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The first time I read this I thought the journalist was taking the piss, then I scroll down to see the comments and read that the journalist was not being sarcastic at all. http://newmatilda.com/2008/04/04/innocent-...tial-smackheads There has been some comment lately about the rights and wrongs of drug testing in schools. A new report has found that it would be a rather costly and pointless exercise, but this has not ended the argument. Miranda Devine is one who comes down firmly on the pro-testing side. Devine says some of our "most powerful tools" in the fight against drugs are "judgmental and intolerant adults", and she should be commended for sticking to her area…

This is a few days old, I meant to post it sooner. In the weekend Toowoomba newspaper, full page, on the front page was a story about a 12 million dollar drug bust. I wont go into details in the story, but the bust was all marijuana, no other drugs, there were more than 700 immature plants and 15kg of marijuana as well as seeds. They say this is one of the biggest drug busts in Toowoomba history and will put a major dent it the supply of cannabis to the streets in Toowoomba. The artical didn't say how long he might get, but that he would definetly be imprisoned. Ok, no lets flip to page 5, we have a half page artical about how convicted pedophile rapist Rodney Wade…

Thursday November 20th, 2008 http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/486711 © 2008 CanadaEast Interactive, Brunswick News Inc. All rights reserved HAMMONDVALE - Even the RCMP officers responsible for catching local drug dealers were stumped by a find they made in Hammondvale last month. No longer are high-inducing baked goods limited to hash brownies. The District 3 RCMP plain clothes unit executed a warrant at a residence in the rural community outside Sussex on Oct. 22, and in an earlier press release revealed the significant seizure. The bust netted about five pounds of marijuana, hash oil, the painkiller OxyContin, scales and marijuana growing e…

The Northern Star Helen Jack 19 November 2008 Banana grower Garry Ronald Howard, 63, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail yesterday after pleading guilty to growing nearly 3000 cannabis plants, a large commercial quantity, on his family's farm at Burringbar. Lismore District Court heard Howard nurtured the crop in six plots along a creek bed running through the property. Howard said he had no intention of growing so much of the prohibited drug. He said the seeds had washed down from upstream and had taken root on his property. In sentencing Howard, Judge Colin Charteris said the evidence showed he did intend to sell some of the crop and had admitted to bein…

Otago Daily Times Wed, 19 Nov 2008 A man who refused a drug test and was sacked from a meat processing plant has lost his claim for unjustified dismissal. Jonathon Parker took his employer Silver Fern Farms Ltd, owners of the Oringi plant near Dannevirke, to the Employment Relations Authority. Mr Parker worked at the plant from February 2002 until his dismissal on December 7, 2007. He was a union member and there were no warnings or disciplinary issues in respect to his performance before he was sacked. Because of concerns about drug use, the union and the company management had agreed on a drug testing policy which was introduced in January 2007. A key theme of the po…

The Beckley Foundation Policy Programme - Reacting to concerns that international drug policy debates are insufficiently informed by the growing evidence base, the Beckley Foundation directs a programme of research and policy analysis. In spite of 40 years of prohibition, drugs are cheaper, purer and more widely avaialble than ever before. The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme (BFDPP) was set up to develop a scientifically-evaluated evidence base, and provide a rigorous, independent review of current global drug policy. It aims to cast light on the current dilemmas facing policymakers within governments and international agencies, and to work with them in order to …

examiner.com November 18 J.D. Tuccille Norm Stamper is the former Seattle Police Chief, a position he held from 1994 through 2000. So he'd seem to be an unlikely person to advocate drug legalization. But that's exactly what he's done time and again, drawing off his 34 years of police experience, and his knowledge of the failures of the war on drugs. In 2005, he wrote the following words for the Los Angeles Times: Sometimes people in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight. Yes, I was a cop for 34 year…

Billions Can Be Saved By New Government: (18 November 2008) Voxy.co.nz http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/billions-ca...vernment/5/5514 The new National led government could save as much as five billion dollars a year if they are prepared to address the root cause of its loss, according to MethCon Group director Mike Sabin. "A study by BERL, Business and Economic Research Group identified illicit drug abuse, headed up by methamphetamine, was found to cost the country around $1.3b in 2006, while alcohol abuse is conservatively thought to cost the country between $1b and $4b a year", said Mr. Sabin . "We are in the middle of an economic crisis and the new government ha…

By Gemma Jones November 13, 2008 12:00am http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5006009,00.html Copyright 2008 News Limited POLICE have arrested 869 people during a train operation which also netted a man who allegedly tried to blame his pet rat when a drug dog sniffed cannabis in his bag. The officer told him the dog smelt drugs, not rats and the bag was opened, revealing his pet white rat and allegedly cannabis wrapped in newspaper. There have been more than 35,000 patrols on trains since the start of September resulting in arrests for drug possession and dealing, 63 weapons offences and assaults. Officers have also nabbed 34 people for breach of bail …

Rebecca Tucker November 17th, 2008 http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/articl...31605_news.html Copyright © January 2006 POLICE arrested two men for drugs offences at the Geelong Train Station this morning as part of a special operation. Chief Inspector Brian Jennings, of the Victoria Police transit safety division, said another male was charged with possessing a controlled weapon after he was found with a knife. Police used the dog squad during Operation Goats, which began in Geelong and continued at Werribee and through to Melbourne. One man was charged with possessing and using a drug of dependence, marijuana, and the second with using the same drug. The…