Tell Kevin (take 2)

[littlbit]

Hi entheo, I just finished answering a letter from Nicola Roxon here is is. I decided to respond to her objections and show them to be false at best and pure ignorance at worst. They at least do keep responding even when it means they are simply digging themselves into a bigger hole.

 

Dear Nicola,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this letter, I have been a bit busy getting ready for the High Court and attending County Court over these issues. Now I would like to deal with some of the things you raised concerning your breaches of the Single Treaty on Narcotics.

 

Firstly let me deal with some of the issues you have raised;

 

You claim in your letter that it is widely accepted that Cannabis can be a risk for poor mental health. Now as you well know some people will have adverse effects to anything, I for one cannot take prescription pain medication because of the allergic reaction, I also have adverse mental reaction to many other prescribed drugs because of my health issues and the fact that I am autistic many drugs work in the opposite manner with autistics just a simply fact, therefore for many people we cannot take prescribed drugs. So I do agree with you there will be people who cannot and should not take certain drugs including cannabis, however I do not expect our government to ban prescribed drugs simply because some of us have adverse effects to them just as I do not expect you to ban cannabis because some people cannot use it.

 

With the range of short and long term harms that might include

Anxiety and paranoia - using cannabis has greatly reduced this in me and have been proved by research to help many people who suffer from these things.

 

Increased risk of respiratory diseases and cancer from smoking - firstly that is the tobacco not the cannabis as the USA patent clearly shows that cannabis protects and rebuilds, does not destroy. Also this is a food we should be eating or drinking it not smoking always safer and gives the best of benefits without adverse side effects.

 

Dependence- Now really Nicola your own Working party reports clearly state this is not and never was an issue, and have condemned government ministers for this lie.

 

Decreased memory and learning abilities; - Well given we have both been IQ tested in the past 2 years showing my husband to be in the top 1% after 30+ years of continual use, and I am top 2% after 16 years of continual use, given that the county court judge clearly saw we have a brilliant argument for the high court and one of the best lawyers told us he had never seen an argument so well presented and clearly thought out. Not to mention if it does so much damage and around 80% of government ministers have admitted to using throughout their youth and I just bet that was not once a month, is the government and yourself saying it effected them and has damaged their thinking process (you may well have an good argument on some ministers given some of the decisions made recently) Please think about this argument and remember the people of Australia are not completely stupid even if government thinks they are.

 

Decreased motivation; Would you think I have decreased motivation in study, work or concentration? So far I am waiting for any minister to come back with any real evidence to disprove what I have said, and believe me I can pull all the studies to show this to be another fictitious statement. The fact is that there are people who for whatever reasons only known to them who decide to wipe themselves out on whatever takes their fancy be it drugs, booze or food and they blame the substance rather than take responsibility.

 

Drowsiness: well if you use enough cannabis you will go to sleep, then again if you use enough booze you will kill yourself, you choose which you see as the safest option.

 

Loss of co-ordination; When was the last time someone had a sobriety test after using Cannabis or even many prescribed drugs, I do not use to excess therefore my co-ordination is pretty good for 58, however I have been in a car with someone who has drunk only 2-3 glasses of booze and another who had around 4 pipes the safer one was the smoker, he was also less aggressive and much more alert. Try this for yourself sometime you will be surprised at the difference.

 

Bloodshot eyes, well if this is something that is bad perhaps you lot should take a good look at yourselves in the mirror, this is also caused by, lack of sleep, eye irritation, allergies

and a myriad of other things. Please remember that Cannabis is the only known medicine for Glaucoma therefor helps the eyes.

 

Dryness of the eyes, mouth and throat. Yep this one I will give you it does, so do Asthma medications, going for a walk, being around high traffic areas and going into any major city, I am sure you are not going to ban any of these.

 

 

I am aware that Cannabis remains an Illegal plant in Australia, I also know this is illegal too and perhaps I need to explain this further here to begin is the Preamble to the single treaty to help you understand how you are breaking the law and in breach of the Treaty itself, or will you wait until after we have been to the High Court before you recognise you are breaking the law of this land and in breach of Human Rights laws also.

 

Preamble: The parties, Concerned with the health and welfare of mankind, Recognising that the medical use of narcotic drugs continues to be indispensable for the relief of pain and suffering and that adequate provisions must be made to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs for such purposes, Recognising that addiction to narcotic drugs constitutes a serious evil for the individual and is fraught with social and economic danger to mankind, Conscious of their duty to prevent and combat this evil, Considering that effective measures against abuse of narcotic drugs require co-ordinated and universal action, Understanding that such universal action calls for international co-operation guided by the same principles and aimed at common objectives, Acknowledging the competence of the United Nations in the field of narcotics control and desirous that the international organs concerned should be within the framework of that Organisation, *Desiring to conclude a generally acceptable international convention replacing [10] existing treaties on narcotic drugs, limiting such drugs to medical and scientific use, and providing for continuous international co-operation and control for the achievement of such aims and objectives,

Again please note you are told clearly to provide for Medical and Scientific use, so I again ask where are the lists of Doctors approved to prescribe also the list of Government suppliers? As you clearly see by not supplying these things you are breaching the Treaty and therefore the law.

 

Given that the Treaty states 'provisions must be made to ensure the availability' we are wondering what part of this you are having problems with, could it be the word MUST?

Let me assist you with that word, it simply means You have to regardless of your personal beliefs or weather you want to or not you MUST so it.

 

Article 2: SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION

1. The purpose of this Convention is to promote co-operation among the Parties so that they may address more effectively the various aspects of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances having an international dimension. In carrying out their obligations under the Convention, the Parties shall take necessary measures, including legislative and administrative measures, in conformity with the fundamental provisions of their respective domestic legislative systems.

 

Here is another area you appear to not understand, clearly the treaty means that without regulated certification people cannot sell, trade in or distribute. Now clearly that is not personal use, like any other food plant we can grow to feed ourselves in our own gardens. I grow my own tomatoes, carrots, lettuce etc and should I decide to grow to sell these items of food I would need a licence to do so, this goes for Cannabis too and so it should.

 

Article 30: DENUNCIATION

1. A Party may denounce this Convention at any time by a written notification addressed to the Secretary-General.

2. Such denunciation shall take effect for the Party concerned one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.

 

Subject to its constitutional principles and the basic concepts of its legal system

 

Here again is the out, you claim you do not have under this Treaty, as has been explained before the Treaty is in breach of our Constitution.

 

Therefore for these reasons and the fact that the Treaty is in breach of our Constitution as are the State laws that are there to ratify the Treaty, we have at no time broken any law. The government is in breach of the Treaty by not ensuring adequate provisions must be made to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs for such purposes.

 

Now given that Prescription drugs are according to Government web sites approximately 90% controlled therefore only 10% are a problem, that can be handled by the medical profession as they are legal drugs. Ilicit drugs are according to Government documentation 10% controlled therefore 90% uncontrolled and in the hands of the Criminal element would it not make more sense to put all drugs back from where they came under medical control removing it from the hands of the criminal element and allowing pharmaceutical use of these things given they all came from pharmaceutical labs in the first place. Lives will be saved, pain relief can be given safely and doctors can monitor those people who have addiction problems without the fear of being deregistered.

 

Remembering that there are well over 10,000 patents registered around the world on Cannabis some 300 at least found in Australia and many of those owned by Government, the argument is not over the validity of medical cannabis that argument is over, now they are arguing about who came up with what delivery method, because they have got a number of delivery methods and they are arguing over who patented first.

 

So again please send me the list of approved Doctors and Government suppliers or allow Grow, Possess and use for personal and medical.

 

I also remind you with the greatest respect that you are elected to do the will of the people, not the will of business, not the will of Church leaders, and not to keep in place bad laws because of your own personal beliefs. Unconstitutional, discriminatory, unjust bad laws must be removed and they will be.

 

Sincerely

[entheofarm]

 

Thats F#@KING fantastic littlbit!

 

again do you mind if I borrow some points?

[littlbit]

entheo mate I have the same rules as lightning, you can use anything I put up in here to beat the bastards over the head with any time, cause they deserve it.

[entheofarm]

sweet thanks

 

thought you might like (or should I say dislike) this response from Qld Health regarding THC as a medicine

 

THC is listed in Schedule 9 of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons (SUSDP).

 

Doctors do not have authority in Qld to prescribe S9 poisons.

 

In addition, approval under the Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 cannot be granted for the therapeutic use of S9 poisons.

 

Hence, in Qld Doctors cannot prescribe THC.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

George

[littlbit]

My response from the TGA, they did however attach the form and the Judge thought that was rather interesting.

 

Thank you for your email regarding obtaining Cannabis for your personal use . I am from the Drug Safety and Evaluation Branch of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The Drug Safety and Evaluation Branch is responsible for prescription medicines. In response to your enquiry, I offer you the following information.

 

The piece of Commonwealth legislation that controls the regulation of medicines in Australia is the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 ("the Act"). The Act exists in order to ensure the quality, safety, efficacy and timely availability of therapeutic goods in Australia. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is responsible for administering the Act. Essentially, any product for which therapeutic claims are made must be included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) before it can be supplied in Australia.

 

In order for a therapeutic good to appear on the ARTG, a sponsor (manufacturer) must lodge an application with the TGA. This application, including all supporting data is then evaluated by the TGA. The TGA does not seek out sponsors to put forward particular applications for particular medicines. It is the responsibility of the sponsors to do so.

 

Any product that is not contained in the ARTG is considered to be an "unapproved" good. In order to gain access to an unapproved good in Australia, your doctor must apply through the Special Access Scheme (SAS). To gain SAS approval an Australian-registered medical practitioner will firstly need to apply to the TGA for Special Access Scheme (SAS) approval to treat you with this products. Whether or not the doctor receives approval depends on whether the doctor can provide clinical justification for treating you with this product.

 

The Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons (SUSDP) places Cannabis into Schedule 9. , i.e." substances which may be abused or misused, the manufacture, possession, sale or use of which should be prohibited by law". Further, this substance is a prohibited import under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 and therefore cannot be imported unless an import permit is issued prior to importation.

 

It is likely that State and Territory legislation presently would not allow the use of this product as it falls into Schedule 9 of the SUSDP. While the SUSDP is not uniformly adopted in Australia by all States and Territories, legislative arrangements are such that in essence, the same prohibitions are in place. Each State and Territory has its own 'Drugs Misuse Act' that captures these types of substances.

You would need to approach the Health Department of the State or Territory that you reside in to determine this precisely.

 

I have attached a link to our website that explains the Special Access Scheme and I have also attached the Category B SAS form that your doctor will need to complete.

 

http://www.tga.gov.au/hp/sas.htm

[entheofarm]

According to the TGA response alcohol and tobacco and panadol and etc etc etc should be classed S9 poisons

 

Thought I would post my essay on "Should Cannabis be legalised in Australia" (unit: Drugs across Culture)

 

I managed to get 75% which I was very suprised with as due to the legal and medical issues I have had leading upto the due date I only wrote it the night before

 

Introduction.

Cannabis, also known as Marijuana is a product of the Cannabis sativa plant. Hemp is a type of cannabis which is a non psychoactive variety of the species used for producing textiles. There are a number of products that can be produced from cannabis including Hash and Hash oil which are more concentrated forms of the drug. In the context of drug use, the primary psychoactive constituent in Cannabis is THC or delta-9 tetrahydo-cannabinol. THC is concentrated in the flowers of the female Cannabis plant and is normally smoked to induce affects, it can also be eaten or vaporised. Cannabis affects the CB1 and CB2 receptors in the brain and the psychoactive affects, known as getting high are subjective and vary between individuals. Mild euphoria, feelings of well-being, relaxation or stress reduction result from its use. Cannabis is also reported to have numerous medicinal qualities. Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the world with an estimated 166 million people having used it . In Australia in 2007, 34% of persons over the age of 15 reported that they had used cannabis at some time in their lives . It is illegal to posses or produce cannabis in Australia.

 

The history of cannabis laws in Australia.

Cannabis was first introduced into Australia by Sir Joseph Banks who sought to establish Hemp production within the new colony of Australia. Hemp/Cannabis went mostly unnoticed until Australia’s drug policy was Americanised after 1937 due to the diplomatic pressure applied by America with the assistance of the hysteria created by the likes of Harry Anslinger and the “reefer madness” campaign. Reefer Madness was an attempt by the US government to paint cannabis as an evil drug that would incite violence and hatred. Still cannabis was not a major issue of public and social concern in Australia until on the back of Nixon’s war on drugs in the 1960’s Australia quickly adopted similar policies to those of the US. Queensland premier Johannes Bjelke-Petersen and NSW premier Robert Askin supported Nixon’s “War on Drugs” and called for a police crackdown on Australian youth culture . As a result of American influence cannabis was and is scheduled as an illegal drug in all States and Territories of Australia. Penalties for cannabis related offences vary across Australia from cautions and notices to gaol time depending on the nature of the offence. Cannabis is also a schedule 9 poison according to the Australian standard for the uniform scheduling of drugs and poisons which is adopted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, thus no therapeutic use of cannabis is officially recognised in Australia. Recently States such as South Australia as well as the Australian Capital Territory have amended legislation so as to decriminalise minor Cannabis offences. Although Hemp has no psychoactive properties it is still illegal to grow without a license and raw Hemp is considered to be illegal cannabis.

 

 

Medical impacts of cannabis and the dangers of its use.

Cannabis remains by far the most commonly used illicit drug in the world. Contrary to popular belief that no deaths are associated with cannabis use there are in fact two reported deaths directly linked to cannabis . Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years and countless research papers have been written on the health risks associated with cannabis use. A Chinese treatise on pharmacology attributed to the Emperor Shen Nung and alleged to date from 2737 B.C. contains probably the earliest reference to cannabis and its potential as a medicine . However negative reactions can result from cannabis use and it should not be deemed a safe drug for everyone, as no drug should. Cannabis can cause increased heart rates, anxieties and be a further irritant for asthma sufferers . The therapeutic benefits of cannabis use heavily outweighs any known negatives, it has been used to treat any number of ailments from Multiple sclerosis to glaucoma. Two synthetic cannabis based medicinal products that have been developed by GW Pharmaceuticals (Sativex) and Solvay Pharmaceuticals (Marinol) are prescribed in several countries and some states of the US to treat cancer and AIDS patients. One issue that can not debated is that Cannabis is the most benign drug on the spectrum of harm. Compared with other licit social drugs, such as alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine, cannabis does not pose greater risks . Tetrahydrocannabinol being the main active ingredient in Cannabis, is a very safe drug. Laboratory animals (rats, mice, dogs, monkeys) can tolerate doses of up to 1,000 mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram). This would be equivalent to a 70 kg person swallowing 70 grams of the drug -- about 5,000 times more than is required to produce a high. Despite the widespread illicit use of cannabis there are very few if any instances of people dying from an overdose . There is no know LD50 for cannabis (LD50 being the required toxic amount to cause death in 50 of 100 test subjects). Cannabis has minimal health impact on societies in general due to its benign nature.

 

The cost of prohibition

Drug prohibition is destroying the lives of millions, the war on drugs has failed. The direct costs of prohibition are immense. In 1998/99, almost $1.5 billion was spent by Australian governments on drug law enforcement; productivity losses associated with drug offences were estimated at an additional $500 million . A figure that has increased significantly.

The social harms arising from cannabis prohibition include:

* discriminating against the minority who prefer cannabis to alcohol, thereby causing misery and suffering;

* criminalizing users of cannabis, creating disrespect for the law and the enforcers of the law, the police and judiciary;

* stigmatizing convicted offenders for what they regard as a trivial matter, with a criminal record for the rest of their days;

* encouraging young and unemployed people to become criminals by creating an extremely lucrative black market in cannabis;

* forcing users into contact with (at least part-time) professional law-breakers, such as growers and dealers;

* removing the settling of cannabis-related disputes from the legal process, creating a context of potential violence for large-scale cannabis transactions.

* the arrest and conviction of hundreds of Queenslanders leading to fines and gaol sentences;

* disbarring of convicted offenders from certain types of employment;

* undermining the credibility of official pronouncements on drugs, thereby encouraging experimentation with truly dangerous drugs (e.g 'datura');

* depriving consumers of perhaps 90 percent of the purchasing power of the money spent on cannabis (if the black-market price is, say, inflated 10 times the legal price).

* the wholesale waste of very large amounts of public funds on cannabis law enforcement that is almost totally ineffective

* serious erosions in the rights to privacy and civil liberties of all citizens .

 

Conclusion

Cannabis should not be completely legal and freely available in Australia, no drug should be. It should however be regulated and controlled and all related criminal offences should be abolished so that resources can be better spent on harm reduction. Cannabis is not a completely harmless drug but without question prohibition of cannabis is causing more social harm than the drug itself. Federal cannabis laws need to be introduced immediately that allow for personal use, possession and cultivation of cannabis. Federal laws would prevent cross border trafficking and conflicts in state laws that may encourage criminal activity, it will also allow any issues to be dealt with on a uniformed national basis. Strict regulations and control similar to those that are placed on alcohol and tobacco would reduce the misuse and abuse of cannabis and prevent the assumption that it is a drug that should be used freely without harm. Policies regarding cannabis use need to be based on factual research and not on the hysteria and demonizing attitudes of prohibition supporters. Regardless of the laws and penalties criminalising cannabis its use has not decreased and people will continue to risk punishment and the stigma of being labelled a criminal to be able to use it. Social acceptance of cannabis being a relatively harmless drug needs to be recognised in legislation, legislation needs to recognise that people should have implied civil and human rights when it comes to a drug that poses no risk to the publics interests. People need to recognise that cannabis is no safer than and no more damaging than current licit drugs and that each individual’s reaction will vary. Through control and regulation cannabis could become the answer to many of the worlds and societies problems, medicinally, recreationally and environmentally.

 

 

 

Australian legal citation referencing used.

 

Bibliography

A Cannabis Chronology, UKCIA, http://www.ukcia.org/culture/history/chrono.php [Accessed 27 Oct 2008].

 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2008. 2008 World drug report (online). UNODC, Vienna. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/world_drug_report.html [Accessed 26 Oct. 2008].

 

2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: First Results. Canberra:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10579

[Accessed 26 Oct 2008].

 

Gable, R.S. 2004. Comparison of acute lethal toxicity of commonly abused psychoactive substances. Addiction.

 

Herer, J. 2000, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 11th edn, AH HA Publishing, USA.

 

Iversen, Leslie L. PhD, FRS, "The Science of Marijuana" (London, England: Oxford University Press, 2000).

 

Jiggens, J. The Cost of Drug Prohibition in Australia, School of Humanities and Human Services Queensland University of Technology (Qld 2005).

 

Leo E. Hollister, Health Aspects of Cannabis, PHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Veterans Administration Medical Center and Stanford University School of Medicine (Palo Alto, California 1986).

 

Macintosh, A. Drug Law Reform, Beyond prohibition. Discussion Paper Number 83, The Australia Institute, February 2006.

 

Ransley, J, 1993, Cannabis And The Law In Queensland: A Personal Assessment, Submission to Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs (Criminal Justice Commission).

[Rocker]

That is a brilliant letter littlbit.

 

I should think she will need a room full of aides to draft a response.

[littlbit]

Thank you Rocker, the last letter I sent her she took about 5 or 6 weeks to reply, this is a response to that, I can't wait for her next one.

[littlbit]

entheo you did well to get that done. We all need to keep up the fight now as they are now simply making excuses but not much sense. :)

[entheofarm]

Thanks littlbit, i'm just glad i am not doing my LLB anymore as legal tutors would have shredded that essay just based on grammar.

 

 

I cant get a bloody song out of my head at the moment, "From little things big things grow"

 

perhaps K Rudd should apologise to the Stoner generation aswell