Network Against Prohibition
Encyclopedia
Network Against Prohibition
(NAP) is the name given to the drug law reform and human rights
activist group that began on 7 March 2002, in Darwin
, Australia
in response to the Northern Territory
Labor
Government's drug house legislation. NAP members aim to end the prohibition
of drugs
, and specifically, the War on Drugs
and the human rights abuses faced by people who ingest illicit drugs. NAP, as it has become widely known, amassed a raft of court cases which had their denouement in 2007, when first, one of the NAP activists, Rob Inder-Smith, served jail time, and second, another, Stuart Highway, received an out-of-court settlement for having been wrongfully jailed in 2004.
, coca
, cannabis
, etc. for their survival. NAP originally formed in Darwin in the NT, however the group claims to be undergoing an expansion.
As well as engaging in activism
and direct action
activities, NAP provides a number of health and other services to people who use illicit drugs
in the Northern Territory
of Australia
, including an after-hours needle-exchange program.
NAP is made up entirely of volunteers and does not receive any funding
from government
or corporate
sources.
The Darwin
-based chapter of NAP (currently the only active chapter) maintains an extensive website http://www.napnt.org which includes an archive of the latest Northern Territory
drug news. The group also publishes a regular email newsletter http://groups.yahoo.com/group/napnt/.
NAP's cause celebre is an immediate end to the war on drugs, which puts it under the same umbrella as the highly respected Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
, and any number of formidable anti-drug war groups that have sprung up in recent years. Though restricted by a limited support base in the NT capital (population: 70,000 [Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2005]) NAP's presence and activities have raised the ire of the ultra-conservative establishment, which has responded in kind by hauling various members through the courts and imposing jail terms upon them.
drug news/stories. There are more than 850 archived articles. All NAPNT members are encouraged to newshawk and to that end the network works closely with the Media Awareness Project.
Some NAPNT members write letters to the editors of their local newspapers to promote drug law-reform messages and to affirm the human rights
of people who use illicit drugs.
The NAPNT website http://www.napnt.org features articles on Australians in trouble for drug offences overseas, for example Schapelle Corby
and the Bali Nine
. NAPNT members regularly publish articles on issues such as petrol sniffing and other "law and order
" issues.
The Darwin-based NAPNT receives regular coverage within the Northern Territory, Australian and global media
, including TV and radio
coverage.
Each year since 2002, the NT Chapter of NAP has facilitated the Darwin International Syringe Festival. This is a protest
as well as a celebration, focusing on the war on drugs
.
As part of their ongoing community education
activities, NAPNT members regularly conduct information stalls around Darwin, including a stall at the Nightcliff markets every Sunday.
of Australia's Northern Territory
. Nine of these became the first people charged under Section 61 of the Northern Territory Criminal Code
: "disturbing the legislative assembly whilst it is in session." This is the first time that legislation like this has been used anywhere in the Westminster system
since the days of Oliver Cromwell
.
Of the nine, Andrew Albert Tasman Deacon pleaded guilty
at the first instance, and after an initial 14-day jail sentence this was replaced with community work on appeal.
Luke Masters and Aaron Stallard-Bryce changed their plea to guilty at the end of a marathon 16-day hearing in the Darwin
Magistrates' Court
. They were each sentenced to a period of community work, although Luke Masters spent 14 days in Darwin Prison
for failing to complete it.
On 5 June 2003, Ema Birkland-Corro, Stuart Highway
, Gary William Meyerhoff and Robert Paul Inder-Smith were sentenced to periods of detention
between 14 and 21 months, suspended after serving four or five months.
Highway, Meyerhoff and Inder-Smith appealed against their conviction to the Northern Territory Supreme Court
however their appeal was dismissed by Justice David Angel on 17 September 2004. The three then appealed unsuccessfully against their conviction to the full bench of the Northern Territory Supreme Court. Finally, as planned at the outset, they engaged an NT Legal Aid lawyer and in February 2007, with the then Melbourne-based Birkland-Corro, successfully appealed their sentences.
Birkeland-Corro was also charged with aggravated assault and she was found guilty in the Darwin Magistrate's Court in 2003. Her conviction was overturned by the NT Supreme Court. Ema faces another trial in the Darwin Magistrate's Court in June 2006.
One more NAPNT member, Scott White, was charged for this incident. He was interstate when the original case was heard in the Darwin Magistrate's Court. White was extradited from Tasmania
in 2003. He originally elected to have a trial by jury
in the Northern Territory Supreme Court
. This trial was set down to proceed in late January 2006. On 10 January 2006, Scott entered a plea of guilty. On 12 January 2006, NT Chief Justice Brian Martin
sentenced Scott to 10-weeks’ jail suspended. The suspended sentence was on the condition that Scott not associate or communicate with fellow members of the Network Against Prohibition.
Meyerhoff elected to have the matter dealt with in the Darwin
Magistrates' Court
and he was found guilty
of the offence by Magistrate Antony Gillies on 28 October 2004. He is the first person to be charged with the offence in the Northern Territory. On 5 April 2005, Meyerhoff appeared before Justice Stephen Southwood in the Northern Territory
Supreme Court
to appeal against the bill-pasting conviction. He argued unsuccessfully that section 97 of the By-Laws breaches his right to freedom of speech
, as implied by the Australian Constitution. Southwood dismissed the appeal on 6 April 2005. Meyerhoff lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal and he appeared before the full bench of the Northern Territory Supreme Court on 1 November 2005. His appeal was unsuccessful and the conviction for bill-pasting was upheld.
Chapter of NAP hold regular Community Smoke-Ins in Raintree Park in the Darwin CBD. The group has held twenty-five of these events since the chapter was established in Darwin in March 2002.
The NT Police intervened at the first Smoke-In, held on 20 April 2002, arresting five NAP members. All charges were subsequently dropped.
Police intervened again at the sixth Community Smoke-In, held on 12 October 2002. Five NAP members were arrested - Ema Corro, Gary Meyerhoff, Michael John Barry, Nicolette Burrows and Stuart Highway
. Highway and Meyerhoff were remanded in custody but were released on bail by Magistrate Daynor Trigg on 14 October 2002. The NAP members were charged with criminal damage to two police vehicles and other charges including assault police and escaping lawful custody. A jury trial commenced in the NT Supreme Court on Monday, 17 October 2005. Nicolette Burrows and Michael Barry pleaded guilty to the charges they faced, avoiding a trial and giving them the benefit of the discount that you get if you plead guilty. Gary Meyerhoff was suffering from pneumonia and was not forced to proceed with the trial. He faces trial for these charges in 2006. Stuart Highway pleaded not guilty to the charges and on the afternoon of 18 October, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Highway was remanded in custody. On Wednesday, 19 October, Stuart Highway was sentenced by Justice Trevor Riley to eight months' jail, suspended after he serves three months. He was released on 17 January 2006. Nicolette Burrows and Michael Barry each received a five-month suspended sentence. In October 2006 Gary Meyerhoff died aged 31 years.
Members of the Northern Territory
Chapter of NAP have a number of criminal
matters outstanding in the Darwin Magistrate's and Northern Territory Supreme Courts.
, ran 5 candidates in a total of 25 electorates, obtaining 0.5% of the vote.
In Darwin, NAPNT members work closely with the NT AIDS and Hep C Council (NTAHC) http://www.ntahc.org.au and a range of other community-based agencies.
Prohibition (drugs)
The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent drug use. Prohibition of drugs has existed at various levels of government or other authority from the Middle Ages to the present....
(NAP) is the name given to the drug law reform and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist group that began on 7 March 2002, in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in response to the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
Government's drug house legislation. NAP members aim to end the prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
of drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, and specifically, the War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
and the human rights abuses faced by people who ingest illicit drugs. NAP, as it has become widely known, amassed a raft of court cases which had their denouement in 2007, when first, one of the NAP activists, Rob Inder-Smith, served jail time, and second, another, Stuart Highway, received an out-of-court settlement for having been wrongfully jailed in 2004.
About the Network Against Prohibition (NAP)
The Network Against Prohibition (NAP) is a group dedicated to promoting and protecting the health and human rights of illicit drug users around the globe as well as the rights of those living in communities in developing countries who rely on opiumOpium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
, cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, etc. for their survival. NAP originally formed in Darwin in the NT, however the group claims to be undergoing an expansion.
As well as engaging in activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
and direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
activities, NAP provides a number of health and other services to people who use illicit drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, including an after-hours needle-exchange program.
NAP is made up entirely of volunteers and does not receive any funding
Funding
Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money , or other values such as effort or time , for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions...
from government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
or corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
sources.
The Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
-based chapter of NAP (currently the only active chapter) maintains an extensive website http://www.napnt.org which includes an archive of the latest Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
drug news. The group also publishes a regular email newsletter http://groups.yahoo.com/group/napnt/.
NAP's cause celebre is an immediate end to the war on drugs, which puts it under the same umbrella as the highly respected Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is a non-profit, international, educational organization comprising former and current police officers, government agents and other law enforcement agents who oppose the current War on Drugs. LEAP was founded on March 16, 2002...
, and any number of formidable anti-drug war groups that have sprung up in recent years. Though restricted by a limited support base in the NT capital (population: 70,000 [Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2005]) NAP's presence and activities have raised the ire of the ultra-conservative establishment, which has responded in kind by hauling various members through the courts and imposing jail terms upon them.
Activities of the Northern Territory Chapter of the Network Against Prohibition
The NT Drug News Vault http://www.napnt.org/ntdrugnews.html is another resource provided for the NAPNT community. This is an archive of Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
drug news/stories. There are more than 850 archived articles. All NAPNT members are encouraged to newshawk and to that end the network works closely with the Media Awareness Project.
Some NAPNT members write letters to the editors of their local newspapers to promote drug law-reform messages and to affirm the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
of people who use illicit drugs.
The NAPNT website http://www.napnt.org features articles on Australians in trouble for drug offences overseas, for example Schapelle Corby
Schapelle Corby
Schapelle Leigh Corby is an Australian woman convicted of drug smuggling who is imprisoned in Indonesia.Corby is serving a 20-year sentence for the importation of of cannabis into Bali, Indonesia...
and the Bali Nine
Bali Nine
The Bali Nine is the name given to a group of nine Australians arrested on 17 April 2005, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, in a plan to smuggle of heroin valued at approximately A$4 million from Indonesia to Australia...
. NAPNT members regularly publish articles on issues such as petrol sniffing and other "law and order
Law and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
" issues.
The Darwin-based NAPNT receives regular coverage within the Northern Territory, Australian and global media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, including TV and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
coverage.
Each year since 2002, the NT Chapter of NAP has facilitated the Darwin International Syringe Festival. This is a protest
Protest
A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
as well as a celebration, focusing on the war on drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
.
As part of their ongoing community education
Community education
Community education, also known as Community-based education or Community learning & development, is defined by the Scottish Government as learning and social development work with individuals and groups in their communities using a range of formal and informal methods...
activities, NAPNT members regularly conduct information stalls around Darwin, including a stall at the Nightcliff markets every Sunday.
The Parliament Invasion
On 14 May 2002, ten people associated with NAPNT interrupted the Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....
of Australia's Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
. Nine of these became the first people charged under Section 61 of the Northern Territory Criminal Code
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
: "disturbing the legislative assembly whilst it is in session." This is the first time that legislation like this has been used anywhere in the Westminster system
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
since the days of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
.
Of the nine, Andrew Albert Tasman Deacon pleaded guilty
Guilty
Guilty commonly refers to the feeling of guilt, an experience that occurs when a person believes that they have violated a moral standard.Guilty or The Guilty may also refer to:-Law:*Guilty plea, a formal admission of legal culpability...
at the first instance, and after an initial 14-day jail sentence this was replaced with community work on appeal.
Luke Masters and Aaron Stallard-Bryce changed their plea to guilty at the end of a marathon 16-day hearing in the Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
. They were each sentenced to a period of community work, although Luke Masters spent 14 days in Darwin Prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for failing to complete it.
On 5 June 2003, Ema Birkland-Corro, Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
, Gary William Meyerhoff and Robert Paul Inder-Smith were sentenced to periods of detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
between 14 and 21 months, suspended after serving four or five months.
Highway, Meyerhoff and Inder-Smith appealed against their conviction to the Northern Territory Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
however their appeal was dismissed by Justice David Angel on 17 September 2004. The three then appealed unsuccessfully against their conviction to the full bench of the Northern Territory Supreme Court. Finally, as planned at the outset, they engaged an NT Legal Aid lawyer and in February 2007, with the then Melbourne-based Birkland-Corro, successfully appealed their sentences.
Birkeland-Corro was also charged with aggravated assault and she was found guilty in the Darwin Magistrate's Court in 2003. Her conviction was overturned by the NT Supreme Court. Ema faces another trial in the Darwin Magistrate's Court in June 2006.
One more NAPNT member, Scott White, was charged for this incident. He was interstate when the original case was heard in the Darwin Magistrate's Court. White was extradited from Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 2003. He originally elected to have a trial by jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
in the Northern Territory Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
. This trial was set down to proceed in late January 2006. On 10 January 2006, Scott entered a plea of guilty. On 12 January 2006, NT Chief Justice Brian Martin
Brian Martin
Brian Martin may refer to:* Brian Martin , U.S. basketball player* Brian Martin , former Scottish footballer* Brian Martin , Canadian hockey player* Brian Martin , American luger...
sentenced Scott to 10-weeks’ jail suspended. The suspended sentence was on the condition that Scott not associate or communicate with fellow members of the Network Against Prohibition.
Bill-pasting
On 26 August 2003, Northern Territory police arrested two NAP members, Gary William Meyerhoff and Michael John Barry and charged them with two counts each of criminal damage. The charges were subsequently dropped but the Darwin City Council issued the NAPNT members with infringement notices for “affixing a handbill to a pole without a permit”, a breach of section 97 of the Darwin City Council by-laws.Meyerhoff elected to have the matter dealt with in the Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
and he was found guilty
Guilty
Guilty commonly refers to the feeling of guilt, an experience that occurs when a person believes that they have violated a moral standard.Guilty or The Guilty may also refer to:-Law:*Guilty plea, a formal admission of legal culpability...
of the offence by Magistrate Antony Gillies on 28 October 2004. He is the first person to be charged with the offence in the Northern Territory. On 5 April 2005, Meyerhoff appeared before Justice Stephen Southwood in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
to appeal against the bill-pasting conviction. He argued unsuccessfully that section 97 of the By-Laws breaches his right to freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, as implied by the Australian Constitution. Southwood dismissed the appeal on 6 April 2005. Meyerhoff lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal and he appeared before the full bench of the Northern Territory Supreme Court on 1 November 2005. His appeal was unsuccessful and the conviction for bill-pasting was upheld.
Community Smoke-Ins and court
The Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
Chapter of NAP hold regular Community Smoke-Ins in Raintree Park in the Darwin CBD. The group has held twenty-five of these events since the chapter was established in Darwin in March 2002.
The NT Police intervened at the first Smoke-In, held on 20 April 2002, arresting five NAP members. All charges were subsequently dropped.
Police intervened again at the sixth Community Smoke-In, held on 12 October 2002. Five NAP members were arrested - Ema Corro, Gary Meyerhoff, Michael John Barry, Nicolette Burrows and Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway
The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...
. Highway and Meyerhoff were remanded in custody but were released on bail by Magistrate Daynor Trigg on 14 October 2002. The NAP members were charged with criminal damage to two police vehicles and other charges including assault police and escaping lawful custody. A jury trial commenced in the NT Supreme Court on Monday, 17 October 2005. Nicolette Burrows and Michael Barry pleaded guilty to the charges they faced, avoiding a trial and giving them the benefit of the discount that you get if you plead guilty. Gary Meyerhoff was suffering from pneumonia and was not forced to proceed with the trial. He faces trial for these charges in 2006. Stuart Highway pleaded not guilty to the charges and on the afternoon of 18 October, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict. Highway was remanded in custody. On Wednesday, 19 October, Stuart Highway was sentenced by Justice Trevor Riley to eight months' jail, suspended after he serves three months. He was released on 17 January 2006. Nicolette Burrows and Michael Barry each received a five-month suspended sentence. In October 2006 Gary Meyerhoff died aged 31 years.
Members of the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
Chapter of NAP have a number of criminal
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
matters outstanding in the Darwin Magistrate's and Northern Territory Supreme Courts.
2005 Northern Territory Election
In the 2005 Northern Territory electionNorthern Territory legislative election, 2005
A general election was held in the Northern Territory, Australia, on 18 June 2005. The centre-left Australian Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Clare Martin, won a second term with a landslide victory, winning six of the ten seats held by the opposition Country Liberal Party in the 25-member...
, ran 5 candidates in a total of 25 electorates, obtaining 0.5% of the vote.
Affiliations
NAPNT is a member of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) and The International Coalition of NGO's for Just and Effective Drugs Policy (ICN). The network has strong connections with drug user activists from across the globe.In Darwin, NAPNT members work closely with the NT AIDS and Hep C Council (NTAHC) http://www.ntahc.org.au and a range of other community-based agencies.
See also
- Arguments for and against drug prohibitionArguments for and against drug prohibitionArguments about the prohibition of drugs, and over drug policy reform, are subjects of considerable controversy. The following is a presentation of major drug policy arguments, including those for drug law enforcement on one side of the debate, and arguments for drug law reform on the other.-...
- Civil disobedienceCivil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
- Civil rightsCivil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
- Recreational drug useRecreational drug useRecreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
- Harm reductionHarm reductionHarm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with recreational drug use and other high risk activities...
- Human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
- Human rights in AustraliaHuman rights in AustraliaHuman Rights in Australia have largely been developed under Australian Parliamentary democracy, and safeguarded by such institutions as the Australian Human Rights Commission and an independent judiciary and High Court who apply the Common Law, the Australian Constitution and various other laws...
- Illegal drug tradeIllegal drug tradeThe illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
- IncarcerationIncarcerationIncarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
- International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsInternational Covenant on Civil and Political RightsThe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
- International human rights instrumentsInternational human rights instrumentsInternational human rights instruments are treaties and other international documents relevant to international human rights law and the protection of human rights in general...
- NarcoticNarcoticThe term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
- On LibertyOn LibertyOn Liberty is a philosophical work by British philosopher John Stuart Mill. It was a radical work to the Victorian readers of the time because it supported individuals' moral and economic freedom from the state....
- Rockefeller drug lawsRockefeller drug lawsThe Rockefeller Drug Laws is the term used to denote the statutes dealing with the sale and possession of "narcotic" drugs in the New York State Penal Law. The laws are named after Nelson Rockefeller, who was the state's governor at the time the laws were adopted...
- Social justiceSocial justiceSocial justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
- Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human RightsThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
- War on DrugsWar on DrugsThe War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
External links
- Network Against Prohibition the Domain has expired please see Archive*http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.napnt.org
- Network Against Prohibition email list the Domain has expired please see Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.napnt.org
- Northern Territory Drug News Vault
- Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League
- DrugSense
- Web log of Gary William Meyerhoff, one of the founding members of the Network Against Prohibition
- The International Coalition of NGO's for Just and Effective Drugs Policy
- Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
- Media Awareness Project
- Northern Territory AIDS and Hep C Council
- Northern Territory Government
- Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
- Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services
- Northern Territory Supreme Court
- Territory Users Forum Inc.
- Vicki Rosepiler - a prisoner in the United States that NAP members correspond with
- More Northern Territory activism