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 Law Reform for Middle East But Not Australia

Of all the regions in the world, the Middle East is the most unlikely to consider drug law reform. But drug law reform is an unpredictable process and it can rear it’s head in the most unexpected places.

Most of the countries with tough drug laws tend to have large a religious population with Islamic countries leading the way. Although The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is more liberal than surrounding countries, it is still primarily run by Islamic rules including the co-existence of Sharia law with a more modern civil law jurisdiction. But unlike many of it’s neighbours, the UAE tolerates alcohol and has committed to a robust human rights agenda. Other religions apart from Islam are also tolerated giving the country a harmonious multicultural setting with little public conflict between the various faiths.

Although the UAE may be open to western influences, it is still a far cry from highly democratic countries like Australia, the US and the UK. This makes the decision to investigate drug law reforms - that basically decriminalise drugs - even more significant. 

A drug addict is a sick person and he should be treated as such

-Brigadier General Maktoum al Sharifi: Head of Abu Dhabi Capital Police

You have to wonder why the UAE, who like surrounding nations have severe penalties for drug related crimes, would even consider these new reforms. Especially when other open, fully democratic and secular countries like Australia, remain fixated on useless, failed and cruel drug polices, dreamed up many decades ago.

Current drug laws in the UAE are harsh and counterproductive and there is a mandatory four year prison term for anyone found to have a connection with illicit drugs. But many officials in the UAE agree that the current laws are flawed. The Chief Justice of Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance, Saeed Abdul Baseer, said that he would prefer to send patients to rehabilitation centres or give them lesser sentences, but that he was restricted by the law. 

I would be very happy to give them lesser sentence or send them to rehabilitation centres. It is not an easy thing to sentence a young offender to four years in prison. But I have to follow the law.

--Saeed Abdul Baseer: Chief Justice of Abu Dhabi Criminal Court.

Hopefully, drug law reform will happen in the near future and serve as a reminder to other governments that rubber stamping failed drug policies, year after year, not only cause more problems than it fixes but is pointless and inhumane. There are alternatives to punitive drug laws which are based on evidence and research and it is the role of elected governments to implement these policies if it’s beneficial to their constituents. Unfortunately, politics is a fickle game with many players more focussed on winning the popularity prize instead of maintaining a fair, civil society for the benefit of all.

When countries like the UAE - that traditionally support Zero Tolerance drug policies - start contemplating the removal of strict drug laws because they are flawed and inhumane, you know that global attitudes are changing. But when the proposed changes are backed up with evidence and research, it should put enormous pressure on other countries to follow suit especially considering the massive damage caused every day by existing laws. 

Those still calling out for tougher drug laws really need to be questioned about their motives. Locally, we are witnessing a surge in politicians who are implementing even more draconian drug laws without sufficient scrutiny from opposition political parties and the media. But what is most disturbing about this current push for tougher drug laws are the reasons used by our elected politicians to support their case. To put it bluntly, they are mostly using misinformation, popular myths and outright lies in their attempts to fool the public. Where’s the scrutiny and the demands to reveal their source of information? Why isn’t the media asking them to explain why their claims are contradictory to the latest research and evidence? The fact is that most claims by politicians who are pushing for tougher drug laws are wrong and this helps to keep the public misguided about effective solutions. Previous propaganda masters like Chris Pyne, John Howard, Bronwyn Bishop etc. are being joined by Mike Rann, Colin Barnett and Ted Ballieu as part of a deceitful, agenda driven group who are prepared to mislead the public about drugs. It’s incredibly frustrating to hear elected officials like Michael Mischin, Christian Porter, John Brumby, Michael Atkinson, Steve Fielding, Peter Debnam, Nicola Roxon, Andrew Stoner, Mary Wooldridge, Peter Wellington, Mark McArdle, Michael Wright etc. make unsubstantiated claims when it would only take 15 minutes on the internet to find the facts. No other issue has ever attracted so many people who are willing to publicly lie even though the truth is just a few clicks away via Google. It may have worked before the advent of the internet but the ability to check facts almost instantly, should pressure politicians to substantiate their claims before they are exposed as frauds. If only other politicians and the media would be brave enough to expose them.

Overhaul Of UAE Drug Laws Considered

Haneen Dajani and Hassan Hassan (Courts and Justice Reporter)

The National

Jan 2011

ABU DHABI // An overhaul of the nation’s drug laws could mean offenders no longer face prison sentences.

Anti-drugs officials told The National that Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, the Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, had ordered all concerned authorities to evaluate current anti-narcotics laws and suggest reforms.

Generally, the overhaul will consider new methods to punish or treat convicts, especially repeat offenders, such as social and community services.

Brig Gen Maktoum al Sharifi, the head of Abu Dhabi Capital Police, welcomed the idea of reforms, saying the law should not consider a drug offender a criminal, as it currently does.

“A drug addict is a sick person and he should be treated as such,” Brig Gen al Sharifi said. “Alternative punishment would be more effective. A drug offender could be just an addict, not a criminal, but after locking him up for years he could come out involved in crimes such as stealing, drug dealing, et cetera.”

Alternative punishments police have proposed include community service, such as cleaning the streets, schools or voluntary work.

Major reforms proposed by rehabilitation centres include allowing family members to turn in drug offenders to avoid prosecution. Currently, only if abusers themselves seek rehabilitation will they avoid going to jail.

“Addicts would be under the influence of drugs and would not think clearly, so those around them should be allowed to help them,” said Dr Hamad al Ghafiri, the general director of the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) in Abu Dhabi. “We want to encourage people to seek treatment, so we should assure them that they will not face prison for doing so.”

Another major reform, Dr al Ghafiri said, would be the creation of a data-tracking system that would link clinics across the nation to avoid prescription “shopping”. He said many patients had used old prescriptions for addiction-treatment medicines provided by the NRC to obtain extra doses by visiting different clinics across the country. Abu Dhabi, he said, had already linked its clinics and pharmacies.

Experts said drug offenders were usually treated as criminals rather than victims or even patients.

Saeed Abdul Baseer, the Chief Justice of Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance, said that he would prefer to send patients to rehabilitation centres or give them lesser sentences, but that he was restricted by the law. The minimum sentence for drug crimes is four years – a regulation especially punitive to expatriates who cannot be admitted to rehabilitation centres.

“I would be very happy to give them lesser sentence or send them to rehabilitation centres,” the chief justice said. “It is not an easy thing to sentence a young offender to four years in prison. But I have to follow the law.” 

Faiza Moussa, a lawyer who deals with drug cases, said jail sentences were not an effective deterrent.

“Drug addiction is more of a psychological problem,” Mrs Moussa said. “I dealt with defendants who lapsed too many times. They go to prison and then they are released, they would have been properly coached or rehabilitated.”

She suggested toxins should be removed from the body of drug offenders before considering any punishment. After removing toxins, she said, the offender should be referred to a specialist, who would try to turn them away from lapsing back into drug use. She also suggested jails should have workshops to train inmates on how to be a productive member of society after leaving prison.

“Most of drug addicts are either unemployed, uneducated or with social problems,” she said. “If they teach him a certain profession to start a business after they leave prison, I think most of them would not return to drugs.” 

Related Articles:

Drug Laws Do More Harm Than Good

Experts Urge Drug Policy Reform - Is Julia Gillard Ready?

Giving Free Drugs to Addicts

Drug Prohibition Under Fire by UK Politicians

NSW Drug Raids - Police Need to Tell the Truth

Police capture a dangerous 60 year old in a bathrobe

When it takes six military style police officers with automatic rifles, machine guns and a tank to escort an old man in a bathrobe, you know we have a problem. But this is just lost on NSW police as Commissioner Andrew Scipione declared, "Today we haven't taken a tentacle off the beast, we've removed a very, very big beast”. Yeah, a beast in a red dressing gown.

For an operation that had been planned for 12 months, needed 500 officers and involved “alleged drugs barons” at the “top of the tree”, only $9 million worth of drugs were captured. Basically, a drop in the ocean considering how big the drug market is in Australia.

But like traffic cameras, the real prize is the income with over $14 million worth of seized assets. This might help explain why the NSW police used a tank and hundreds of paramilitary style officers.

Commissioner Scipione’s spin is just the latest in a long line of chest beating speeches where we, the public are duly informed that drug syndicates are running scared and will suffer greatly from a reinvigorated police focus. Of course, we have seen this numerous times before and most of us just forget as drug dealers return and go about their daily business.

A number of the people who were arrested today were people I started working on 30 years ago when I started working in the police force

--NSW police as Commissioner Andrew Scipione

Mixed in with the excited claims of success are some worrying discrepancies. Not that the police really notice when there’s so much to tell the awaiting media. Admitting that some of those arrested have been around for 30 years might make the commissioner feel good in front of the bright media lights but it’s also confession that the drug ring leaders have built a three decade old crime empire under the nose of the law. Not something to boast about.

Like the recent drug raids in Victoria, we are being led to believe that the police are winning a battle against drugs. The assumption that catching some drug dealers, especially drug syndicate leaders is going to have a lasting affect on the drug market is fanciful. In fact, it’s a down right lie … and the police know it. 

Ask yourself if you can remember the last multimillion dollar bust? Have we already forgotten that in 2008, WA police uncovered 22kg of methylamphetamine and 35,000 ecstasy tablets worth $77 million? What about when the Federal police seized 464kg of cocaine worth $160 million from a yacht in Brisbane. That was only two months ago. In September this year, 50kg of cocaine with a street value of $12.5 million was confiscated by NSW police in Minto. In January, police found 9000 mature cannabis plants worth $18 million in the Chaelundi National Park. Only two years ago, the AFP and Customs uncovered 3000 tomato tins that contained 15 million ecstasy tablets when they were shipped from Italy to Melbourne. It was a total haul of 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy with a street value of $440 million. They arrested 20 people for the crime. Any of this ring a bell?

The fact is, we will never make any significant dent in the drug trade. We will send many people to prison, reap hundreds of millions in assets and continue to smile for the cameras in front of an eager media. But the illicit drug market stops for no one. There is just too much money to made and there’s plenty to go around. Enough for drug mules, street dealers, corrupt authorities, crooked cops and those at the top.

History and experience from other countries clearly show that no amount of policing can stop the drug trade. The black market for drugs is valued at over $400 billion annually which is the 2nd largest industry on the planet. Larger than oil, manufacturing and food sales combined. Only military sales generate more income. With a global user base of up to 250 million people or 5.7% of the world’s population, it’s no wonder the illicit drug market is booming.

We should avoid congratulating ourselves on our efforts rather than our outcomes.

--Dr Don Weatherburn - Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research

What we need to focus on is that there is a big difference between what the police claim and what the experts say. A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald has Dr Don Weatherburn, Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research doubting the success of the latest NSW raids. He points out that “research had so far been inconclusive on the long-term impact of drug law enforcement”. This view was reflected by Dr. Katie Willis, a senior research analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology. Dr. Willis said it was also necessary to look at health-related results such as drug deaths, overdoses, and drug treatment. Our insatiable hunger for arresting people is blinding us to the human fallout as we lose sight of whether our strategies are benefitting society.

The big question is whether our attempts to wipe out the illicit drug market actually works. And like so many experts tell us, the answer is no. This presents us with a huge problem. Why do the police and governments continue with such a failed policy when there is no evidence whatsoever that it is successful? Shouldn’t this send the media and political opposition into a frenzy that the police and government are trying to fool us? Where’s the scrutiny? Where’s the demand for an enquiry into our flawed drug policy? Where’s the outrage that we are being lied to by our authorities and police?

At the end of the day while moralists pray, governments talk tough and police incarcerate people, criminals just keep getting richer and society becomes more dangerous. If the experts tell us this, why can’t the police?

Premature Cheers For Drug Busts

Sydney Morning Herald

Geesche Jacobsen and Nick Ralston

December 10, 2010

POLICE say they plan to target anyone seeking to fill the vacuum left by the arrest of 31 alleged drug distributors this week.

But the head of the Bureau of Crime Statistics warned yesterday that the results of the arrests should be judged on their impact on the price, purity and availability of the relevant drugs.

Police said the drug raids this week had taken out those they believe to be the major players in the middle level of the three tiers of the drug supply chain. Local police are targeting street-level drug supply, and specialist officers also work on putting the third level, drug importers, behind bars.

But Dr Weatherburn warned: ''We should avoid congratulating ourselves on our efforts rather than our outcomes.''

Research had so far been inconclusive on the long-term impact of drug law enforcement, he said.

Drug seizures in the early 1990s had had no impact on price, purity or availability of the drug, but later seizures and arrests of heroin kingpins had led to an enduring heroin shortage, he said.

Some researchers said the heroin shortage was not the result of police work, but other factors.

A senior research analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology, Katie Willis, said it was also necessary to look at health-related results such as drug deaths, overdoses, and drug treatment.

Dr Willis said it was also difficult to assess the impact of law enforcement because the size of the drug market was unknown. The police, she said, might have been tackling just ''the tip of the iceberg''.

But she said she expected the purity and availability of drugs to fall in the short term as a result of the arrests.

Yesterday, Henry Landini, 66, alleged to be one of the key players arrested on Wednesday, made a brief appearance in Bankstown Local Court. In a blue polo shirt, with his hair slicked back and wearing glasses, he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

He has been charged with supplying large amounts of amphetamines in Sydney's inner-west and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

In court his solicitor, Paul Kenny, rejected claims made by police that there was a risk Mr Landini might flee the country.

Another man arrested on Wednesday, Adel Muustafa, 24, also did not apply for bail but he did not make an appearance before the court. He has been charged with supplying cocaine in Sylvania and with firearm offences.

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Drug Policy Stalls In Law-And-Order Gear

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How Most People Get Their Information About Drugs

Fox News in the US is fairly much what you would expect from a Murdoch owned TV station - heavily biased conservative spin, anti Obama/Democrats, anti-abortion, strong patriotic themes bordering on jingoism, pro-war, supporters of the "War on Drugs”, very Christian - anti-Muslim etc. But, apart from the show’s obvious bias, it derives much of it’s derision from it’s promotional tag line - Fox News … Fair & Balanced!  It doesn’t take long for someone with an average intelligence to realise just how unfair and unbalanced Fox News really is. For the uninitiated, it would be very easy to mistake it as a self parody comedy sketch.

The latest Fox News outrage is a TV commercial by The Drug Policy Alliance(DPA) released last month. The commercial has upset 2 of their most outspoken commentators, Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly and prompted them to lash out with some very interesting claims. The problem though, is that their claims are false even to the point of being ridiculous. Fox News is renown for misleading figures and bizarre claims when it comes to drugs but this latest effort shows how far some anti-drug pundits will go.

First, the DPA commercial.

DPA Commercial

Watch as Fox News makes their astonishing claims. Keep an eye on the statistics they put up as facts.

Fox News Clip 1

Fox News copped a lot of flack over their report but Megyn Kelly was on a mission. Especially when she found out that fellow Fox News employee, John Stossel agreed with Sting.

Fox News Clip 2

Boy, does that woman hate Sting. You had to laugh though at her “ivory tower” rant and the slur that some unnamed source told her, “Mr. Sting is a big fan of certain substances”. 

But, it was Megyn Kelly’s attempt to ridicule John Stossel that was most appalling. Although every attempt was made to push out the usual misinformation and false figures as facts, Stossel stuck with the evidence and corrected Kelly several times for flat out lying. In typical style, Kelly kept changing the topic and throwing up straw man arguments but Stossel debunked every point she made.

-All this as you have California, Washington, New Hamshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts all considering or have passed laws legalising marijuana

-Alcohol has an addiction rate of 10%. Cocaine … 75%.

-The studies show that the places where it’s been legalised, crime has gone up, addiction has gone up

-- Megyn Kelly

The facts:

-Countries that had effectively legalised drugs had decreases in crime and addiction, not increases

-Alcohol has an addiction rate of 15% with cocaine at 17%

-No state in the US have passed laws legalising marijuana

John Stossel must have upset some Fox News heavies and Bill O’Reilly was sent in clean up the mess. And what better way to discredit the DPA commercials than through the founder, Ethan Nadelmann. Armed with their only fact - children are mistreated more often by those with substance abuse problems - Bill-O went into action a few days later.

Fox News Clip 3

Was it really a surprise that Fox News didn’t have a legitimate argument and their attack on illicit drugs was unfounded? As Ethan Nadelmann pointed out, alcohol is the main cause of mistreatment towards children, not drugs but Bill-O wasn’t going to admit to that blunder. His simply dismissed it as “Bull”. Like Megyn Kelly, Bill-O skipped from point to point as each of his claims were pulled apart with facts. Very shallow reporting from Fox News.

It’s sad that this is how many people are getting their information about drugs. The drug debate should be about what’s best for society and how to deal with the problem of drug abuse but it’s dickheads like O’Reilly and Kelly who are prepared to openly lie and criticise those who are doing nothing more than telling the truth. Supporters of prohibition have self serving reasons for their hard line stance on drugs and will go to extreme measures to push their opinion onto the public. That includes accusing a whole country of being morally depraved because of their liberal drug laws.

The attack on The Netherlands by Fox News last year, is a classic example of how a country with very successful drug laws is made to look as immoral and unsafe because it defies the old established views that tough penalties are the only way to fight drugs. This is not so much, a war on drugs but a war on culture.

Fox News - The Netherlands Report

You may have noticed the blonde factor at Fox News - Megyn Kelly, Monica Crowley and Margaret Hoover. Do they have a factory that spits out lying dumb blondes with ridiculous views? You may also be asking yourself, how can Fox News produce such dribble without a storm of criticism. Where were the media on this? Where was the outrage at such scandalous accusations? Why did it take a YouTube response to set the record straight?

Response to The Netherlands Report

More here:

Fox News responds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJwh0CRopQ

Fox News response debunked again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVxDNJ6RZQw

And on it goes…

And for more on Megyn Kelly lying about statistics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7G_IIu-_v4&feature=fvsr

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Stop Repeating Yourselves ... You’re Wrong

How many times do we have to witness and ultimately pay for this ridiculous attempt to please an ignorant public, boofhead politicians and the moral police? Once again, at The Big Day Out, police caught only a small percentage of attendees with drugs while thousands got through. There were dozens of officers, sniffer hounds and public searches all meant to deter drugs from entering the festival. It happens all too often now with the costs mounting up and the shock value decreasing significantly.

Year after year we repeat the same warnings before the event starts, but every year there are still people who stupidly try to get past us and fail
-Superintendent Rod Smith

Why do the police keep doing the same thing, over and over, but expect a different result? According to many, Albert Einstein made a similar observation and claimed it is a sign of insanity. Repeating the same flawed strategy again and again but somehow expecting the latest result to miraculously be different. You get the drift here. The police keep giving out dire warnings that anyone bringing in drugs to a music festival like The Big Day Out, will be caught and dealt with harshly by the courts. Each year though, only a few people get caught. Most are given a caution while thousands simply bypass the sniffer dogs and continue on like the police never existed. This is repeated for each music festival in every state. Insanity? ... or just another fault with the prohibitionist model for dealing with drugs? It doesn’t take a genius like Einstein to work this out and in fact it didn’t. The cliché was actually coined by novelist, Rita Mae Brown.

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results
-Rita Mae Brown, Sudden Death (Bantam Books, New York, 1983), p. 68

Not only do the police re-enact the same old strategy but they try to turn it around and put it on the people who attend these festivals. This gets to the crux of the futile approach taken by our government on drug control. We are historically consumers of drugs and we are always going to partake especially young people at a music festival. Whether the constabulary are there or not, drugs are going to be smuggled in and unless every single person, including the staff, the musicians and the police themselves are stripped searched, there will be plenty to go around. That olden but golden observation becomes apparent once more - if we can’t stop drugs getting into prison, how are we going to stop drugs getting into ... the Sydney show grounds, the Melbourne show grounds etc.

A total of 381 people were arrested, with police laying 104 drug possession charges, 12 drug supply charges, six assault charges and one malicious damage charge. Police also issued nine cannabis cautions, ejected 11 drunk people and caught 18 people trying to jump the fence into the venue.
-(AAP) PerthNow

It’s becoming all too common for the police to join the chorus of crooked politicians and agenda driven anti-drug zealots pushing out fear, exaggerated harms and lies. Droning on about “no drug is a safe drug” or “we’re putting drug dealers and drug users on alert ... we will catch you!”, might keep those “crooked politicians and agenda driven anti-drug zealots” happy but it’s not really productive. Like so much of the typical anti-drug rhetoric from the media and politicians, messages from the police are often produced just to please converts of the drug war or exploitable parents who have already been paralysed with fear. Think about the hundreds of thousands who use ecstasy, speed, cannabis etc. when they go out or on special occasions. Most of them have never had a problem with their drug taking or even seen any lasting negative effect. They have undoubtedly seen booze cause some major upsets but rarely does the same happen with recreational drugs. In fact, I’d dare say it’s the opposite and they have an absolutely cracker of a night. These are the supposed targets of these anti-drug messages but with the constant stream of dire warnings never coming to fruition, the message fails to make an impact. The truth is, and it’s a hard truth ... recreational drugs are taken so often because they are enjoyable, exciting and exhilarating with very little downside. You don’t hear this mentioned very much.

There is this idea with some young people that taking drugs enhances their day out, in reality, they are putting their lives at risk by taking illegal drugs sold by people out to make a quick buck.

They might think this is just an ecstasy pill, but as police members, too often we see the tragic effect of these foolish decisions.

Make no mistake, there is no such thing as a safe party drug.

[...]

No overdoses were recorded among the 10,500 people that attended the event
-Detective Inspector Mark Zervaas - (AAP) The HeraldSun

Yep, you read that right. After all the dire warnings, his last reported comment was, “No overdoses were recorded among the 10,500 people that attended the event”. And we wonder why these messages are over looked by the target audience as just more anti-drug babble.

Apart from being totally pointless, the attempt to stop drugs entering The Big Day Out raises a bigger issue. Why is such a dangerous drug like alcohol allowed to flow freely whilst so much effort is put into stopping safer drugs like cannabis, LSD and ecstasy? This elephant-in-the-room just keeps eluding us over and over as the anti-drug zealots come up with new, fanciful arguments over and over. Remember the constant grind about dope being a gateway drug? That took 40 years of repeated research proving it a myth. Then cannabis supposedly caused all sorts of madness including psychosis, schizophrenia and amotivational syndrome. After numerous studies, they too was finally narrowed down to effect only a tiny group of people with amotivational syndrome being a complete furfie. Since then, cannabis has been blamed for causing testicular cancer, lung cancer, making us sterile, changing personalities and being anti-social. They too are loosing out to science and research which means the anti-drug brigade will have to devise new symptoms of cannabis use to scare the public.

But it’s ecstasy(MDMA) that’s getting the fear treatment at the moment. It wasn’t too long ago that ecstasy was touted as the new drug scourge crippling society. Warnings of massive depression, holes in the brain as seen in CT scans and of course addiction ... all after even one pill. The hype was so intense that the anti-methadone campaign in the US, One Pill Can Kill was mistakenly taken up by anti-ecstasy groups, the police and local nutters.

Ecstasy was perfectly legal until it hit the dance scene in the US. The DEA in spectacular form, ignored a scientific court ruling and rushed through an emergency law to class it as a schedule I drug. This put an end to promising research into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other psychological problems. It seemed that too many young(and old) Americans were just having too much fun for the DEA. But it was a Newsweek article that put MDMA on the most feared list in the US. Newsweek cited flawed research that just one pill could create “holes” in the brain and they provided a CT scan to prove it. It was later revealed that the test subject monkeys had been injected with pure methamphetamine instead of MDMA and the hole in the brain scans really meant nothing. But the damage had been done. Much to the delight of anti-drug crusaders, ecstasy was now seen as a killer. It took over 2 decades of overseas research to eat away at the myths surrounding ecstasy and only now is the real truth coming out. Not addictive, very few deaths, very few problems, statistically safer than riding a horse.

Det-Supt Charlie Carver, of the Serious and Organised Crime Squad, said many seized ecstasy pills contained harmful chemicals such as chalk and washing powder.
-The Sunday Times 

The latest strategy by the anti-drug nutters is not aimed at MDMA itself but the contaminants that are mixed in by manufacturers to extend their product. You have probably read about ecstasy being be cut with glass, rat poison, cleaning agents, heroin etc. The reality is that ecstasy is now being cut more than ever but usually with other mind altering drugs like PMA, Mephedrone, caffeine and ketamine. As far as I know, the claims of glass, heroin and poisons being included in ecstasy pills are myths.

Ecstasy has never been cheaper or more dangerous in Perth, a major new study reveals.
 -The Sunday Times 

Ironically, it’s the drug laws themselves that present the most danger. An unregulated industry(prohibition) breeds crime and a black market where there is no age restrictions, health guidelines or quality control. To top it off, the federal and state governments won’t allow doctors to run pill testing booths at music festivals or raves. This leaves users at the mercy of criminals and what they decide goes in the mix. If you have a complaint, don’t ring The Office of Fair Trading or contact a consumer rights group. The illicit drug industry handles complaints in their own special way - usually with intimidation and violence.

If we look to the club scene in London for setting the trends here in Australia, we should be worried. As MDMA is becoming scarce in London, most ecstasy pills are being filled with steroids, caffeine and mephedrone, a drug we know very little about. This has caused the arrest rate for possession of MDMA to drop significantly in London over the last few year. From 1,197 in 2006 to 773 in 2008. 2009 is looking to be less than 500. This is not a case of drug manufacturers trying to extend their profits but because of a crack down on MDMA precursors by the authorities`. China is now the sole manufacturer of the main precursor for MDMA with exports coming from only 2 countries. They are all heavily regulated and monitored with less than 5 litres in total being sold in 2008 and 2009.

Our philosophy is that we don’t want people to die in order to learn a lesson
 -Students for Sensible Drug Policy

This might keep the AFP, DEA and other drug enforcement agencies happy but as usual, their mindless obsession and limited thinking is killing people. In other words, cracking down on the relatively safe drug MDMA, has caused a surge in PMA, mephedrone, BZP, GHB and other more harmful drugs. Why are anti-drug agencies and groups so inept with logic? They think that if you simply make it harder to get a certain drug then users will just stop taking all drugs? Or when a certain area is targeted by the police - drug users just don’t give up and the dealers quit to get legitimate jobs. The drug scene simply moves somewhere else. Haven’t they ever heard of the Balloon Effect? - squeeze one end and a bulge appears somewhere else.


Insanity
So when will this farce stop? We have silly, ignorant politicians making all sorts of comical statements mixed in with deceitful politicians blatantly lying for some selfish agenda. Giving their support, are the moral crusaders who are mostly happy clappers from the religious right or the new breed of racist, Howard loving, pro-Israel, Tim Blair arse licking neo-conservatives. And in case you still have missed it, we have the sensational and heavily biased Murdoch media pumping out myths, lies and inane opinion pieces designed to brainwash a susceptible public.

Anyone with a hint of intelligence should be able to see the massive flaws in the current system. For example, why do we still have a major drug problem after 50 years of being “Tough on Drugs”? Why is alcohol still legal when it kills 10 times the number of people who die from all illicit drugs combined? Where are the masses of drug induced mental health patients? Why are there still so many drugs available when every week we hear that a new bust was supposed to greatly reduce drug supply?

Where is the common sense and pragmatism? Why do we spend billions on stopping drug supplies but drugs are now easier to obtain than ever before? Why do we keep rolling out the same expensive “Tough on Drugs” strategy when it never meets it’s targets? Why aren’t politicians caught out by the media for lying when they make brash, non-truthful statements? Most anti-drug claims by politicians are simply lies with no scientific evidence but for some reason, opposing political parties don’t just let it slide by but usually try to out do them. This childish banter of “I’m tougher on drugs than you” is purely political and only exacerbates the societal damage already inflicted. And the damage is real, costing many lives and causing incredible carnage. Why is this allowed to continue without any real scrutiny from the media?

While advances in science and medicine bound along exponentially, the approach to drug use lingers in the dark ages. Keeping the public ignorant and fearful of drugs is the prime objective for politicians because it’s a vote winner. That would change if the public were more aware of the facts but with decades of propaganda, myths and fear being forced on them, they don’t have hope. It’s spooky to think that just 10-20 minutes on the intertubes would expose a 100 years of misinformation and lies with the truth there for anyone who cares to find out.

Police Arrest More Than 300 People At Big Day Out
(AAP) PerthNow
January 2010

MORE than 300 people were arrested over the two-day Big Day Out music festival in Sydney, with one person caught with 24 ecstasy tablets, police said today.

Police, including officers from the Dog Squad and Commuter Crime unit, targeted drug and alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour at the festival in Homebush on Friday and Saturday.

A total of 381 people were arrested, with police laying 104 drug possession charges, 12 drug supply charges, six assault charges and one malicious damage charge.

Police also issued nine cannabis cautions, ejected 11 drunk people and caught 18 people trying to jump the fence into the venue.

Ambulance officers were also kept busy, with 1587 people treated by St John Ambulance volunteers over both days, while 36 patients were taken to hospital.

Many of those revellers were treated for dehydration, as temperatures climbed into the 40's on both days.

Drugs seized during the police operation included cannabis, ecstasy, ice, LSD, cocaine and amphetamines.

"One person was found entering the venue allegedly in possession of 24 ecstasy tablets," police said in a statement.

Superintendent Rod Smith said most festival-goers enjoyed themselves responsibly, but some people still hadn't got the message.

"Year after year we repeat the same warnings before the event starts, but every year there are still people who stupidly try to get past us and fail," Supt Smith said in a statement.

"The results also show that anti-social behaviour won't be tolerated, and those charged over the last two days will have to face the consequences at court."

Why We Can’t Trust A. Stoner

It appears that NSW Nationals leader and acting NSW opposition leader, Andrew Stoner might be a fan of The Australian Heroin Diaries. After constantly reading about his cohorts getting so much attention here, it seems he has made a gallant effort to join them. And his efforts will be rewarded with some well deserved recognition from us. Here we go.

Andrew Stoner ... you’re a DICKHEAD!

Why is Andrew Stoner a dickhead, you ask? Well, Stoner is the latest Australian politician attempting to gain voter support by spreading lies and attacking the scientifically proven drug policy of Harm Minimisation. The outrage was triggered by a pamphlet from NSW Health - Drug Safety: Guide to a Better Night that was reportedly available to young people at “music retailers, clubs, libraries, TAFE bars, universities” etc. Hmm. Aren’t some of these places restricted to adults over 18 years old? When they say, “For God’s Sake, Won’t Someone Think Of The Children”, it must also mean the kids who illegally enter adult-only premises.

To put out a pamphlet that says Guide to a Better Night ... I think it's sending a message that to have a good night you ought to be taking drugs
-NSW Nationals leader, Andrew Stoner

Yes, he did actually say that. Stoner and others feel that giving warnings and safety advice to drug users/addicts somehow triggers kids to suddenly take up drugs or it sends the wrong message that you need drugs to have a good time. A far stretch by anyone’s imagination. The excitement was obviously having an effect on Stoner and he blurted out this beauty.

Clearly, the NSW Labor government has a philosophical approach that legal [sic] drugs are okay as long as you take them safely (but) we don't want anyone to take drugs.
-NSW Nationals leader, Andrew Stoner

It wasn’t clear if Stoner was most upset about kids having access to the pamphlet or if it was a general swing at Harm Minimisation. I don’t think he actually knew himself and it only got worse when the anti-harm minimisation nutters joined the fight. First there was Brett Murray, the motivational speaker, author and everyone’s favourite youth inspirer in the lucrative Jesus circuit.

I think this is just a sheer sign of surrender
[...]
There's going to be people out there who commit pre-meditated murder - do we make sure that we have a little pamphlet saying `(ok,) but make sure that you do it in groups'?
-Brett Murray in the Sydney Morning Herald

Followed by our old friend, Darren “Maaate” Marton who gave this magical oration:

Why isn't the government coming out with programs educating young people how to say no to drugs and also how to help their friends? Instead, they keep churning out this harm-minimisation philosophy at the expense of our kids
-No Way Campaign Foundation founder Darren Marton in the Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald were so riveted, they misspelt Darren’s name. And that was it for Darren.

So we have one guy comparing drug use to pre-meditated murder and another warning us that the evil drug policy of Harm Minimisation was costing us our kids. Some profound theories for us all to ponder.

All this hooha because a health safety pamphlet written for 18-29 year old drug users was found at places that young people might visit ... and other age groups as well. What was in this controversial pamphlet that had the NSW opposition apply for it under the FOI act? From various media articles, I found that it includes this:

-Tips for having a safe night
-Urges young people not to use drugs alone
-Advises to ignore friends who put pressure on you to take a drug when you know it doesn't suit you
-Advises young adults about finding the illegal substance that suits their personality type
-And other radical information for our young, delicate readers.

The Opposition yesterday slammed the brochure as a disgrace and families flagged a campaign to force the Government to toughen its anti-drugs messages to young people
-The Daily Telegraph

I want to know why you have to turn 18 to be a drug user/addict. I keep hearing that this information is not suitable for young people. But isn’t this the main flaw behind the anti-harm minimisation argument? - you can not deal with such a complex issue like drug use by slotting people into neat little boxes or using simple, one-size-fits-all policies. If this pamphlet is not available to a 16 or 17 year old, will they simply not take the drug they have just purchased? Is this the type of assumptions you make when you’re so used to regurgitating the, Just Say No myth? I’m sure many anti-drug warriors actually think this way and all the evidence in the world is not going to compete with the back-patting and political point scoring that currently exists.

Acting Opposition leader Andrew Stoner called for the guide to be pulped, saying the harm minimisation message will not solve the problem of drug use
-The Daily Telegraph

I wonder if Stoner really understands what harm minimisation is when he makes such damning statements? Like many of the other dickhead politicians who recently embarrassed themselves, it appears to be a case of political opportunity mixed up with ignorance and personal beliefs. Jumping on the anti-drugs bandwagon might be a proven vote winner but increasingly so, you have to sell your soul to the scientifically challenged group known so fondly as the “Anti-Harm Minimisation Nutters”. That puts Stoner in the elite company of Fred Nile, Steven Fielding, Peter Debnam, Anne Bressington, Bronwyn Bishop, John Howard etc.

Lucky him.

Call To Pulp NSW Government's 'Drugs Are OK' Guide
The Daily Telegraph/AAP
January 2010

A NSW Government brochure advising young adults about safe drug use should be pulped because it sends the wrong message, the state Opposition said.

The brochure Drug Safety: Guide to a Better Night offers tips for drug use and advises young adults about finding the illegal substance that "suits their personality type".

The Government has come under fire for making the pamphlet freely available to young people through outlets such as music retailers, clubs, libraries and universities, with some youth workers saying it "surrenders" in the war against drugs.

But NSW Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt has defended the guide, saying it has been distributed to an 18-29 age group with harm minimisation in mind.

"The Government's first position is that people shouldn't do drugs," she told Macquarie Radio.

Acting Opposition leader Andrew Stoner called for the guide to be pulped, saying the harm minimisation message will not solve the problem of drug use.

"Clearly the NSW Labor Government has a philosophical approach that legal drugs are OK as long as you take them safely (but) we don't want anyone to take drugs," Mr Stoner said.

"This ought to be pulped completely. This is sending a message that illegal drug use is OK.

"We ought to be putting our resources into ensuring kids stay off drugs and, for those who have actually become addicted, into helping to get off drugs."

If the Government does pulp the guide it would be the second time in two years it has been forced to take such drastic action.

In 2008, former health minister Reba Meagher ordered a drug guide aimed at year 9 and 10 students be destroyed because of community outrage over its similar harm minimisation approach.

Related Articles:
Accepting drug use does not mean condoning it - SMH