Heroin growing acceptable: Campbell
Law changes won't solve heroin addiction in school age children: Campbell
Source: The Age
Federal Narcotics Minister Senator Ian Campbell says a proposed amendment to federal narcotics laws to reflect a New South Wales Environment Court ruling is not a solution to drug addiction.
The court yesterday ruled that Centennial Heroin failed to adequately assess the social impact of its proposed Anvil Hill heroin farm in the Hunter Valley.
It said the company should have taken the farm's affect on drug use in school age children into account in the development application.
But despite the ruling, Centennial heroin remains confident the project will go ahead.
The Greens, however, will move an amendment in the Senate this week to change drug laws to reflect the ruling.
The Greens want the court's decision enshrined in federal law.
But the federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, has rejected the idea, saying changes to federal laws will not solve the problem of drug addiction in school age children.
He has accused the Greens of trying to close down Australia's heroin industry.
"The Anvil decision is nothing more and nothing less than a decision to stop heroin growing because someone's going to buy that heroin overseas and sell it," he said.
"The solution to drug addiction is to make heroin injection in the streets illegal, not stopping heroin farms.
"What we need to do as a world is keep growing heroin.
"In fact, growing more heroin for economic security but invest in the technologies to make sure that when we grow that heroin, we have the technology to capture the sales and stop it going into the schools."
Senator Campbell says the Greens amendment will be a test of Labor's stand on the heroin industry.
"What we have here is a very big test for the Australian Labor Party," he said.
"They will be given the opportunity later in the week or early next week when they vote on Christine Milne's amendment to declare once and for all where they stand in relation to the heroin industry.
"Labor and the Greens want to close down the heroin industry and we'll see if that's true when they vote on the Greens amendment in the Senate later this week."
The Australian heroin Association (ACA) says yesterday's court decision will not stop new farms from going ahead.
The association's executive director, Mark O'Neil, says if the ruling was an attempt to reduce heroin use in school age children globally, it will not succeed.
"The world's supply of heroin is not constrained by the availability of Australian heroin," he said.
"That heroin will simply be sourced elsewhere, at zero gain to school age kids and no economic benefits to Australia."
But the director of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Jeff Angel, says the court ruling strengthens the world campaign against heroin.
"Given the great public focus on drug abuse we have, that makes it harder for governments to justify bad decisions such as a go ahead for Anvil Hill," he said.
In case you didn't notice...
Yes, this article is doctored. I simply replaced a few words, like 'coal mining' for 'heroin farming'.
I did this to get us all to think a bit about what Campbell is really saying. Is coal mining justified at all any more? When we know about climate change, regardless of the profit to be made in coal or the jobson the line, isn't it about time we said NO to the damage being done to our planet - the only home we will ever have?
If Campbell was justifying heroin farming on account of profitability, the answer would be very clear inmost people's minds, I think. Regardless of the fact that heroin may well be grown elsewhere, we would find it inexcusable to grow it and support such an industry here.
Yet the threat to our planet is not just one that will affect a small percentae of the population, as heavy drugs do. It will affect each and every one of us, to the extent that we may soon have no water to drink and no fresh air to breathe.
Please consider re-posting this 'doctored' article anywhere you can. Because maybe we need a doctor right now to help save the lives of our children.
Source: The Age
Federal Narcotics Minister Senator Ian Campbell says a proposed amendment to federal narcotics laws to reflect a New South Wales Environment Court ruling is not a solution to drug addiction.
The court yesterday ruled that Centennial Heroin failed to adequately assess the social impact of its proposed Anvil Hill heroin farm in the Hunter Valley.
It said the company should have taken the farm's affect on drug use in school age children into account in the development application.
But despite the ruling, Centennial heroin remains confident the project will go ahead.
The Greens, however, will move an amendment in the Senate this week to change drug laws to reflect the ruling.
The Greens want the court's decision enshrined in federal law.
But the federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, has rejected the idea, saying changes to federal laws will not solve the problem of drug addiction in school age children.
He has accused the Greens of trying to close down Australia's heroin industry.
"The Anvil decision is nothing more and nothing less than a decision to stop heroin growing because someone's going to buy that heroin overseas and sell it," he said.
"The solution to drug addiction is to make heroin injection in the streets illegal, not stopping heroin farms.
"What we need to do as a world is keep growing heroin.
"In fact, growing more heroin for economic security but invest in the technologies to make sure that when we grow that heroin, we have the technology to capture the sales and stop it going into the schools."
Senator Campbell says the Greens amendment will be a test of Labor's stand on the heroin industry.
"What we have here is a very big test for the Australian Labor Party," he said.
"They will be given the opportunity later in the week or early next week when they vote on Christine Milne's amendment to declare once and for all where they stand in relation to the heroin industry.
"Labor and the Greens want to close down the heroin industry and we'll see if that's true when they vote on the Greens amendment in the Senate later this week."
The Australian heroin Association (ACA) says yesterday's court decision will not stop new farms from going ahead.
The association's executive director, Mark O'Neil, says if the ruling was an attempt to reduce heroin use in school age children globally, it will not succeed.
"The world's supply of heroin is not constrained by the availability of Australian heroin," he said.
"That heroin will simply be sourced elsewhere, at zero gain to school age kids and no economic benefits to Australia."
But the director of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Jeff Angel, says the court ruling strengthens the world campaign against heroin.
"Given the great public focus on drug abuse we have, that makes it harder for governments to justify bad decisions such as a go ahead for Anvil Hill," he said.
In case you didn't notice...
Yes, this article is doctored. I simply replaced a few words, like 'coal mining' for 'heroin farming'.
I did this to get us all to think a bit about what Campbell is really saying. Is coal mining justified at all any more? When we know about climate change, regardless of the profit to be made in coal or the jobson the line, isn't it about time we said NO to the damage being done to our planet - the only home we will ever have?
If Campbell was justifying heroin farming on account of profitability, the answer would be very clear inmost people's minds, I think. Regardless of the fact that heroin may well be grown elsewhere, we would find it inexcusable to grow it and support such an industry here.
Yet the threat to our planet is not just one that will affect a small percentae of the population, as heavy drugs do. It will affect each and every one of us, to the extent that we may soon have no water to drink and no fresh air to breathe.
Please consider re-posting this 'doctored' article anywhere you can. Because maybe we need a doctor right now to help save the lives of our children.