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NEWS: Jack Marx - 'Arresting the ghost of Anna Wood'

hoptis

hoptis

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Arresting the ghost of Anna Wood
Jack Marx
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 09:50am


Having been content to simply spook the media and haunt debate for over a decade, the ghost of Anna Wood is finally running for public office, in the New South Wales district of Warringah. I’ve written about this spectre before, and how important it is that those channelling it be respectfully ignored. But, now, beside former policeman and Salvation Army digger, Pat Daley, Tony Wood will be running for council in September, his primary platform (aside from wanting to tear down the charming old Spit Bridge) being one of “zero tolerance” to drugs, his claim being that police are “too soft” on possesion. Those found with drugs on their person should be treated as criminals, he says, and prosecuted with the full weight of the law. Interestingly, were Anna Wood alive today, her own father would be slamming her in prison and throwing away the key.

“Zero tolerance”, with regard to anything at all, is the way of the angry animal. It tells us to shut off our brains to the infinite numbers and fractions of numbers that make up the people of our universe and to obstinately focus on the repetition of but one: zero, the uncompromising absolute, the unbroken circle of blindness and deafness. “Zero tolerance” doesn’t care for such trifles as intent, background, future or past. Ironically, it doesn’t care that Anna Wood had a pretty face or a nice smile, came from a good home or was loved by all. She was “on drugs”, wasn’t she? It’s a wonder apostles of “zero tolerance” can assemble in her name without feeling embarrassed. Like skinheads marching under a portait of Anne Frank, they need a new poster girl, fast - one more suited their bigoted slogans about good and evil, right and wrong, law and order.

Even according to the most sympathetic report (Bronwyn Donaghy’s Anna’s Story, which was little more than literary prescription for a grieving Wood family), 15-year-old Anna Wood had taken ecstacy at least once before that fatal night, as well as marijuana on several occasions, and had “experimented” with speed. That’s not a habit that would necessarily alarm most reasonable 21st century people, but, in the world of “zero tolerance”, it’s a history that says Anna Wood was a juvenile crook. In the mindset that believes recreational drugs to be the gateway to addiction and associated crime, Anna Wood’s death was fortuitous indeed, for it prevented her from stealing our DVD players and spared the taxpayer the obnoxious cost of keeping her alive in prison. October 23, 1995, was not, then, the night when “innocence” was lost, but a date when one more piece of druggie scum was mercifully flushed down the community drain.

But I disagree with Tony Wood - though I didn’t know his daughter, I very much doubt she deserved a criminal record, or belonged in prison, or had an ounce of scum in her. By all accounts, she was a lovely kid, and, in any intelligent society, lovely kids should not be coralled through the muck and tar of the penal system. Prisons don’t exist for decent people who have no intention of hurting anyone - they are there for those who pose a palpable danger to others.

One could argue - as the “zero tolerance: zealots do - that those who merely take drugs are themselves pillars of the evil narcotics monolith, complicit in all of the ills that drugs wreak upon mankind. If that were true, then I guess I would have to admit that Anna Wood was dangerous, her death by her own hand only inconvenient for the fact that the mob didn’t get to cheer at her execution. But it’s not true - Anna Wood posed a danger to none but herself, and was not related to evil at all. The only ones who’d be glad she’s gone are the cheerleaders for “zero tolerance”, who will not tolerate any other prophesy but Anna being saved (drug free) or lost (not). By their own reckoning, the former is unlikely when one refuses to surrender to “zero tolerance”.

Nor was Anna a victim of evil. Nobody sold Anna drugs that night in the hope that she’d drop dead, any more than a skydiving school sells blunt force trauma to adrenaline junkies. If there was evil afoot on Anna Wood’s last night, it was something that the children feared, something that stopped them from raising the alarm sooner rather than later. It was the shadow of authority, the voice that tells children they’ll be in trouble - a voice far more real to immortal youth than whispers of faraway death - that dealt the final blow.

Dr Paul Botterill, the forensic pathologist who conducted Anna Wood’s post mortem, made it plain in his report that it was impossible to pick one clear killer from the suspects: MDMA; over-exertion; water intoxication; respiratory arrest; vomit in the airways. Coroner Mark Abernathy - quite rightly - observed that this chain of events would not have occured had MDMA not been ingested in the first place. Similarly, this chain of events need not have been fatal, but for one component: fear. Had Anna and her friends called an ambulance at 5am, rather than five hours later, Tony Wood would not be running for council.

But they didn’t, and he is, waving the flag of his daughter’s destroyer, who’ll doubtless destroy other daughters too. At least his own is ‘safe’, and a good thing, too.

If she were alive, people like her father would just wreck her all over again.
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News.com.au - Jack Marx Blog
 
What's the name of that band that sings that song, 'Fuck Anna Wood'?
 
Harsh, but absolutely nails the issues.

I only hope Tony Wood reads it, understands it then and comes to his senses.
 
Well thats a nice change, a journalist who actually knows what hes talking about.
 
Well-written and well-argued article, will be interesting to see how it's received however.
 
very good article, couldnt agree more and some great points raised.. who cares if its harsh because its all true
 
don't get me wrong - harsh is good. i hope it's harsh enough to get noticed because, as a parent (and a user), these issues (not just the zero tolerance bullshit) need more discussion in the mainstream media.
 
one would have to wonder whether Anna Wood would still be alive had she being lucky enough to have being taught harm minimisation methods at school rather than the mainstream 'just say no' orothdoxy. the question should be asked; for example had she recieved that ,extremely balanced responisble pamphlet, that was recently taken out of circulation in nsw schools about drugs and harm minimisation, would her and her friends had known the potential danger of water intoxication or known better what to do in an emergency. the answer is (probaly) yes. therefore had her and her friends recieved such information would she still be alive today , the answer is (probaly) yes

The Anna Wood case should not lead people towards zero tolerance but rather towards education and harm minimisation at all costs.
 
one would have to wonder whether Anna Wood would still be alive had she being lucky enough to have being taught harm minimisation methods at school rather than the mainstream 'just say no' orothdoxy.
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Has anyone here read the book about her? I can't remember what it was called but it made me so angry I almost burnt it. I was forced to read it after my parents found out I use drugs.

Anyway, in the first part of the book they basically rail against harm minimization. Then they come to discussing how Anna actually died. Any guesses?

MDMA overdose? No.
Adulterated pills? No.
Freak allergic reaction? Roll again.

Water intoxication.

She died because she drank too much water. Exactly the kind of thing that would be prevented by harm minimization education! 8)

I vaguely recall that the author somewhat admitted that it wasn't actually the MDMA that killed her, but used some very inaccurate writing to make it appear as though MDMA puts you at greater risk of water intoxication.

The only reason I didn't destroy the book on the spot was because it belonged to someone who I respect... even if they can read shit like that.
 
Great article, shocking it is from news.com.au.

Saw this Tony Wood guy on a morning show a couple weeks ago. Cringeworthy, he was openly proud of opposing the (informed and sane) viewpoint of the AMA. When a nation of doctors disagree with your assessments on drug safety then maybe you should be a bit self-critical.

Reminds me of an Oprah episode with a road safety expert saying that seatbelts on school buses will definitely cost alot more lives than they save, but Oprah riled the crowd up into a pro-bus-seatbelt furor anyway, oblivious to the reality of the situation.
 
Mr Blonde said:
I vaguely recall that the author somewhat admitted that it wasn't actually the MDMA that killed her, but used some very inaccurate writing to make it appear as though MDMA puts you at greater risk of water intoxication.
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Long distance running also puts you at greater risk of water intoxication. Does Mr Wood think marathons are evil too? :|
 
Mr Blonde said:
Has anyone here read the book about her? I can't remember what it was called but it made me so angry I almost burnt it. I was forced to read it after my parents found out I use drugs.
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Yeah i had to read it back in school as part of English.. I dont remember much of it, but i do remember thinking alot of it was bullshit. Think we had to write an essay about it or something.. haha, i just went along with what they wanted.. if i wrote what i really thought it'd just piss people off.
 
When I was living in Northern NSW I remember teenagers telling me how they had to go to anti-drug sessions run by the Wood parents and what a laugh they were. Apparently Anna's parents criss-crossed the nation for years running these sessions. Grief does funny things to your brains I guess...

But then again, I've heard Tony Trimingham talking about his son dying of a heroin overdose in a stairwell in Kings X.. he went on to form Family Drug Support which is very pro harm reduction.
 
Excellent find Hoptis.

There are some great comments on the actual blog too if you have the time to read them.
 
ayjay said:
When I was living in Northern NSW I remember teenagers telling me how they had to go to anti-drug sessions run by the Wood parents and what a laugh they were. Apparently Anna's parents criss-crossed the nation for years running these sessions. Grief does funny things to your brains I guess...

But then again, I've heard Tony Trimingham talking about his son dying of a heroin overdose in a stairwell in Kings X.. he went on to form Family Drug Support which is very pro harm reduction.
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ive heard him talk too, the way his story was presented was quite touching. these wood people sound like nuts
 
after SBS did the insight on drugs Johnboy and myself were talking to Anna woods father and did a hypothetical if she were alive today question and he did say that they should all be put up against a wall and shot!!!!

Now thats parental tough love.............."im soo committted to anti drugs that i would kill my child for doing them" living with that...no wonder she had to take love drugs ;)

i was looking to see if there is a way to register the Ghost of anna wood as a candidate on a pro drug platform in the area, A mee too copy of tony wood but pro harm min :)
 
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