Regarding the ice epidemic ( SM, Aug 23), make no mistake, drugs are bad. But the war on drugs is worse. As the Americans found out during the 1920s prohibition on alcohol, such a war empowers organised crime. It is time to move away from policies that focus on law enforcement towards ones that include the legalisation of some drugs, decriminalisation of others, rehabilitation and treatment programs, as well as advertising campaigns. Cameron Ljubic, Bethania [end]
THERE'S a whiteboard on the kitchen wall in the Tune house with an important message. "You are BRAVER than you believe," it starts. "STRONGER than you seem. SMARTER than you think. And LOVED more than you'll ever know!" A photograph is pinned to the bottom. In it, Katrina Tune lies in a hospital bed. They've wheeled her in to see her little boy, born by caesarean section only an hour before. He isn't breathing on his own. It would be days before she'd give him a name, refusing to do so until they'd removed the breathing tubes so she could see his face. Those big eyes. The cherub lips. His name was Angus.In his 23 short months of life, Angus has had 12 hospital admissions, numerous trips to the emergency department, 17 EEGs and has been prescribed five different anticonvulsants - some with terrible side effects. [continues 275 words]
THE vexed question of legalising medical marijuana is gaining momentum in Australia. Only recently NSW Premier Mike Baird said he wouldn't completely rule it out. Now, Brisbane mum Sally White tells 60 Minutes tonight that her 16-month-old daughter is dying and she wants to put her child on weed. A young cancer sufferer in Tamworth in NSW, his father a policeman, is waging a campaign to have medical marijuana made legal. It is legal in Colorado in the US and other states are investigating. Properly regulated and with rigorous eligibility criteria, surely if it gives the dying relief, legalising medical marijuana must be investigated in this country. [end]
TWO Queensland mums have made desperate pleas to legalise marijuana to save their children's lives, including one who is just 16 months old. Sunshine Coast mum Sally White fears for the life of her 16-month-old daughter Zali, who suffers from a rare genetic disease and cannabis could be the only option to ease her suffering. Zali was diagnosed with Aicardi syndrome, where a part of the brain is missing, resulting in frequent seizures. Ms White says a cannabis strain in the US, known as Charlotte's Web, is being used to treat children suffering from epilepsy and seizures. [continues 187 words]
AN EPILEPTIC girl who was having up to 60 seizures a day and who was given only months to live has made a miraculous recovery since her mum started giving her liquid cannabis which was made in Nimbin. Doctors at one of Australia's leading hospitals have acknowledged the "remarkable improvements" in the girl's condition one year after she started taking the drug. But health representatives have warned families not to use medicinal marijuana, saying it remains illegal across Australia. [continues 398 words]
THE sombre news that South Australia appears to be the amphetamine manufacturing capital of Australia is grim tidings indeed. The report in today's Sunday Mail revealing Australian Crime Commission data showing that, per capita, we have more clandestine drug laboratories detected than anywhere else in the nation is a peephole into a shadowy world of broken lives, organised crime and misery. Forget this notion of amphetamines being "recreational" drugs, which seems to convey a rosy image of fun times and no risk. [continues 218 words]
AMPHETAMINE laboratories are uncovered in South Australia at a rate double the national average. The alarming statistic has saddled the state with a reputation as the drug lab capital of Australia. A database set up by the Australian Crime Commission also shows that, per capita, there are more of the highly dangerous clandestine laboratories found here than in any other state or territory. Police say a jump in the number of drug labs in Adelaide homes in recent years has contributed to the alarming figures, released by the commission last week. [continues 669 words]
DRUG sniffer dogs have been unleashed at the Big Day Out on the Gold Coast for the first time, and police have made scores of arrests. Sniffer dogs have been used by Queensland police since 2006 but had not been deployed before at the huge touring music festival, which hit Parklands Showgrounds today. But police upped the ante against drug users after making about 30 arrests at the recent Summerfieldayze festival on the Gold Coast. Dog handlers made regular sweeps of entry points into the Big Day Out throughout the day and dozens of patrons were arrested, mainly for possession of ecstasy pills and cannabis. [continues 77 words]
Paramedics are treating more than 30 Queenslanders a day for drug-related conditions including overdoses, a rise of 15 per cent in two years. New figures reveal that ambulance officers across the state attended 11,429 cases involving drug-affected people last year. Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said the figures were proof the Government was not doing enough to tackle the growing problem of drugs in the community. He called for a review of drug awareness campaigns to ensure they were targeting the problem. [continues 359 words]
PREMIER Anna Bligh has pledged to crack down on dangerous drug-addled drivers with Queensland police due to begin roadside testing within weeks. Police expect to drug-test up to 20,000 drivers in the next 12 months, with the number of roadside tests likely to increase in the following years. "It's time to get tough - don't say you weren't warned," Ms Bligh said yesterday after the state's road toll sped past 300. Drivers will be tested for cannabis, ecstasy, speed and ice as well as breathalysed in roadside drug and alcohol blitzes around the state. [continues 459 words]
AUSTRALIAN and American teenage girls have caught up with boys in levels of illicit drug and alcohol use, a US drug trends researcher says. Girls' use of methamphetamines, ecstasy and alcohol was almost equal to boys' level of use, or in some cases even higher, according to Professor Jane Maxwell of the University of Texas. "Teenage girls are catching up with or exceeding boys in some of their use of some of the drugs in both countries," Prof Maxwell said at a University of Queensland seminar on Wednesday. [continues 249 words]
"SARAH" sometimes likes to do a line of cocaine with friends after a nice glass of red wine. Occasionally the 28-year-old Brisbane-based university lecturer will drop some ecstasy. She has tried ice, but says she didn't like it. She has dabbled in heroin, and now and again she'll smoke some weed. She doesn't view her occasional drug use as a problem - she says she doesn't see it as anybody's business but her own - and she has absolutely no intention of stopping. [continues 2250 words]
A MAN driving a car with the licence plate "THC4ME" has been caught with 1kg of cannabis and more than $12,000 cash in a remote Northern Territory community. Michael John Page, 44, pleaded guilty in the NT Supreme Court yesterday to supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis and possessing $12,880, gained through the commission of an offence. Prosecutor Corinna Baohm said the man bought a $4000 car, clip-seal bags and about 1kg of cannabis - for which he paid about $8800 - in Katherine in January. He then drove to Ramingining on the Arnhem Land coast where he stayed with a friend. [continues 205 words]
THE Gold Coast is the child abuse capital of Queensland, with senior doctors blaming the violence on increasing drug use by parents. A fightback has begun against the tide of complaints on the tourist strip, with Queensland Health creating a child protection unit and the Abused Child Trust planning to expand its charity service. The latest research obtained by The Sunday Mail confirms the Gold Coast is the leading Queensland region for child abuse cases, followed by Ipswich, Logan and Brisbane City. [continues 201 words]
CRIME syndicates are poised to unleash a flood of locally produced ecstasy across Victoria, top drug investigators believe. Police fear young partygoers could be at risk in the school and university holiday period. Major drug investigation division boss Det-Supt Tony Biggin said intelligence suggested more syndicates were going to produce locally rather than import. Massive demand for amphetamines - a market that spurred Melbourne's recent gangland killings - has led organised crime gangs to cut costs by producing ecstasy in secret suburban drug labs. [continues 384 words]
MORE than 4000 children and teenagers have been caught with marijuana in three years in Queensland, a new report reveals. The youngest found with the drug was just 10, according to the review of the State Government's drug diversion initiative - where first-time offenders are given the option of a two-hour rehabilitation session rather than going to court. The review, completed by an independent review team for Queensland Health and the police, says the drug diversion program should continue. [continues 785 words]
TEN doctors have teamed up to visit rave parties. In an Australian first, the Royal Adelaide Hospital doctors will survey drug users and investigate rave party substances such as ecstasy and fantasy. The team recently went to its first rave, near Angaston, where five people were admitted to intensive care after taking fantasy. Many other users were treated for stomach cramps. RAH research fellow Dr David Caldicott said he had been doing similar work in Europe since 1997 but it was a new thing for Australia. [continues 258 words]
ANTI-drug campaigners say new research, showing that one in three teenagers who smokes cannabis weekly becomes hooked by the early 20s, proves that it should not be treated as a "soft" drug. The shocking study found teens who used cannabis every week were at high risk of addiction, with males more likely to develop a long-term habit. Experts say use of the drug in Australia is rising, with almost two-thirds of 21-year-olds claiming to have tried it. [continues 305 words]
ECSTASY and speed would be freely available over the counter under a radical NSW Greens policy. And heroin would be given to registered addicts in regulated quantities for use in a string of safe injecting rooms across the state. The party wants to remove criminal penalties for personal drug use and establish licensed drug outlets to import, manufacture and sell drugs. Details of the controversial policy are not included in the party's campaign literature for the March 22 state election, where the Greens are expected to receive their largest ever share of the vote in NSW. [continues 655 words]
THE recent payout to a bar attendant for cancer caused by passive smoking only makes the stand on drugs harder to understand. Many people have a jaundiced, illogical view of drug addicts, even going so far as to consider them ``dirty drug-taking scum''. But consider two drug addicts in the act of taking their drugs - one harms only themself and the other inflicts potential death and suffering on others with seemingly not a care in the world. Of course, the latter is a cigarette smoker, while the former is an illegal drug user. [continues 68 words]
