NSW drug nazis get worse

[nabraxas]

Dogs to search for drugs on most trains

By Jim O'Rourke

April 25, 2004

Sniffer dogs will be allowed to roam almost every train carriage running on the City Rail metropolitan network, randomly checking all passengers for drugs, when new regulations come into effect on Friday.

The North Shore line, running from Berowra to Central, has been added to other train lines where officers do not need a warrant to search for illicit drugs, Police Minister John Watkins announced yesterday.

Handlers and their dogs will now be able to search passengers on train services running as far south as Bomaderry, north to Newcastle and west to Penrith.

Drug detection dogs will also check passengers at terminals and bus stops on the Sydney-Albury bus route on the Hume Highway and the Sydney-Grafton route on the Pacific Highway. Police will still need a warrant to search passengers on the buses.

When the sniffer dog regulations were introduced on Sydney's trains in February 2002, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties Cameron Murphy said the Government was "selling the public a pup" if it claimed the measures would have any serious impact on the drug trade.

"They're targeting people at the bottom end of the drug pyramid, people who are users," Mr Murphy said. "Someone carrying a small amount of cannabis on a suburban train will be picked up, while the dealer driving around the North Shore in his BMW is not going to be affected at all."

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/24/1082...2719673677.html

when they act like this over MJ, does anyone really think logical argument will save Kratom?

[planthelper]

...just a waste of goverment money...

politicans get real,

spending millions on drug detection and finding only next to nothing.

this money would be better spend on health and education!!

[chief23]

This is the biggest load of hypocrisy I have heard. They are only going to catch small time (cannabis users) mostly, and whats worst is all this talk of drug driving and now your encouraged *NOT* to catch public transport.

Chief

[Guest electro]

lol if i smoked pot that would be enough to make me DRIVE stoned, rather than risk being safe and heaven forbit catch public transport....

hey why dont they arrest drunk people who use cabs & trains too ... that way everyone can be forced to drive while under the influence (of [insert substance here])! woot lets drive up the deathtoll, just like the aus government wants us too !!! hooray !!! more dead users !!

[MrBumpy]

Can't you crazy drug induced fuckers just catch a cab?

-bumpy

[strangebrew]

So I take it there is a permanent group of transit/drug police constantly monitoring the public transport in Sydney?

That's just totally fucked up! Where else in the world would you find that? I doubt if even Singapore has that!

Policing should be about protecting citizens. Who's this protecting?

Pure tax grab at it's worst!

[ 26. April 2004, 14:18: Message edited by: strangebrew ]

[simon_marklar]

i remember reading that the san fransisco railways tried to have sniffer dogs on thier trains, and people protested by putting old stems, roaches, bong water, whatever smells like pot all through the train so that the dogs were effectivly useless and i think they didnt use the trains as well.. they kept it up for a few days i think and the city pulled the dogs and apologiesed to the people.

perhaps we should do the same?

%simon

[waterdragon]

couple of flowers soaked in a vodka solution, solution then sprayed on seats with an atomiser, laws no longer function.

[alucinare]

Well the Australian government has followed the yanky one in alot issues so why not add "drug law stupidy" to the list. But just remember 'Police and security guards patrol this station for your safety', so we can only assume this is also for our "safety".

God bless Amer... opps i mean Australia...

[findbuddha]

A while ago I read on Indymedia I think that people in Sydney were putting bong water in those cheap spray bottles and spraying it all around buses and trains. Don't know if it still goes on, but it obviously should be.

[Humanfuel]

I was up in Sydney for the long weekend..... and was forced to use the taxi services' a lot more....

[simon_marklar]

so who's up for doing a day of train spraying?

%simon

[planthelper]

putting resin on coins and money is another good one!

[Zu]

A (long) while ago people were discussing doing a steam extraction of cannabis essential oil and spraying or daubing it onto money (notes and coins).

Is this feasible?

[Torsten]

The essential oil is legal and is produced in large quantities in switzerland. I only know of wholesalers and the minimum purchase is 1000ml for about US$15,000. I think it takes about an acre of pot to make 1000ml of essential oil, so that is a lot of pot-smell.

The drug dogs are trained to this totally legal compound rather than to the illegal THC. Surely there is a civil liberties case here???

And no, "hemp oil" is NOT "hemp essential oil".

[Rev]

WD's idea used at the airport would render the dog system (and chem system) inoperable for weeks

only a matter of time till its used as a diversive tactic for one thing or another

still it make a good use for the stems n shitty leaf if you want to engage in a bit of civil disobedience

[waterdragon]

i find vodka/brandy to be useful for extracting plant essences simply because they contain alcohol and water, so they don't miss much. the method would be cheap enough.

[theobromos]

I don't know about the law in Australia but the Hemp Essential Oil produced by one clown in Switzerland would certainly not be legal in Britain or Spain. He has not had it tested, he relies on his misunderstanding of how distillation works. It has been tested at levels that are ridiculous. 0.02% doesn't sound much but this means that it is possible to get 200 milligrammes of pure THC from one litre, the equivalent of one gramme of good skunk or 5 grammes of old-style grass.

In Britain the Hemp Essential Oil from Switzerland would count as a Class A drug like heroin and cocaine.

There is a company in Canada that produces an oil with the level of THC below the limit of detectability.

[theobromos]

Oh, and I always cap my pipes and hotknife bottles with a coin

There was a case in Britain where a truck driver was stopped and his entire load of lemons was unloaded and searched because a sniffer dog had indicated the presence of cannabis. The driver went on a national radio programme to complain. There was no apology and he had to reload the truck himself. Because the dog had been badly trained and thought it was the lemony scent of its samples that indicated the presence of cannabis.

[gerbil]

Sniffer dog one month trials are happening in VIC soon (i think), was on the radio yesterday.

bong water spray on trains??? yuk, thats just filthy, i really hope people don't do that.

[planthelper]

in the old day's,

i travelled with the guitar,

and allways smoked pot,

in the air plane toilet's,

all over the world,

gone are the,

good day's.