Beattie wants drug smoking equipment banned

[apothecary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1796018.htm

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie wants to ban the use of glass pipes that can be used to smoke marijuana and other drugs.

The Liberal Member for Surfers Paradise says a Gold Coast retailer is offering a Schoolies special on the objects.

Mr Beattie says that is not acceptable and will not be allowed under planned new laws.

"Queensland Health, police and [the] Attorney-General are already investigating how to bring in and police a ban on glass pipes," he said.

"Currently under Queensland law, anyone caught using glass pipes or other implements in illegal drug activities can be charged under the Drug Misuse Act.

"It is already an offence and we intend to ban these pipes."

[SaBReT00tH]

guy in SA reckons you already get 20 years jail for possession of one. I automatically assumed that was an exagerration but I'm still wondering are they illegal in any states or nationally yet?? Would be a friggin shame if so, considering they're the best effective thing for Spice/Sally consumption.

Edited November 23, 2006 by SaBReT00tH

[Pala]

Aren't they often used in Arabic culture to smoke flavoured tabbaco (I think its called nagilla?)?

[Evil Genius]

Hi Apothecary, thats crazy! Whats next?...bottles and glasses?Syringes? Im sure that vaporizers arent available for a long time.Technically theyre Drug extraction units.lol. bye EG

[Qhorakuna tantani]

Pretty sure shops can get a $10,000 fine for selling them, at least here in SA.

[naja naja]

syringes are already illegal to posess in some states of U.S. without a valid prescription.

Nice way to ensure the spread of transmissable diseases.

I wouldn't be surprised if they try it here in Oz eventually.

[nabraxas]

Aren't they often used in Arabic culture

----pretty sure the pipes that they want to ban are those small glass "base-pipes"(so called because they can be used to smoke freebase cocaine, as well as crystal meth etc.) rather than glass water pipes.

i heard a rumour that "base pipes" were also illegal in Victoria.

[sobriquet]

Time to buy up now then.

It's funny that I was looking at the bongs on display at many tobacconists and saying it won't be long before they're banned and what do you know.

I'll buy a large Pyrex one now - one small and one large as well as some of the small glass base pipes too.

Why? Because I can right now and won't be able to in the future it seems.

[Μορφέας]

The arabic smoking device with all the tubes and coal on top? My dubai friends call it a shisha, but iv also herd it called a hookah and other names.

Have any of you seen the movie V for Vendetta, Id hate to see the world eventually end up as crook and strait as that movie. IEK

[nabraxas]

Have any of you seen the movie V for Vendetta

the movies ok, but the original comic (especially the black & white "Warrior" version) is the bomb ;)

& if you get hold ov the graphic novel & read Allan Moore's intro you'll realise just how prophetic it was when first published....very sad really...

Edited November 24, 2006 by nabraxas

[FungalFractoids]

Steve Bracks wanted to do this in Victoria (he already banned ice-pipes but wanted to include bongs) thankfully the arabic tradition of hookers saved us (brack has lebanese heritage). But now Ted bailieu, the opposition leader, has said he wants to ban the bong. good thing he doesn't stand the chance of a cinder in snow of winning the election today.

[transDiMenTional]

its so silly, I only ever use my glass 'crack' pipe to vapourise tabacco!

[sobriquet]

Well I caved in and bought a bong just in case they are banned here.

I want to get some base pipes too but there are so many types I don't know where to start.

The large bong I got has a "MWP" brand on it I've seen before. Has a 'bonza' inlet but comes with a shitty aluminium stem which I've heard is not really a great idea.

I want to get a glass stem and cone probably. Or stainless steel.

Anyone know of any local Brisbane shops that sell these things? The tobaconnnist I got the bong from was fairly clueless.

[Torsten]

well, this is a bit weird. Beattie already passed a law a couple of years ago that made it illegal for any business to manufacture or sell bongs and pipes. The law was passed in the tobacco act and I wrote about this in detail on the forums before. The penaties are ridiculously high, so there is no need to put them in the drug act too.

So, whatever law he is proposing can't possibly be about the businesses, but must go directly at individuals, ie it must be for simple possession of a bong.

Now, most states already have such laws as remnants from a time when bongs were the usual way to bust pot smokers. In NSW for example a bong is still a drug administration implements and you can be charged for possessing it, regardless of whether it has THC in it. The poliuce have however discretionary powers which means they don't usually bother with the paperwork unless they feel they can use it as cause for a search etc.

I would have assumed Qld to also still have such a law. Will have to have a look.

[Green Osiris]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1796018.htm

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie wants to ban the use of glass pipes that can be used to smoke marijuana and other drugs.

Interesting lead-in to this article. Only 'glass' pipes ? So ceramic & plastic manufactured bongs ar OK ? Someone should write to PB and ask Maybe he has major shares in a plastics company.

The banning of bongs is pretty stupid, considering that I have found so many discarded makeshift bubbly-pipes over the years fashioned from juice bottles, garden hose & tinfoil cones laying around the streets of Sydney. How on earth does a ban on commercially made bongs reduce the 'drug menace' ? What's next, banning tally-ho's ?

[apothecary]

Like you said T, it is already an offence (quoting from the article), and I think he intends to plug the gap between the law and what actually happens.

i.e. these things are illegal but still sold everywhere.

[gerbil]

The banning of bongs is pretty stupid, considering that I have found so many discarded makeshift bubbly-pipes over the years fashioned from juice bottles, garden hose & tinfoil cones laying around the streets of Sydney. How on earth does a ban on commercially made bongs reduce the 'drug menace' ? What's next, banning tally-ho's ?

edit: found one reference, not the actual one I read; I swear an original said specifically tally-ho; anyhoo the Liberals wanted to crack down on 'bongs and large cigarette papers used for rolling joints'; i'd post the link; but don't want to dirty this site with Liberal slime lol

Edited November 26, 2006 by gerbil

[MrBumpy]

The poliuce have however discretionary powers which means they don't usually bother with the paperwork unless they feel they can use it as cause for a search etc.

I would have assumed Qld to also still have such a law. Will have to have a look.

Thats kinda the way it was explained to me by a police officer in high school (6 years ago, so very possibly could ave changed). He said that you could have a bong and a pipe and things, but they are illegal once they've been used with a dangerous drug ( I think it adds an extra charge if you are busted, can't remember what it was), but he also said that it is cause to be searched and stuff if you admit to an officer that the pipe of bong is going to be used for the use of a dangerous drug.

The example he gave was of those little pipes you could get on key chains. Saying that if an officer saw you with one, and asked what it was for, he couldn't do anything if you said it was for smoking tobacco, or just cause you like it as a key chain, but if you said "It's for smoking weed man" (thats the way he delivered it), then they will probably take a closer look at you.

sobriquet : re shops that sell bongs... have you tried of ya tree in the city? I haven't been there for quite a while, but they used to have a wide range.

Does HHH sell bongs and stuff? I haven't been to the one at west end... and I didn't realise there was one in the valley until I walked past it at the markets a month or so ago.

-bumpy

[Evil Genius]

In case they´d get illegal around here too id buy me one of these expensive goodies:

http://www.smokehurricane.com/wam/galerie/index.php

But as i said, a little bit expensive for playing around.

bye EG

[Torsten]

The example he gave was of those little pipes you could get on key chains. Saying that if an officer saw you with one, and asked what it was for, he couldn't do anything if you said it was for smoking tobacco, or just cause you like it as a key chain, but if you said "It's for smoking weed man" (thats the way he delivered it), then they will probably take a closer look at you.

Pipes are different. Pipes are not classified as a drug admin instrument until they have been used for a drug and have traces of the drug on them. Bongs are ALWAYS classified as a drug admin instrument regardless of whether they are clean or have traces.

[_e_]

Bongs are ALWAYS classified as a drug admin instrument regardless of whether they are clean or have traces.

Thats really shitty!

Ive never liked smoking bongs, although small water pipes are ideal, and i really like smoking damiana, skullcap, lotus/blue lilly e.t.c through a water cooled instrument.

I imagine a small water pipe would be classified as a bong yeah?

I think homemade bongs should be illegal due to the quite serious health risks of smoking through a rubber house and melted plastic bottle.. I can only imagine what kind of nasty petrochemical residuals one would be inhaling when smoking a plastic bottle/rubber hose type contraption.

[alkatrope]

Steve Bracks wanted to do this in Victoria (he already banned ice-pipes but wanted to include bongs)

Ice pipes being the glass "crack" pipes?

I still see those in shops.. Will they soon diappear?

Might be time to purchase one in case they go dry..

[Anodyne]

WHAT?! I thought we had repealed our "paraphernalia" laws years ago? Was that just in NSW, or did it just apply to injecting equipment, or what? Cause if they want to up the Medicare bill from Hep C patients, this'll certainly do it - making ice pipes illegal, but handing out syringes - great plan!

anyhoo the Liberals wanted to crack down on 'bongs and large cigarette papers used for rolling joints'

Yeah, the original paraphernalia laws were ridiculous - wired papers, small spoons, any sort of pipe or bong, even alcohol swabs & distilled water. Yes, water. Anyway, I thought all that was gone. Was I wrong, or are they just backpedalling on this like they are on everything else that hasn't yet caught up with the US?

[Torsten]

WHAT?! I thought we had repealed our "paraphernalia" laws years ago?

Only the syringe laws were repealed. I know that several [most/all] states still have the bong laws. But most have introduced discretionary powers.

The main reason why bongs should be legal to sell etc is for the recycling industry. A single piece of hose in a homemade bong can ruin a recycling batch of over 10,000 plastic bottles, which then needs to be incinerated. It also often breaks the machines. Homemade bongs can single handedly ruin the rather delicate recycling industry.

[Anodyne]

Thanks for the clarification, Tort.