An Australian man with a passing resemblance to Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan spent three days in jail last year after Aussie border agents accused him of smuggling 1.6 kg of liquid ecstasy into the country—cunningly disguised in bottles of Pantene Pro V shampoo and conditioner. Actually, the bottles really did contain innocent hair product. Now, after 17 months of legal battles, Neil Parry has been awarded $100,000 in damages for the false arrest—most of which will simply cover his legal costs. Australian authorities sheepishly confess that they bungled the shampoo analysis, which they originally said tested positive for MDMA, the active compound in ecstasy. “Mistakes were made during the presumptive testing of Mr. Parry’s goods,” (under)states an official, who claims that new procedures have since been introduced. Ecstasy isn’t known for being ingested through the scalp. Parry’s boat was searched during the investigation, as were the homes of two of his friends. Procter & Gamble, makers of the Pro V hair care line, declined to comment.

Last Tuesday, in the dead of night, the New York Police Department staged a surprise evacuation of Occupy Wall Street’s encampment in Zuccotti Park. Hundreds of policemen decked out in riot gear descended on the protestors using deafening LARD (long-range acoustic devices) noise cannons—the same high-tech “non-lethal weapons” used by the US military in Iraqi. They also deployed pepper spray, tear gas, and flash-bang grenades to subdue the encampment. A street-by-street lockdown of the financial district was enforced, followed by a media blackout, blocking reporters from covering the forced eviction of the OWS protesters. Of more than 250 people arrested Tuesday morning were seven reporters and photographers, including those from The New York Times, NBC, the AP, New York Daily News, Fox News and New York 1. In a press conference later in the day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the media were excluded from the scene “to prevent a situation from getting worse and to protect members of the press.”

Journalists were quick to condemn the lockdown and blackout of a major news event. Blogging for The New Yorker, journalist Philip Gourevitch wrote, “In a democracy, a mayor who believes he can shut down the press at will is not defending public safety; and a mayor who believes the police can be unleashed to manhandle the citizenry without answering for it cannot claim to be on the side of law or order.”

In fact, broad swaths of urban America live under similar “crackdown” conditions every day due to constitutionally slippery drug-war policies like stop-and-frisk, the controversial police practice of detaining, questioning and searching any person who is under “reasonable suspicion” of involvement in a crime. “Reasonable suspicion” is, of course, all in the mind of the cops on the beat, with all their prejudices and pressures. Once stopped, the person can be patted down if the police “suspects” they may be carrying a weapon; once frisked, the person can be arrested if the police find drugs or other illegal contraband in lieu of a weapon. In practice, stop-and-frisk allows the police to invade a person’s privacy in pursuit of any pretext to arrest them. Urban neighborhoods where drug trafficking is commonplace have some of the nation’s highest rates of stop-and-frisk, since even to set foot on (let alone live on) a block where a drug dealer operates is to come under “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity, according to the police.

Journalists and researchers who work in these neighborhoods can be subjected to the same arbitrary restrictions as reporters trying to cover major confrontations between police and protesters. Like the press during the media blackout of the OWS eviction, they can even suffer the same violence at the hands of law enforcement.

Still, few people other than active heroin addicts would find themselves touring Camden, New Jersey, the notorious town across the Delaware River from Philadelphia known, in 2009, as the country’s murder capital. Even fewer would spend a Sunday morning checking out the network of heroin corners on the city’s north side. At least, that’s the assumption the Camden Police Department operates from when stopping drivers and pedestrians in the neighborhood, questioning, often frisking and continuously threatening them with arrest. It’s hard to argue with the department’s reasoning, which is probably at least more often than not true.

Camden was forced to lay off half of its police force this due to budget shortfalls, unleashing what is reportedly a state of sustained chaos. On the surface it certainly looks like a place to avoid. North Camden consists of a tight grid of tiny row houses, many in a state of total collapse. Whole clusters of buildings that burned down long ago and were never demolished or repaired now barely remain standing as charred shells. Of those homes that haven’t burned, scores are boarded over with plywood stenciled “Department of Public Works” in black paint on their front doors. Interspersed among the ruins are vacant lots littered with garbage, broken glass, dirty needles, used condoms—the standard detritus of high drug-and-crime neighborhoods where the public sector has more or less stopped performing basic functions other than nailing boards over broken shooting-gallery windows.

Low Drinking Age Laws Raise Adult Women’s Suicide Risk, Teen “Watched Pal OD on Heroin” and Called 911 Next Morning, and Reporter Hallucinates After Eating “World’s Hottest” Chilli.

Image: 

He soon regretted snacking on a sizzling
South Carolina chilli. Photo via

Research that found a third of popular songs contain drug references, led to headlines like, “Study: Music Has Drug References, Pope Is Catholic” a few years back.

Drugs and music. The two just seem to go together. Often, though, in a more tragic way than artists would like to let on. Compare Amy Winehouse’s defiant lyrics to her reality: the singer who said “no, no, no” to rehab lost her very public struggle with alcohol last summer.

There are countless other examples. But some artists and organizations aren’t content with the status quo.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has teamed up with MusiCares and the Grammy Foundation to sponsor a music contest to raise teen awareness of substance abuse.

Young songwriters submit original compositions that either celebrate a healthful lifestyle or accurately depict drug abuse.

The result is a series of honest, heartbreaking and hopeful songs from young people whose lives had been altered by substance abuse and addiction.

Unlike motivational speakers and celebrities, who have usually already slain their demons and are talking about their drug use in retrospect, these young people are sharing their stories from the thick of things.

When the winners were named recently, the top songwriting team was identified only as Harvie and Amanda. Both are currently in treatment, and their full names won’t be released until they finish their program.

“The winning song reflects the hope that treatment brings, especially to young people who have so much potential to change their life course,” NIDA Director Nora Volkow said in a statement. “This songwriting team brought incredible emotion to their personal journey that hopefully will encourage others to seek treatment for substance abuse problems.”

Kevin Simmons, who took second place, also wrote his composition during a stay in a rehabilitation center. His rap number My Life chronicles a drug habit that started in fifth grade and landed Simmons in both jail and rehab by the time he was in high school.

Creative endeavors can be an important outlet for those trying to overcome an addiction, and the strategy also works for those dealing with a loved one’s addiction.

Fifteen-year-old Grant Davis has been involved in music for 5 years. He took up singing when his sister’s drug use started taking over his family life. “I needed a way to cope,” Davis told Shots.

Last year, he tried his hand at songwriting. His first effort, “Just a Child” won third place in this year’s contest.

Davis said that before he wrote the song, he was struggling to understand his sister’s addiction and why she couldn’t just get better. The song was an exercise in seeing things from her point of view and realizing how much of a battle she faced.

The song became a collaborative project, with many members of the family and others who knew Davis’ sister contributing and shaping the lyrics. As he asked for help with his musical endeavor, Davis was also reaching out to his family and friends and opening up more communication between them. “It was my first real song,” Davis told Shots. “I wanted to make sure that it was good enough for me and for my sister.”

When asked about the message behind his song, Davis said “drugs take away your dreams and take all control. You have no choice any longer.”

His advice to other teens? It’s important to find an expressive outlet, a way to cope with substance abuse, whether it’s your own, or that of a family member. “It’s a place where you can find peace,” Davis said of music.

All the contest winners will get to go backstage during the rehearsals for the Grammy awards next February, and their songs will be aired on various websites including Grammy 365, MTV, and the Above the Influence Campaign.

“Garth McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust is in direct conflict with the Minister of Corrections, over his claims that the therapeutic treatment of prisoners has not worked” says Kim Workman, of Rethinking Crime and Punishment. In a media statement released yesterday, Sensible Sentencing said that prisoner therapy and treatment has been totally discredited and doesn’t work.”

“He is in direct conflict with Minister Collins on this issue. Minister Collins has been actively promoting the success of drug treatment in prisons over the last three years. The number of drug units has grown from five to nine in the last three years, catering for the therapeutic needs of up to 1000 offenders. She recently announced that the units reduce offending by a third and have been highly successful in helping prisoners kick their alcohol and drug addictions, and lead law-abiding lives.”

Garth claims that Rethinking Crime and Punishment is in ‘panic mode’ because rehabilitation hasn’t worked. In fact, Rethinking agrees with the Minister that drug treatment programmes work. However, we also know that when drug treatment programmes are run in the community, they cost about a third of the prison programme, and produce roughly a 50% better result. In the lower half of the North Island there are around 140 residential drug and alcohol places within the prison, and about 20 places in the community. Given that many of these offenders are non-violent, and are not a public safety risk, we consider that more resource should be put into community based treatment.

Sensible Sentencing needs to stick to its knitting, whatever that is. Recent comments on criminal justice policy make it clear that they are well out of their depth.

In his media release, Garth totally misrepresents Rethinking’s views on crime and punishment. He should read our position paper “Doing Good Justice in Bad Times” and brush up. He can download it at:

http://www.rethinking.org.nz/assets/Newsletter_PDF/Issue_86/Doing_Good_Justice_in_Bad_Times.pdf

56-year-old Richard Wolff says he is proof drug rehabilitation works.

“I’ve been clean since January 13, 1998,” he said.
    
Before that, he says he spent nearly ten years of his life in limbo.

“I was drinking alcohol every day, I was doing cocaine and crack every day,” he recalled.
    
After once spending four months in jail, he was given a second chance. The offer: complete a  rehab program successfully.

Wolff completed the program at no cost to him.

“It’s a much, much better life,” he said.
    
Budget cuts have wiped out many similar rehab programs over the past decade.

“When you figure every twenty-seven hours we have an overdose death and it’s from prescription drugs, we’ve got a serious problem,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, of PBSO.    
    
Now, a new move to reverse that trend is in place. A coalition of lawmakers, law enforcement, and private businesses are coming together to try and fund new rehab centers.   

A golf tournament developed by the South Florida Coalition Against Substance Abuse is raising private money for that effort. No taxpayer dollars involved.

Lawmakers say rehab programs can cost a patient up to $30,000 dollars a month – unaffordable for all but the wealthy.

Finding new ways to help addicts now can help save big public costs down the road.

And Richard Wolff hopes more people get the second chance that turned his life around.

“Treatment does work,” he said. “It helps people, like me.”

A former Canadian Football League player involved in a bizarre shooting incident in Port Coquitlam in September has been released from North Fraser Pretrial Centre but will have to report to a drug rehabilitation facility.

Adam Braidwood has been in custody since Sept. 25 after a Coquitlam RCMP officer who was directing traffic for the Terry Fox Run was confronted by a man carrying what was believed to be a gun. Police said they found several rounds fired into the interior walls of a nearby home.

The 27-year-old is not allowed to leave the rehabilitation facility without an escort and the judge ordered a $10,000 surety and several other conditions.

Braidwood is facing seven charges related to the PoCo incident, including careless use of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm without a licence.

But the former Edmonton Eskimos’ legal troubles do not end with the Port Coquitlam incident.

Braidwood’s lawyer, Kris Pechet, told The Tri-City News that the situation is complicated by previous legal issues in Alberta dating back to last year.

In November 2010 he was charged with forcible confinement and aggravated assault after witnesses reported seeing an injured man being stuffed into the trunk of a car.

While on bail he was again arrested on charges of domestic assault, uttering threats and weapons offences.

Braidwood is a former Washington State football product and was drafted first overall in the 2006 CFL Canadian draft but was released by the Eskimos in April because of his legal issues.

He was Edmonton’s nominee for the Outstanding Rookie award in 2006 but a knee injury forced him to sit out the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com

Brett Butler, the former star of popular ’90s sitcom Grace Under Fire and a self-described addict, has finally hit rock bottom after a long string of disasters, which began with the cancellation of her show in 1998. She now lives in a homeless shelter. Butler—whose TV persona, Grace, was a recovering alcoholic, herself—has battled substance abuse problems for over a decade. After losing her hit series and attending a bunch of “great white hope” rehabs without success, Butler moved from her Los Angeles mansion to a Georgia farm, where her addiction to prescription drugs spiraled out of control. “I did everything but crack and needles pretty much,” she says. “I had a variety of things given to me by doctor, and other things.” Butler claims she’s now sober and primed for a comeback; a reality TV show about her creepy psychic abilities is currently in development.

Caterina Scorsone, who stars as the drug-addicted Amelia on the hit ABC show “Private Practice,” is helping those who are in trouble with drugs with a new PSA.

Watch some behind-the-scenes footage!

Tune in to “Private Practice” Thursday on ABC to see how the gang stages an intervention for Amelia.

For more information on the PSA and getting help, go to ABetterCommunity.com!