Once Again, Barnett Proves He is a Liar

Colin Barnett has declared the increasing use of illegal drugs - in combination with binge drinking - is at the heart of Perth's record of street violence.

-The West Australian

Er, sorry Colin but drugs alone rarely cause people to be violent. Booze has officially taken that honour. In fact, alcohol is by far, the most violent drug on earth. Never before in the history of man has a drug proven to cause so much violence, aggression and crime. And to top it off, it's legal, easy to buy and heavily endorsed by celebrities, sports stars and politicians. 

How many people do you know who become violent on ecstasy, cannabis or heroin? Even the so called "ice epidemic" causing violence is a myth.

Interviewer: My guests today in Melbourne University Up Close are Associate Professor John Fitzgerald and Dr. Fances Bramwell.

So, John, essentially what you are saying is that, in Australia there is no epidemic of ice use.

Associate Professor John Fitzgerald, Principal Research Fellow at the School of Population Health, University of Melbourne: Yeah, and it is not to say that ice use is not problematic.

-Melbourne University Up Close Episode 15

Alcohol accounts for 97% of all violence whilst under the influence of a substance. Illicit drugs ranks a lowly 3%. And out of that 3%, sleep depravation from amphetamine type drugs is responsible for half of that, not the violent reaction from the drug itself. With less than 1.5% of substance induced violence associated to illicit drugs, it is easy to assume that 99% of those classed as being aggressive are naturally violent regardless of any substance they may have taken. 

Drinking is not new - and I don't defend or excuse that in any sense. But excessive drinking and combining with drugs is clearly leading to more violent behaviour

-Colin Barnett

Any drug taker will tell you the simple truth ... drugs cause the opposite reaction of being violent. Many of them bring on confidence, friendship, empathy, sexuality, pleasantness, a need to communicate, feelings of euphoria, camaraderie etc. Other drugs make you drowsy and uninterested in anything confrontational. Others will make you "trip" where everything around you becomes magical and exciting. No drug I know of gives the user any need to be aggressive or violent ... except booze.

But what clearly stands out in this article is the contradictory comments by the premier compared to those who actually patrol the streets - The Police. 

WA Police have emphasised alcohol rather than drugs in the debate about violence in entertainment precincts that has raged after recent tragic incidents in Northbridge and Cottesloe.

Operation Unite commander Supt Scott Higgins said the root of violence was complex but alcohol was a consistent theme.

-The West Australian

Is this because the premier's drug of choice is booze ... A dangerous drug that harms people thousands of times more often than street drugs? 

"With people drinking in parks, homes, in pubs and clubs, whether they're taking drugs or not taking drugs, the consistent thing is alcohol," he said.

-The West Australian

Or is it because the drug he prefers to use causes far more carnage to society than any illicit drug?

What I really want to know is why the opposition and the media has not challenged Barnett to these ludicrous claims? There is no evidence whatsoever or scientific report ever produced that associates the effects of illicit drugs with excessive violence.  In fact, there are only two examples of violence resulting from drugs. One is when drugs are used in conjunction with alcohol and the other is in the business side of selling drugs. Ironically, both of these are purely the result of government policy.

I'm sorry Colin but you are once again on record, lying about the issue of illicit drugs. Are you really that arrogant that you think the vast majority of Western Australians don't have the ability to check your claims on the internet? Or are you just so out of touch with reality that you think the internet is just some gizmo from a sc-fi novel? My guess is that you know darn well that the failed policy of drug prohibition has wreaked havoc on society for nearly 50 years but since it continues to win you votes, you will keep pretending to support it. And we wonder why the public thinks that Australian politics has gone to shit?

Premier Says Drugs Have Role In Violence

The West Australian 

Gareth Parker And Gabrielle Knowles, 

May  2011

Colin Barnett has declared the increasing use of illegal drugs - in combination with binge drinking - is at the heart of Perth's record of street violence.

As WA Police continued to emphasise the role of alcohol amid a weekend crackdown that saw 435 people charged in Operation Unite, the Premier said drinking had always been an issue but the level of illegal drug taking was new.

He also suggested young West Australians' higher incomes relative to the rest of the nation could be fuelling the drug abuse.

"There is no doubt income levels in WA are probably $20,000 more than the rest of the country and there are a lot of people, often young people, who are on high incomes," Mr Barnett said.

"Many of them might be fly-in, fly-out mine workers who are in Perth in their week off, they have a lot of money to spend and they party too hard.

"Drinking is not new - and I don't defend or excuse that in any sense. But excessive drinking and combining with drugs is clearly leading to more violent behaviour."

WA Police have emphasised alcohol rather than drugs in the debate about violence in entertainment precincts that has raged after recent tragic incidents in Northbridge and Cottesloe.

Operation Unite commander Supt Scott Higgins said the root of violence was complex but alcohol was a consistent theme.

"With people drinking in parks, homes, in pubs and clubs, whether they're taking drugs or not taking drugs, the consistent thing is alcohol," he said.

At the weekend, police charged 435 people with 462 offences, including 391 traffic offences, 10 assaults and five assaults on public officers.

Supt Higgins said police were most concerned by the number of motorists drink-driving, with 138 caught driving over the limit, including 18 charged with driving under the influence.

In addition, a Victoria Park man has been charged over a one-punch assault in Northbridge that left a 26-year-old with head injuries.

The man hit his head on the pavement and lost consciousness after he was allegedly king-hit outside the Republic Nightclub in Shafto Lane about 12.30am on Saturday.

Police claim the attacker, also 26, was thrown out of the nightclub seconds earlier and allegedly punched the other man after mistaking him for someone else.

NOTE:

Colin Barnett was the winner of the 2009 Bucket Head of the Year award. Here it is again just to refresh your memory.

THE BUCKETHEAD OF THE YEAR - 2009

The ultimate anti-drug zealot who made a huge impact on the downfall of rational thinking and sensibility in 2009. Unlike the category for Most Dangerous Anti-Drug Campaigner, The Bucket Head of the Year can be literally a “Bucket Head” Think of Rove, Bronwyn Bishop, Daryl Somers etc. They might be dangerous or just plain stupid but they must be worthy of scorn and criticism.

Colin Barnett

WA Premier (LP)

Trying to top last year’s winner, Anne Bressington, is not easy but WA premier, Colin Barnett has made a gallant attempt. Introducing new laws infamous for failing globally, to replace existing laws that have been succeeding could be interpreted as brave and insightful. Unfortunately for Colin “Barney Rubble” Barnett, it wasn’t. It was seen for what it really was ... an out-of-touch old man clinging desperately to his stagnant ideology and putting faith into strategies that have failed miserably for the last 40-60 years which are rapidly on their way out. Only a brave man indeed would remove a modern, successful drug policy because of myths like “The Gateway Theory” and other junk science. Someone should point out to Barney that the internet(yes Barney, that TV looking thing on your desk) means politicians can no longer just say what they want and the public have to take it as gospel. 

Barney is also introducing “Stop and Search” laws, claiming it will cut down on street violence and anti-social behaviour by seeking out those carrying knives or drugs. In certain designated areas, police can stop and search any person without provision of reasonable suspicion. What the hell drugs have to with weapons is yet to quantified.

Barney is a dying breed which probably sums up the current Liberal Party and some of the Labor Party. It's not that his drug policies are just useless and counter-productive but they are also dangerous. To underplay the deaths and misery caused by these policies for political gain or for personal ideology is disgraceful and should be seen as a criminal act. A “Tough on Drugs” mentality has caused massive damage in every country that adopts this approach and after 100 years of drug prohibition globally, some common sense is finally emerging. Sadly, this doesn’t include Colin Barnett.

On a lighter side ... man, is he funny or what? That bloodhound face looking like it was made from plastic. The monotone political rhetoric putting TV viewers to sleep. Walking around Northbridge at night to prove it is family friendly only to be confronted with some druggie asleep in a doorway. But it was an accidental camera pan of several heavyweight body guards that blew his cover as the brave leader walking the streets alone. And of course, the references to old, debunked urban myths about drugs that had much of WA’s youth rolling around the floor in hysterics and experts scratching their heads in bewilderment. Good stuff, Barney.

I proudly present to you, this years BucketHead of the Year for 2009 ... WA Premier, Colin Barnett.

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Drug War Success - 14 Year Old Hitman who Beheads People

Winning the War on Drugs

"El Ponchis" or 8th-grader, Edgar Jimenez is a 14 year old hitman for a Mexican drug cartel. He was recently caught by Mexican authorities and will join the growing list of detained children who were once employed by drug cartels to murder people. Not surprisingly, one psychologist has already classed Jimenez as a “psychopath”.

I don’t recall having ambitions to join a drug cartel when I was 14 years old and I certainly never imagined I would cut off some stranger’s head. There really must be some extenuating circumstances for young kids to behave in such a barbaric manner. But let’s not procrastinate here. These kids and indeed, much of society are victims of a bloody but futile crusade known as the "War on Drugs”. 

What did we really expect to happen? What was the outcome we envisaged when we freely let fanatical anti-drug zealots, religious nutters and ruthless, agenda driven politicians have their way without any formal scrutiny? Where were the evaluations? Why didn’t we take notice of the prison population explosion or the incredible level of street violence that grew each decade?

We watched on as drugs ripped apart communities. We didn’t help those ravaged by addictive drugs but instead, sent them to prison. We broke up families and incarcerated millions without caring for one moment if what we were doing was actually productive. There were only token attempts to address the underlying problem. Drugs were public enemy number one and the only approach was to be "Tough on Drugs”. But the "War on Drugs" and "Tough on Drugs" were not what it implied - it was a war on people. 

Why is the carnage caused by the drug war so oblivious to our leaders? Amazingly, it took many, many decades of worsening problems before they took notice of scientists and experts. But they even misused this scientific data and research to spin their own reasons for continuing their assault on drug users. Still, evidence through careful research was making the news and this led to the introduction of Harm Minimisation. Our experts and medical professionals were finally allowed to propose evidenced based programs that dealt with the realities of drug use and offered a humane, medical approach. Unfortunately, we had already endured almost a century of propaganda and most of the public didn’t know any better so any new ideas that made our leaders nervous were ceremoniously dumped, all with just one shriek of being ”Soft on Drugs”. 

Even in countries like Australia, global drug policies have created a wartime environment. Military style police units smashing up homes, paramilitary dog squads placed at train stations and government sanctioned, “Stop and Search” laws are not conducive with a civil society in times of peace. Locking up family members who suffer an addiction or choose to use relatively harmless drugs will not lead to a more cohesive community. The constant drone that we need to attack drug use in a war like manner hasn’t reduce drugs in our communities. Instead, like any war, it has produced massive casualties, especially children. 

The emergence of killers like 14 year old Edgar Jimenez is the result of our fanatical efforts to stop drug use. But it doesn’t stop there. All over the world, governments create the situation where violence and societal disarray are commonplace. Driven by political greed, the public are told how necessary the drug war is but there is very little effort to address the fallout. Nearly 30,000 drug related deaths in Mexico isn’t even enough to stop the government continuing their failed strategy. In the US, daily occurrences of inner city violence and murder fuelled by drug gangs isn’t enough. Terrorists funding their activities with inflated profits driven by drug prohibition, isn’t enough. So why would hundreds of kids running around cutting off people’s heads be enough either.

Teenage Cartel Hitman Is a U.S. Citizen

The Atlantic Wire

By Elspeth Reeve

December 2010

The floppy-haired 14-year-old turned, like any other modern teen, to YouTube to make his confession. But unlike a typical 8th-grader, Edgar Jimenez's was confessing to beheading people for a Mexican drug cartel for the price of $2,500 each. A hunt for the boy ensued, and this week, Mexican authorities nabbed the "hit boy" known as "El Ponchis" at an airport; he was en route to Tijuana, where he and his teenage sister were planning to sneak into San Diego. Why? He's an American citizen.

Jimenez was arrested Thursday night, suspected of working for Pacific Sur, a gang that splintered off from the notorious Beltran Leyva cartel. The teen was paraded in front of news cameras, even as police guards wore masks for their own protection, yet another symptom of the persistent horrific violence that has plagued Mexico since the start of its drug war. As an American citizen, Jimenez will get "all appropriate consular assistance," CNN reports.

But shockingly, Jimenez is not unique as a child participant in this violence. Drug cartels--like their fellow fans of beheadings, Al Qaeda--are increasingly leaning on kids and women to help them maintain control over large areas of the country. Here are a couple of accounts on offer in the media as outlets attempt to contextualize.

Gangs Recruiting More Kids  

"The number of young people aged 18 and under detained for drug-related crimes has climbed steadily since President Felipe Calderón launched his assault on cartels in 2006," reports The Telegraph's Harriet Alexander. "Figures from the Attorney General's office show that there were 482 arrests of under 18s in 2006, and 810 in 2009. The tally this year is set to be even higher." A psychologist says Jimenez is a "psychopath," and that kids like him "like to kill, to steal, and they don't need to conform to society because they are mistreated and become very hostile from a young age." But The Houston Chronicle's Dudley Althaus points out that other teens have also been arrested for drug killings: 

Several Laredo teenagers were convicted in 2007 for carrying out killings on behalf of the Zetas, the violent organization entrenched in Nuevo Laredo and other towns along the South Texas border. One of those teens, Rosalio 'Bart' Reta, killed his first victim at age 13 and might have murdered more than 30 others before being captured.

Gangs Recruiting Women, Too

The Guardian's Jo Tuckman and Rory Carroll add, describing a taped confession of a women who said she worked for the Zetas "killing taxi drivers, police officers, innocent people and children." Photos of "her severed head in an icebox" were posted online a couple days later. The "number of women imprisoned for federal crimes, most of which are drug-related, has quadrupled in three years," a study found. Women are pulled into the cartels by their husbands or boyfriends.

Violence So Pervasive It's Changing the Language

Fox News' Steve Harrigan writes about his own experience in the area. "'Narcofosa' is a word I heard for the first time in Juarez. Narco means workers for the drug cartels and fosa means grave. We were standing in a mass grave where 20 narcos had been buried outside of Juarez. Because many of the bodies were decapitated, identification is unlikely. So the bodies are just put in unmarked graves in one section of the cemetery known as the narcofosa or 'the graves for the headless.'"

WikiLeaks Docs Show U.S. Frustrated with Mexico's Drug War

the Los Angeles Times' Tracy Wilkinson writes. "In contrast to their upbeat public assessments, U.S. officials expressed frustration with a 'risk averse' Mexican army and rivalries among security agencies ... The cables quoted Mexican officials expressing fear that the government was losing control of parts of its national territory and that time was 'running out' to rein in drug violence." One cable says: "Official corruption is widespread, leading to a compartmentalized siege mentality among 'clean' law enforcement leaders and their lieutenants. ... Prosecution rates for organized crime-related offenses are dismal; 2% of those detained are brought" to court.

It's Official - "Tough on Drugs" Causes More Crime & Violence

Now, it's official. Police crackdowns and prohibition causes more violence and crime than it stops.

I have been saying this for years ... drug related violence is because of our drug laws not drugs themselves. The presumed connection between drugs and violence is severely misguided by the public. Any mention of alcohol violence, hold-ups or street thuggery and some people will ignorantly claim that being high on drugs is to blame. This is simply not true. The violence stemming from drugs is either from addicts committing crimes to procure money for their habit or those in the drug business fighting it out on the streets. Whether they are intoxicated is not important as most drugs rarely cause aggression or violence. It's amazing the reaction I get when I make this comment online which often results in being called a looney, an idiot or an obvious drug user. 

The whole point is, the effects of drugs do not usually make someone violent. It's the illegality that causes violence. Business disputes between drug dealers are not settled in court but on the streets with guns, knives or very large thugs. Think about an addict committing a break-in - it's because they need money to buy drugs that they have run out of. They are most most likely not high at all but suffering massive withdrawals which makes them desperate enough to commit the crime. The drugs they seek are illegal which makes them very expensive and crime is usually the only way addicts can afford them. It's a nasty cycle in today's climate of drug hysteria.

The usual course of action by police, under direction from the government, is to crackdown heavily on drug users and dealers. This has been the failed strategy for 60 years plus. We have completely ignored the havoc caused by US alcohol prohibition and overlooked the mounting evidence from experts while the "War on Drugs" continues to reek carnage on society. As the number of victims increase under the "Tough on Drugs" strategy, we have to ask ourselves if we will continue to allow politicians to base their decisions on political posturing, misguided personal beliefs and pressure from moral crusaders. Science and evidence should determine drug policy, not politicians taking a position on drugs because it is politically advantageous to do so. 

Crackdowns On Drug Dealers Led To Rise In Violent Crime, Study Finds

The Independent 

By Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter

April 2010

Police crackdowns to cut the supply of illegal drugs by removing dealers and criminal overlords actually lead to rises in drug-related violence, gun crime and murder, according to an international study. A review of 20 years of research into drug enforcement has found that attempts to snuff out the trade in illegal substances have the opposite effect to that intended, by creating a power vacuum when drugs barons are imprisoned which is rapidly filled by competitors eager to fight each other for the newly-vacated territory.

Campaigners for the reform of drugs policy said the findings, which follow numerous studies showing that prohibition has failed to stop narcotics from becoming more plentiful, added to the pressure on governments to declare the "war" on the £200bn global illicit drugs industry over, and adopt a policy of controlled legalisation.

The study by the Canada-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) found that heavy-handed tactics, ranging from attempts by the American-sponsored Colombian armed forces to eradicate drug cartels to the arrest of dealers in Sydney, had led to increases in violence. Often, this violence is fuelled by criminals arming themselves to profit from price rises caused by seizures of drugs or the dismantling by police of dealing networks.

The assessment of 15 reports on the relationship between violence and drug enforcement, presented yesterday at an international conference in Liverpool, found that 87 per cent of studies reported that police seizures and arrests led directly to increased violence.

Dan Werb, co-author of the ICSDP document, said: "The convention has been that law-enforcement action to reduce the availability of drugs, thereby increasing drugs prices and decreasing supplies, also has the effect of reducing violence. Not only has prohibition been found to be ineffective with regard to price and supply; this study has also shown that it is accompanied by an increase in drug-related violence.

"Prohibition drives up the value of banned substances astronomically, creating lucrative markets and worldwide networks of organised crime. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that any disruption of these markets through drug-law enforcement seems to have the perverse effect of creating more financial opportunities for organised crime groups, and gun violence often ensues."

The study, which highlights the drug-related violence gripping Mexico as an example of the vicious circle fuelled by crackdowns, said researchers in Florida had recorded a five-fold increase in violence and property crime linked to drug arrests. Another study of six US cities found that attempts to shut down crack markets led to increased homicide rates in four of them.

A six-year Australian investigation into drug dealing in Sydney found that the arrest of dealers and subsequent disputes between rivals had contributed to murders and a substantial rise in non-fatal shootings with handguns.

Campaigners for a regulated market in drugs said the study bolstered the argument for legalising drugs and introducing a sliding scale of controls, ranging from membership of coffee-shop style premises for the sale of cannabis to licensed pharmacies selling cocaine.

A spokesman for the Transform Drug Policy Foundation said: "We have a government in pathological denial of the negative impact of a prohibition-based drugs culture. Which other global industry worth £200bn is left in the hands of organised criminals rather than being taxed and properly regulated?"

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