Guest reville Posted October 7, 2002 Ive recently recieved a siezure notice from AQIS at their Melbourne centre through which all International mail comes. I had been sent an international seed donation of Wild Poppies. While i thank the sender for their kind donation, the letter causes me some concern. I have the option of returning t seed for $42 or having it destroyed The problem was that in the letter specific reference was made to The use of the poppies in tea and also to the SAB forums. I would like to continue to offer the poppy seed so i think it would be wise not to associate them with illegal activity and especially not with this site. I am happy to hear of your experiences with legal consumables but where this information is specifically illegal or draws more attention to our discussions on the forums i think it should be omitted. The primary goal of the seedring is seed conservation and the distribution of non-propagating reference material ie microscopy prints. Please be careful with your correspondence if you wish this service to continue. Thankyou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterdragon Posted October 8, 2002 i'm lucky if i even leave a return address on anything "questionable" sent via the mail. i think that usage discussions should be confined to emails and definately not included with materials, makes any sort of deniability difficult. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiders Posted October 8, 2002 Those are the letters that used to make me tear my hair out! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest electro Posted October 8, 2002 . [This message has been edited by electro (edited 13 October 2002).] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted October 8, 2002 Originally posted by reville: Ive recently recieved a siezure notice from AQIS at their Melbourne centre through which all International mail comes. Or Sydney, or Brisbane, or... not sure if there are any more, but I've had seizure notices from all three Most of my stuff comes through Sydney though - they know me well. I have the option of returning t seed for $42 or having it destroyed Think about this carefully. Just because it cleared AQIS does not mean you will get it. Quite the contrary... may I remind you of my iboga dramas, where AQIS cleared the iboga seed, got me to pay for the cleaning of the seed, and then passed it onto customs, who used the receipt of my payment as proof that I was importing a customs schedule 4 substance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest reville Posted October 8, 2002 I dont think ill take that option. I was going to have it shipped back to whence it came. Its only 150g though not 1.5kg so ill prob. let it slide. I didnt know sydney had a mailing centre. In fact sydney in general is a Black hole i know nothing at all about and have consistently avoided over the years - sounds too big. I went there once when i was 4 and went up that tower thing, and got my first Rubicks cube Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gomaos Posted October 8, 2002 Since I tried to import some voacanga seeds late last year/early this year and the same thing happened to me, like Aqis wanting me to pay or send them back, I don't dare ordering anything from overseas anymore. Even six months later customs sent me a letter accusing me of wanting to import seeds containing ibogaine...my main intention really was to grow them... I don't even dare to order 5htp...(does anyone in Australia want to sell me some?)(ruby tuesday?) and those griffonia seeds ain't germinating... (not yet anyway)... ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 8, 2002 "australia is not SUPPOSED to go through your E stuff.... And i'm not sure about the states, but i think its allowed to moniter too." Allowed hell, its pretty much required to, or at least encouraged to. Its illegal even to try to mask the contents of emails and whatnot. In the US the internet is the one place where you can be arrested for not exposing yourself in public! Land of the free my ass! Anyone that has lived here knows that the 'land of the free' junk is just bullshit, wheather they will admit it or not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest electro Posted October 9, 2002 . [This message has been edited by electro (edited 13 October 2002).] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted October 9, 2002 Rev - I think in this case the best thing to do is to ignore the whole thing and it might go away.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest reville Posted October 9, 2002 Coming from you T ill take that as good advice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 9, 2002 "So you're not even allowed to encrypt your data ?" You can encrypt data with any system sold in the US, because they are required by law to give the government the decryption program. Encryption programs which the government does not have the decryption program for are illegal to use on the internet within US borders (I'm not sure if you can use them on your own computer or not, papa didn't raise no lawyer.) Big brother has to be able to read anything you write in an email. It gives them a sense of power, security, or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 21, 2002 Hey wait a second, how do they know if a package has seeds in it? Do they open them all? Some randomly? X rays? Open anything that rattles? With all the trouble y'all have with importing seeds it cant just be random inspections of 1 in every 1000 packages! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted October 22, 2002 packages get opened randomly. about 3-5 per 10..... yep, that is 30-50%. It used to be less than 10% before 9/11, anthrax and foot&mouth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 22, 2002 30-50%, Holy Shit!!!!! Is that just for packages, or does the same percentage apply to person to person letters with a buldge in them? Its no wonder they charge you SOOOOO much for violations, your country must spend at least as much on searching mail as it does on national defense! Thats insane, I always thought Australia was supposed to be one of the more free countries in the world. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiders Posted October 22, 2002 Your ratio sounds spot on. Sometimes quite discrete packages can be opened and confiscated, while other times very large packages with 'mind-expanding mushroom cultures' declared on the side of the package waltz straight through... I had a friend who went for a job at Aqis and they rang up every reference he listed and asked them all if he had ever knew anyone who had taken drugs. When an old lecturer of his said yes, this contradicted his statement that he didnt. They grilled him for five hours about it, then funnily enough - did not get the job Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 22, 2002 You mean in your country there are actually people who have NEVER known a drug user? Wow, I thought that only happened in the movies! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted October 23, 2002 before 9/11 I never had a non-bulging letter inspectd. since 9/11 I have had about 5 or 6. I do get a LOT of international mail, so the ratio is still only about 3%, but still a worrying sign of the times. I could understand them doing it to parcels, but I find the letter opening quite offensive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squiresk Posted October 23, 2002 Well, slightly OT, but I was at boarding school in SE England, and my granny (Oma) from Holland used to send me sweets and choclates in eagerly anticiapted parcels. I'd say about 90% of them were opened by customs, and sweets were taken. They didn't even cover it up, just left a packet of sweets half full, and chocolate opened. They shoulda trained those sniffer dogs to ignore chocolate. And this was way b4 9-11. k. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Dunkel Posted October 24, 2002 When I was at Uni in the south of England I once got a Dutch elf to send a parcel of buds (wrapped up in a soap bar) to a "really dirty" ork I knew. Stupidly the elf put the orks real name on the envelope address. He got a lovely letter from the english costums saying " We have 1.15g of cannabis in a parcel addressed to you. If you claim the parcel we will prosecute you for possesion of a prohibited substance." The ork was a bit upset with the elf but we 3 had a good laugh framing the official letter. E D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
