THE ice epidemic has emerged as a key driver of this year's horror New South Wales road toll, which has shot back up to the highest level since 2013. Almost 50 per cent of motorists who failed roadside drug tests in 2015 took ice, while 72 per cent took cannabis, 6 per cent took ecstasy - and a whopping 97 per cent had a combination of drugs in their system. After years of falling crash rates, including a record low in 2014, this year's road toll has spiked 12 per cent with 333 deaths so far in 2015, up from 298 last year. Back in the 1970s around 1300 people died each year on NSW roads. [continues 321 words]
GRUMPY4810, referring to your text about law enforcement "bleating on that they had wiped out the drug trade in 1940 but 75 years on it's the same". Give the hardworking police their due, Grumpy dear. Stone Age Man got a millennia headlong start when he discovered how to numb the fears and hardship of his/ her life, by brewing beer and the habit has stuck. When they finally migrated to the Euphrates Valley they cultivated grapes and now wine is big business and so are his fears and hardships. [continues 388 words]
DRUG problems have reached "epidemic" proportions on Palm Island say residents, who have called for permanent sniffer dogs. The community's drug use has reportedly increased since the Alcohol Management Plan was introduced in 2006 because the illegal substances are easier to smuggle in. Mayor Alf Lacey said he supported the call for drug dogs if that was what the community wanted. Member for Townsville John Hathaway said he was also happy to work with the Palm Island community, but that it was an "operational" matter. [continues 274 words]
A new look Queensland Country Women's Association has joined the push for trials of marijuana for medicinal use. The controversial topic was heavily debated at the normally conservative CWA's annual conference in Townsville this week. Members agreed to support the Tasmanian CWA in their lobby for research, development and trial of the tablet form of cannabis for the relief of terminally ill and long term sufferers of pain. Queensland president Heather Wieland said in keeping with a more forward-thinking CWA, a majority of the 290 delegates had voted in favour of supporting the idea, which had originally been brought up by the Tasmanian branch of the CWA at the national conference in Darwin. [continues 298 words]
ALREADY facing possible charges of contempt of court, a Sydney doctor who grew almost 50,000 cannabis plants has verbally attacked police, the courts and his conviction. Dr Andrew John Katelaris was convicted on March 8 this year of one count of cultivating not less than a large commercial quantity of cannabis. He was given a three-year good behaviour bond by Judge Ralph Coolahan when he appeared in the NSW District Court in Newcastle today. But Judge Coolahan said he was referring another matter, in which Katelaris accused a jury of being ignorant and referred to them as "sheep", for consideration of charges of contempt. [continues 443 words]
THE twin scourges of methamphetamine and ecstasy abuse dominate the drug problems being faced by nations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, two new reports said. Nearly half the countries in the region now rank methamphetamine as the primary drug of concern, while the rest consider ecstasy their biggest threat. Most of the 13 nations studied in a new report by the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) also report growing abuse of both drugs. "We should not underestimate the threat that illegal drugs use and supply poses to the wider Asia-Pacific region's stability and the potential impact of this situation on Australia," said ANCD chairman Dr John Herron. [continues 333 words]
TWO former drug squad detectives faced court yesterday over claims they ran a $1.5 million heroin ring. Sen-Det Glenn Sadler, 40, and former detective sergeant Stephen Cox, 42, are accused of conspiring with a third policeman to traffic heroin between mid-1999 and late 2002. Sen-Det Sadler and Mr Cox sold about 10kg of heroin with a wholesale value of $1.5 million to a drug dealer over that period, a Victorian Supreme Court jury heard. Prosecutor Michael Tovey, QC, said Sen-Det Sadler received payments of more than $100,000 during the 2000-01 financial year while Mr Cox received $30,000 that could not be accounted for. [continues 95 words]
THE nine Australians arrested in Bali over alleged heroin smuggling should not face the death penalty if convicted, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said today. Eight men and one woman - all aged between 18 and 29 - have been detained by Indonesian authorities following an Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation dating back to February. Four of the nine Australians were arrested at Bali airport on Sunday. The woman and the three men she was with were allegedly about to board a flight to Sydney with heroin strapped to their bodies. [continues 170 words]
