tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90251062009-02-21T19:22:39.977+09:30We hope to use this blog to archive as many media stories on illicit drug issues in the Northern Territory of Australia as possible. It will become a valuable resource for drug policy reform and human rights activists in the NT. If you come across any NT drug stories in the media, please let us know.fihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18134640651359356856noreply@blogger.comBlogger1351125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-23057139988293850632008-05-22T20:36:00.002+09:302008-05-22T20:51:09.985+09:30

SYDNEY: Dope smokers have a 40 per cent increased risk of developing schizophrenia, and taking it regularly drives the risk up two-fold, Australian research shows.A new study by psychiatrists has reviewed the latest evidence of links between cannabis use and mental illness, concluding the association is "stronger and clearer than ever".A pot smoker is 40 per cert more likely to suffer a

Rob.Fyffehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14062359217699383361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-15249895837443739312007-10-10T17:24:00.001+09:302007-10-10T18:01:52.872+09:30

ON DRUGSWhy is it that people can't fathom a simple truth - it is not drugs or their use that is objectionable! What is out of order is the crime that goes with it! What motivates this? Pure profit! Why is it so profitable? Because the Americans made it illegal in 1937 and then shoved that down the world's throats. What's the answer?" Simple. Decriminalize it! A lot less problems.People who smoke

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-29461831494904250822007-10-10T17:24:00.000+09:302007-10-10T17:58:58.955+09:30

ON DRUGSWhy is it that people can't fathom a simple truth - it is not drugs or their use that is objectionable! What is out of order is the crime that goes with it! What motivates this? Pure profit! Why is it so profitable? Because the Americans made it illegal in 1937 and then shoved that down the world's throats. What's the answer?" Simple. Decriminalize it! A lot less problems.People who smoke

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-31350654420015189382007-10-10T16:44:00.000+09:302007-10-10T16:50:10.694+09:30

ON DRUGSWhy is it that people can't fathom a simple truth - it is not drugs or their use yhat is ojectionable! What is out of order is the crime that goes with it! What motivates this? Pure profit! Why is it so profitable? Because the Americans made it illegal in 1937 and then shoved it down the world's throats. What's the answer? Simple. Decriminalize it! A lot less problems.People who smoke

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-2485106169626732542007-09-06T13:33:00.000+09:302007-09-09T13:46:08.631+09:30

A year-long police operation involving officers from three states has led to the arrests of two men on drugs charges. Officers from the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia were involved in the operation intended to clear Indigenous communities of illicit drugs. The men aged 38 and 37 have been charged with a variety of offences including selling cannabis. They will face

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-20165158790335741692007-09-03T06:24:00.000+09:302007-09-03T06:34:06.171+09:30

THE Stuart Highway is set to get 24-hour monitoring by surveillance cameras as part of a crackdown on crime, national security and road safety. Hundreds of cameras that record number plates will be set up on Australia's major highways under the plan by CrimTrac, which has been approved by state police ministers.The cameras could also be used to detect people speeding on the highway, now

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-3595236770370139802007-09-01T06:16:00.000+09:302007-09-03T06:19:56.927+09:30

The Australian Crime Commission now has a presence in Darwin to gather intelligence on child sex abuse and organised crime. Today's official opening of the commission's new Darwin office was held at a city hotel. The location of the office is being kept a secret because of the nature of the commission's work. It has been operating in Darwin for four months and in Alice Springs for a year. The

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-18257755863069258992007-08-31T06:11:00.000+09:302007-09-03T06:15:35.919+09:30

Investigators from the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) have visited 52 Northern Territory Aboriginal communities in the past 12 months as part of its task force into violence and child sex abuse. The commission's chief executive Alastair Milroy says so far, intelligence has been gathered on child sex offences, illicit drugs, substance abuse, art fraud and violence. Earlier today the Northern

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-74921581574452329992007-08-24T19:46:00.000+09:302007-08-28T19:49:00.184+09:30

A Northern Territory kava retailer has sent the Federal Government a bill for $582,000 and a kava wholesaler is planning to follow suit, in response to a Commonwealth kava ban. The organisations say it is a condition of their licences that kava profits go back into the community and they want the Commonwealth to pay for projects that had already been committed to when the Federal Government

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-31245049758348970992007-08-23T14:06:00.000+09:302007-08-23T14:16:27.995+09:30

A remote Northern Territory council says an illegal trade in alcohol and marijuana is booming because of the Federal Government's new ban on kava imports. The Ramingining Community Council's Suzanah Kuzio says kava users have run out of the mind-altering drug and are turning to other substances instead. She says people are spending astronomical amounts on black market alcohol and the police do

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-48396305357477209242007-08-22T19:49:00.000+09:302007-08-28T19:52:06.398+09:30

Youth workers say the perception of petrol sniffing has changed radically in the central Australian Indigenous community of Papunya. Blair McFarland, from the central Australian Youth Link-Up Service, says petrol sniffing is now seen as something to be ashamed of. He says the community had been free of petrol sniffing for about six months, when it won the football grand final last year. He says

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-1317857269970834012007-08-17T21:40:00.000+09:302007-08-17T22:19:59.707+09:30

POLICE have made a 10kg drug haul, the cannabis hidden in two portable coolers. The drugs were hidden inside the fibreglass sides of the coolers being carried in a vehicle on its way to Darwin.Superintendent Peter Gordon said police had been watching a 51-year-old man for about two weeks before stopping him at Mataranka, just south of Katherine, on Wednesday.They tore the sides of the coolers

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-76471703579689792372007-08-15T01:35:00.000+09:302007-08-16T01:38:17.677+09:30

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough says kava will be outlawed in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory by the end of the week. The tranquillising Pacific Islands substance was introduced to some Aboriginal communities in the early 1980s in the hope that it would curb alcohol abuse. Mr Brough says there has been resistance to its removal, with the Yirrkala community

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-40005744313312822982007-08-11T03:33:00.000+09:302007-08-12T03:43:57.815+09:30

THE Federal kava ban will destroy a $1.4 million dollar industry in a remote community, it was said last night. Yirrkala traditional elder and kava licensee Djuwalpi Marika said the northeast Arnhem Land community made $532,000 from kava sales last financial year – which all went back into the community for needs. “We used that money for infrastructure and maintenance, basically all the things

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-17474685241322735252007-08-11T02:53:00.000+09:302007-08-12T03:20:16.295+09:30

THE Federal kava ban will destroy a $1.4 million dollar industry in a remote community, it was said last night. Yirrkala traditional elder and kava licensee Djuwalpi Marika said the northeast Arnhem Land community made $532,000 from kava sales last financial year – which all went back into the community for needs. “We used that money for infrastructure and maintenance, basically all the things

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-31915190089535332782007-08-11T02:45:00.000+09:302007-08-12T02:51:44.313+09:30

A TEENAGE girl celebrating her 16th birthday has been stabbed with a needle on a Darwin beach. Jamie Duke was with friends at Nightcliff beach on Thursday when she stepped on a 25 gauge needle, stabbing her toe.The needle - which was not attached to a syringe - was on the beach near Sunset Park on Casuarina Drive.Her mother Alison Duke wants to warn others to keep an eye out for needles."The

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-23213171348514210502007-08-10T22:21:00.000+09:302007-08-17T22:24:00.308+09:30

THIEVES caused thousands of dollars of damage when they heaved a huge rock through a pharmacy window early yesterday. The rock -- which staff said would be too heavy to have been lifted by one person -- was used to smash the window of the Stuart Park Pharmacy on Westralia St.It is believed the incident happened between 4-5am.Damage to the store is estimated at $7000."It is quite a large rock,

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-34507366441167374922007-07-31T03:09:00.000+09:302007-08-08T03:13:44.377+09:30

The sole wholesaler of kava in the Northern Territory says it expects legal kava supplies to run out in Arnhem Land over the next few weeks as a result of the Federal Government's ban on commercial quantities. Lanaphuy Homelands Association in Arnhem Land supplies five retailers and has strongly opposed the ban, arguing kava is not as damaging as alcohol and tobacco. Warehouse supplies are

fihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18134640651359356856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-14679490168879051322007-07-27T13:01:00.000+09:302007-07-27T13:12:13.582+09:30

POLICE have busted a Palmerston woman allegedly trying to sell drugs at her home. The 26-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday after police searched her residence at Woodroffe. They seized about 147g of cannabis and $410 in cash. While at the house, two men, aged 20 and 36, turned up to allegedly purchase drugs. Police seized $1040 cash from them. The woman was charged with supplying

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-44306381612488355272007-07-27T12:38:00.000+09:302007-07-27T12:40:43.489+09:30

LITRES of grog and a supply of cannabis has been seized from a taxi traveling to a a dry community in the Territory Outback. Police pulled over the minibus cab as it was heading along Daly River Rd towards Wadeye, about 350km southwest of Darwin, on Monday. There was 51.8g of cannabis found in the vehicle which carried seven adult passengers and one 13-year-old. Police also seized three cask

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-82694810879656062622007-07-24T20:15:00.000+09:302007-07-24T20:21:45.508+09:30

The Federal Government's intervention task force has arrived in the troubled Arnhem Land community of Maningrida, where a group of local women have already taken up the task of making the streets safer. Task force operations commander General Dave Chalmers and Western Australian magistrate Sue Gordon have been talking to locals in Maningrida about finding new ways to tackle old problems. The

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-77557089040619079692007-07-23T20:22:00.000+09:302007-07-24T20:25:12.616+09:30

A new treatment facility for petrol sniffers will open in Alice Springs today. The Northern Territory Government has spent $1.2 million refurbishing Aranda House to create the 20-bed unit. The Drug and Alcohol Services Association (DASA) will run the facility. Association spokesman Paul Finlay says the new unit will free up existing facilities for younger clients. "At Aranda House it will be

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-44407229069593039172007-07-23T19:45:00.000+09:302007-07-24T19:53:31.484+09:30

A man has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to his involvement in one the Northern Territory's biggest interstate drug-running operations. Leonard Robert McKay is charged with two counts of supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis worth an estimated $150,000. He was arrested in January near Noonamah, after driving from South Australia. The court was told McKay was supplying 10 pounds of

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-73429254510504116922007-07-23T13:37:00.000+09:302007-07-25T13:43:53.789+09:30

Two men are due to face court today, for allegedly selling ecstasy in Alice Springs on the weekend. The 19 and 25-year-olds were arrested with a 26-year-old for allegedly selling two tablets. Police raids of their houses uncovered a further three MDMA tablets, a 10th of a gram of speed, a small amount of cannabis, as well as drug paraphernalia. The 26-year-old was interviewed and released

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025106.post-83037694534746932582007-07-20T19:42:00.000+09:302007-07-24T19:45:10.387+09:30

The Australian Customs Service says it has smashed several criminal networks involved in the smuggling of steroids, human growth hormones and other performance-enhancing drugs. During raids in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT, Customs seized 1,300 shipments of performance- and image-enhancing drugs, wrapping up an operation that began in

NAP web teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13658763027257024492noreply@blogger.com0