What a joke!
Crack-downs on pill presses, biker gangs, over the counter medications, music festivals, chemical precursors, drug paraphernalia and cannabis laws. Increases in police sniffer dogs harassing people, military style police raids, street sweeps, multi-million dollar anti-drug propaganda campaigns from the government, media drug hysteria, ranting politicians, welfare quarantining, roadside drug testing, cannabis arrests(over 55,000 ), drug arrests(83,873). etc. etc. etc.
With more than $5 billion dollars being wasted each year implementing all these measures, what are the results? More hard drugs. More local drug production. More dangerous drug labs. More drug arrests. More drug users in jail. More drug users. Younger drug users.
If this was any other policy, it would be shut down instantly with the opposition screaming for blood. The media would be in a frenzy and the public would demand the resignation of the PM. So why is there is a deafening silence from the media, opposing political parties and the law? Simple … because they also support the current useless and failed drug policies. What a joke!
Record High For Illicit Drug Seizures
By Rebecca Puddy
June 2010
POLICE seizures of party drugs such as ice and ecstasy were the highest on record last year, indicating the nation's appetite for amphetamines continues unabated, a report released today by Australian Crime Commission says.
Cannabis remains the most prevalent drug in Australia, accounting for two-thirds of national illicit drug arrests, while almost 20 per cent of the 83,873 drug arrests were for amphetamine abuse.
But a record number of cocaine arrests and a doubling of heroin seizures in 2008-09 suggests that hard drugs are more readily available.
The commission's Illicit Drug Data Report also finds the number of clandestine drug labs uncovered has tripled since the start of the decade, with the greatest number of drug labs found across Queensland.
"The record number of drug seizures and drug lab detections in Australia pose a significant risk to the environment and to the community,'' ACC chief executive John Lawler said.
"The illicit drug trade feeds drug habits, which in turn leads to more crime in a destructive cycle,'' Mr Lawler said.
The report found the number of clandestine drug labs detected by authorities increased from 150 in 1999-2000 to 449 last year. Western Australia had the sharpest increase, up from 30 in 2007-08 to 78 in 2008-09.
More than 13 tonnes of illicit drugs were seized overall in 2008-09, up from 8.5 tonnes in 2007-08.
Heroin seizures at the border increased from 99.3kg in 2007-08 to 150.6kg last year.
BTW, have a read of Greg Barn’s excellent article in The Punch.
4 comments:
how can they possibly put legal controls on pill-presses??
i know there is said to be a real art to making good pills, which dissolve readily, yet will not fall apart
when i was into E i followed advice i had read and always crunched my pills, so i knew they'd work quicker!
do you have the phenomenon of sniffer dogs at railway stations/etc harassing people for smelling of drugs?.. because that's all those dogs can pick up. the smell of drug residue that might be months old
i know someone who got busted by one but she was naive "o yeah the gear was really well hidden; it was deep in a pocket in my bag" said the scatterbrained dilly
speaking of heroin, so is this drought i heard about well and truly over? i don't quite understand how australia could be in heroin drought when afghanistan was producing world record quanities. even if aussie heroin traditionally does come from burma, why didn't some enterprising person step in and take over the entire trade with cheap afghan imports?
if i were a "mafia don", i'd have done so!
Thanks Gleds.
There's no heroin drought. It's just back to where it was before the huge influx about 10-12 years ago.
I have not seen any Afghani gear here at all and wonder if they can compete with the established SE Asian markets.
And yes, we have military dressed cops running around with sniffer dogs at train stations, music festivals and even at a Cheech and Chong show!
Read about it here.
I have a prediction.
If Obama wins a second term, in his 3rd year of that term, he will radically change the war on drugs from a law enforcement to a taxation / health model.
Perhaps then up to 100 people a day won't die in Mexican drug war killings on the US border.
Thanks Mikey.
It's been a long time.
I tend to agree about Obama. He doesn't want to risk a 2nd term where he can make all the changes he wants. He got the ball rolling by announcing an end to using the term, "War on Drugs", announcing a shift towards treatment and dropped the ban on federal funding of needle exchanges. Very important core changes that can be built on.
Will Australia soon be lagging behind the US? Unimaginable only a few months ago.
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