Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital released an outline of a seven-year study research program on 2,000 young adults. The director of the hospital's Centre for Adolescent Health, Professor George Patton, said the research produced strong evidence that heavy marijuana users were more prone to depression and mental problems. [continues 343 words]
