NEWS: The Advertiser - 08/08/2006 'Cannabis easy to buy, say reports'

[hoptis]

Cannabis easy to buy, say reports
KARA PHILLIPS
August 08, 2006 12:00am

REPORTS that nine out of 10 drug users find hydroponic cannabis easy to buy in South Australia have prompted new calls for the Government to introduce tougher laws.

The National Drugs Council of Australia and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports say 89 per cent of users have easy access to the drug.

Opposition substance abuse spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said SA laws were the nation's softest.

The NDC Cannabis: Answers to Your Questions report shows people in SA face a $150 fine instead of court for carrying up to 100g of cannabis or having a hydroponic plant - the next closest state allows just 50g before people face court.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said a 50 per cent increase in the penalty for growing cannabis and a register for people using hydroponic equipment were among measures in a Bill to go before Parliament when it resumed.

From The Advertiser

 

[hoptis]

No room for soft line on drugs
EDITORIAL

IN South Australia 89 per cent of drug users say it is easy or very easy to obtain hydroponic cannabis. South Australia has the most lenient cannabis laws in Australia.

This must change.

In a different era - with different understanding about the dangers of cannabis - South Australia introduced liberal laws on production, possession and use.

Those laws were wrong. Their remnants should be expunged.

South Australia must at least fall into step with other states - or suffer the long-term social and health dislocation inevitably associated with cannabis abuse.

From The Advertiser

 

[ilikeacid]

^^ How bout, GET FUCKED!

 

[Portillo]

These articles have hit a new low.

 

[satricion]

Hehe well they're shit articles but let's be honest, weed in SA basically rains from the sky.

 

[zaineaol.nu]

bleh.. weed is fucked... the sooner its recognised the better... there isn't a worse drug out there.

40 years down the track people are still slaves to the shit. and its a shit drug. Good on them, fucking get rid of the shit, or at least make it less availiable.

 

[yossarian_is_sane!]

^ah... i thought meth was the most evil drug...

Seriously though, is there a stoner in the country who finds it 'difficult' to get weed?

 

[tribesman]

I'm not sure if they are just saying 'hydroponic' for scare value but really it just brings it back to the potency debate. Weaker marijuana just means people smoke more, inhaling more toxic smoke particles in the process of trying to get the same high one would get from a lesser amount of high potency, usually hydroponic marijuana.

 

[76fish]

And how hard is it to get cannabis everywhere else in Australia? And how much difference would increasing penalties make? Answers - piss easy and fuck all. Stupid misleading no brain bullshit, pretty much what you would expect.

Fuck the Adelaide Advertiser. I don't even like dope, I just hate lying journalists.

 

[ilikeacid]

zaineaol.nu

there isn't a worse drug out there.

40 years down the track people are still slaves to the shit. and its a shit drug. Good on them, fucking get rid of the shit, or at least make it less availiable.

Bit harsh/simplistic don't you think? I admit it probably causes the majority of the illicit drug problems in aus , maybe the world (excluding deaths).. Still, who dosn't enjoy a good billie or splif once and a while.. weeds for chillin not abusing Plus this report makes me wanna headbutt my computer screen!
The Advertiser, proudly providing usless, sensationalising, fear mongering information for over 100yrs

 

[Prince Planet]

The interesting thing about hydro is that it is a product of prohibition. The police in their pursuit of Reefer Madness pushed growers into more creative ways of hiding crops, eg indoors. and the hydro industry was born. Prior to that Australians relied on bush bud and the seasonal fluctuations driven by the weather. That's not to say that we wouldn't have a hydro industry, I just don't think it would be such a lucrative industry. Estimations are that 80-90% of cannabis in Australia is hydro.

 

[peaked]

The NDC Cannabis: Answers to Your Questions report shows people in SA face a $150 fine instead of court for carrying up to 100g of cannabis or having a hydroponic plant - the next closest state allows just 50g before people face court.

This is inaccurate. Any use of artifical light, hydroponics, or any other artifical aid for growing weed is a criminal offense and means you wont be elligible for the $150 on the spot fine. You can only have one outdoor plant for it not to be considered a criminal offense (according to this site anyhow).

Personally, I think this is definately a step in the wrong direction for SA. Assuming tougher laws on cannabis even did have the effect of decreasing availability, it would probably just increase the amount of meth and pills going around here, which are readily available to most that are using weed in the first place. That said, tougher laws on cannabis more than likely will not have the effect of decreasing its abundance, and instead it will just shift its supply from the small one or two plant enthusiast setup, to large profit crops grown by well organized criminal syndicates.

 

[hoptis]

State moves to increase drug fines
October 05, 2006 06:11pm

THE South Australian Government has moved to increase fines for smoking, selling and cultivating small amounts of cannabis, with some penalties to be tripled.

Attorney General Michael Atkinson said the Government had delivered on another election promise by introducing the first increases in fines for more than 20 years.

The new penalties will come into effect on December 3.

They increase fines for the possession of less than 25g of cannabis from $50 to $150 and for the possession of 25 to 100g from $150 to $300.

Possessing equipment for smoking cannabis will also attract a $150 fine, up from $50, while cultivation of one cannabis plant in the ground will cost $300, up from $150.

Mr Atkinson said with fines unchanged since 1985, the current penalties did not reflect their original intent to deter the illegal use of cannabis.

“The Government will continue to toughen the law and back our police force in the fight against drugs on our streets,” he said.

News.com.au

 

[mepat1111]

bleh.. weed is fucked... the sooner its recognised the better... there isn't a worse drug out there.

40 years down the track people are still slaves to the shit. and its a shit drug. Good on them, fucking get rid of the shit, or at least make it less availiable.

I couldn't agree more, weed is the only drug I flat out refuse to do, and wouldn't do if it was offered to me for free (even meth I'd have a hard time turning down if it was free).

However these articles are poorly written, make me want to strangle the journalists, and are telling flat out lies.