Daily Archives: September 10, 2014

Daily users under 17 are seven times more likely to attempt suicide compared with non-users, Australian-led study finds.

Teenagers who use cannabis daily before the age of 17 are more than 60% less likely to complete high school or university compared with those who have never used, an Australian-led study found.

Daily teenage users were seven times more likely to attempt suicide and eight times as likely to use other illicit drugs compared with non-users, the research published in journal the Lancet Psychiatry found.

The researchers have called for their findings to be considered in any cannabis legalisation reform.

There has been much debate over the impact of heavy cannabis use in teenage years, with existing studies too small to draw strong conclusions.

To address this gap, researchers led by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales combined the results from three large, long-running studies to examine data from more than 3,700 cannabis users.

They linked frequency of use with seven developmental outcomes up to the age of 30: completing high school; obtaining a university degree; cannabis dependence; use of other illicit drugs; suicide attempts; depression, and welfare dependence.

They found a clear association between frequency of cannabis use in adolescence and poor outcomes, even after controlling for factors such as socioeconomic status and mental illness.

Risks increased as the amount of the drug taken also increased.

“The findings are timely given movement in some states in the US and Latin America to decriminalise marijuana, and there is also a movement here in Australia to decriminalise and legalise the drug for medicinal use,” the lead author of the study, Dr Edmund Silins, said.

“Because our study has shown the potential harms of adolescent use, particularly heavy use, policy makers must be aware of this and reform efforts should be carefully considered to protect against this.

“We can’t say what would happen if people were able to access the drug for medical use but I would say those products would have to be heavily tested and regulated to ensure it didn’t make it easier for teenagers to access the drug.”

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in the world.

In Australia, 1% of 14- to 19-year-olds are daily users, while 4% use weekly. Studies from England show 4% of 11- to 15-year-olds there reported cannabis use within the past month, while in the US, roughly 7% of senior high school students are daily, or near-daily, cannabis users.

The president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, Dr Alex Wodak, said the evidence for the harms of frequent use presented in the study was”compelling” but added daily use before age 17 would be “pretty uncommon”.

“Daily use of any strong, psychoactive drug at any age, particularly at a young age, is not a good thing so I’m not surprised by the finding,” he said.

“And I don’t have a problem with the claim that efforts to reform cannabis legislation should be carefully evaluated to ensure they reduce adolescent cannabis use, but these studies were carried out in countries that continue to have a fairly punitive approach to cannabis which clearly hasn’t worked, and that’s now become a widely shared view.”

In a comment piece written for the Lancet Psychiatry to accompany the study, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark said when countries decriminalised or legalised cannabis: “It will probably be followed by decreased prices and increased use, which will lead to more young people having difficulties with school completion and social and personal maturation, and will increase the risk of psychosis.”

But many studies had shown that simply prohibiting cannabis did not make it any less easy for young people to get hold of it, Wodak said.

“A lot of papers that have studied more moderate approaches to cannabis legislation have not found that it results in increased cannabis use,” he said.

“You might intuitively expect that it would increase use, but we have learned many times that empirical evidence trumps intuition. And the actual data, from the US and other countries, has not shown cannabis reform policies that legalise the drug causes increased use.”

Wodak said it was important to recognise that it was not just frequent use of cannabis that was associated with risk of using other illicit drugs later in life.

“The much closer association has been found between earlier use of tobacco and alcohol and later use of illicit drugs, so its not just cannabis we should be looking out for but also rates of tobacco and alcohol use in young people,” he said.

The study was funded by the government’s National Health and Medical Research Council.

source: theguardian.com

One of the most uncomfortable questions in Australian politics is about to be aired: could Julia Gillard, whose career epitomised the best and worst of public life, have benefited from union corruption?

On Wednesday, the former prime minister will step into the witness box at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption to answer questions referring to the early 1990s, when she dated the allegedly corrupt head of the Australian Workers Union’s West Australian and Victorian divisions, Bruce Wilson.

A $400,000-plus slush fund run by Mr Wilson is one of the commission’s top targets. Its existence is one of the reasons the inquiry was set up by the Coalition government. I don’t have a preconceived view of what Ms Gillard did or didn’t do. She is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Here are five questions that will help clarify what really happened.

To some extent, Ms Gillard is a victim of guilt by association. Her enemies have used her relationship with Mr Wilson to assault her reputation. Perhaps because she is a woman, Ms Gillard has been subjected to more political abuse than many male politicians, including Labor leader Bill Shorten, who wasn’t pursued by the media when the police investigated him over allegations of rape.

But Ms Gillard and Mr Wilson were more than romantically involved. She was his lawyer. She helped him, perhaps unwittingly, set up a non-profit association that housed the slush fund.

You’re intelligent, politically savvy and a successful lawyer. You knew Wilson personally and professionally. Why did it take you so long to decide he couldn’t be trusted?

This is probably the question asked most frequently and the hardest for Ms Gillard to answer. In hindsight, the evidence appears compelling that Mr Wilson abused his position as a union leader in the early 1990s (he denies breaking the law). He bought a house in inner-city ­Melbourne with the proceeds of money extorted from companies, an ex-friend alleges. Ms Gillard was present at the auction and helped with the paperwork. How could she not see what was going on in front of her?

On the other hand, Ms Gillard was in the subordinate professional relationship. It was her job as Mr Wilson’s lawyer to do what he wanted. She was a junior law partner. She had political ambitions. He was running a whole union, which made him a player in the Labor Party. Who hasn’t misjudged someone they trusted in their 20s or 30s?

In your exit interview with Melbourne law firm Slater & Gordon in 1995, you said: “I can’t categorically rule out that something at my house didn’t get paid for by the association or something at my house didn’t get paid for by the union or whatever.” Why not?

This quote may be the most damming made by Ms Gillard. She told her bosses she had checked her receipts and couldn’t see that anyone else helped pay for a renovation at a Melbourne house she bought in 1991. But the quote suggests her uncertainty that she didn’t benefit personally from Mr Wilson’s slush fund.

Supporters might argue that even if Ms Gillard did receive a few thousand dollars in free labour or materials from her client, 30 years ago, that is nothing compared with a career of high achievement or the benefits traded in business every day.

Why did you never open an office file for your work related to the AWU slush fund?

Ms Gillard has presented this decision as a minor matter during a busy time. It may have been. But it had big consequences. By not opening a file for the AWU work, no one else at Slater & Gordon was aware she was helping Mr Wilson set up a non-profit association that would be used to house a slush fund. If they had, someone more senior could have stepped in and saved her from herself. Lawyer to lawyer, an explanation for this oversight would be fascinating.

Were you forced to leave Slater & Gordon?

Ms Gillard has acknowledged that she left the Melbourne law firm in 1995 under strained circumstances but denied she was fired. She never went back to the law.

Her critics say she was forced to resign because her bosses were angry about her connection to the AWU slush fund. Nick Styant-Browne, who was the head of Slater & Gordon’s commercial department, has said he doubted her explanation about the slush fund and thought there was a case for her dismissal. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the former head of a Perth law firm, said she would have fired her on the spot.

Slater & Gordon has now closed ranks behind Ms Gillard. But if her own colleagues at the time – without knowing she was a future prime minister – thought Ms Gillard’s transgression serious enough to have her leave, that’s pretty damming.

Do you believe union corruption is a ­problem in Australia?

Ms Gillard was a pro-union leader. She introduced the Fair Work Act, which many employers dislike. Given she came from the left of the Labor Party, that’s hardly surprising. What many people following the royal commission would like to know is whether Ms Gillard thinks union corruption is a significant problem.

Slush funds, which preserve entrenched power and make it harder to remove corrupt union leaders, are clearly endemic in the labour movement. ­Officials in some unions, including the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, may have taken bribes from criminals.

Some of the lowest-paid members of our society, including thousands of members of the Health Services Union, have been preyed upon by rapacious union leaders.

The union movement is unlikely to be cleaned up unless its political leaders, which included Ms Gillard, acknowledge there is a problem.

Aaron Patrick is deputy editor (news) and author of Downfall, How the Labor Party Ripped Itself Apart.

source: The Australian Financial Review

AUSTRALIA’S head of security has revealed a serious concern over the threat of a terror attack on home soil.

The outgoing director-general of ASIO David Irvine told ABC’s 7.30 the threat of an attack has been building over the last year, and that he has an “elevated level of concern”.

“In Australia, we’ve been very lucky in that we have avoided an attack on Australian soil … but we’ve also had to stop terrorist attacks occurring in Australia.

“We are certainly aware of people wanting to conduct terror attacks in the west and in Australia. We are facing a persistent threat.”

Mr Irvine, who steps down on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, told host Leigh Sales that while Australian authorities had thwarted previous attempts to attack the land Down Under, Australia continues to be on the hit list of major terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda and ISIL.

“The current propaganda and talk is of continuing to conduct terrorist attacks in the west, including Australia,” he said.

WHAT ARE THE LIKELY TARGETS?

Double whammy: experts claim the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House are main terrorist targets. Source: News Corp Australia

The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are under threat of a terrorist attack, but they’re not the only Australian landmarks at risk.

According to terrorism experts, a tendency towards “doomsday, apocalyptic strategies” and a need to affect large numbers of casualties in symbolic places means the iconic coathanger and its neighbour, the Sydney Opera House, are prime targets for an attack on home soil.

“It’s harder and harder to get media attention these days, so terrorist attacks are intended to be shocking,” said Dr David Malet, a senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Melbourne and the author of Foreign Fighters.

“Unless somebody was trying to attack ASIO, they’d be looking to get international attention and that would be something iconic.

Justin Hastings, a terrorism expert from the University of Sydney, told news.com.au the iconic Australian pair are a terrorist’s dream because “you can get a two-for-one in Sydney in terms of landmarks by setting it off in Circular Quay.”

To make matters more terrifying, Al-Qaeda’s official magazine has used the Sydney Opera House as an example of a suitable target for a homegrown terrorist attack.

The photo was included in a 2011 issue of Inspire, an online magazine published by associates of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The picture illustrates a section that aims to educate English-speaking terrorists on bomb-making and use of the AK-47 automatic rifles.

Aerial photos of the Sydney Opera House. Picture: Toby Zerna Source: News Corp Australia

The image of the Opera House in Al-Qaeda’s official magazine, Inspire. Picture: All Things Counter Terrorism Source: Supplied

Sydney’s public transport system is also at risk, echoing the devastating 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2005 suicide attacks in London.

“If I wanted to rock the Australian way of life I’d bomb a train,” said Mr Hastings.

“If something goes wrong in Central everything shuts down.”

While government buildings were not out of danger, Mr Hastings said they’re a harder target to hit.

“Government buildings are a lot harder to do anything to, they’re generally well defended.

ARE WE REALLY AT RISK?

Australia’s terrorist threat has never been higher, but it’s also never been lower.

According to Clive Williams, lecturer on terrorism studies at Macquarie University, you’ve got more chance of being knocked down by a car then being exposed to a terrorist attack.

Mr Williams believes it’s highly unlikely for extremist group ISIL to target Australia in an attack, telling news.com.au a terror attack on home soil is “possible”, but certainly not imminent.

Other experts agree, believing that while the threat of an attack is “marginal”, it’s certainly possible.

“There’s a marginal threat, you can’t say its definitely not going to happen but I haven’t seen an indication that would lead to a noticeably greater risk of a terrorist attack than before, said Dr Hastings.

Australian-born terrorist Mohamed Elomar has taunted the West. Source: News Corp Australia

“He was a fanatic and always wanted his own way,” said a school insider of Australian terrorist Sharrouf Khaled. Source: News Corp Australia

The home of Bronwyn Dowrick, mother of suspected Townsville terrorist Christopher Harvard, who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen last year. Source: News Corp Australia

According to Dr Malet, the more terrorists travelling overseas, the less likely of an attack on home soil.

“Ironically enough, the number of these people going to Iraq and Syria probably decreases the risk of a terror attack in the short term, because they’re going overseas instead of engaging here.

“Potentially a number of them are becoming suicide bombers and they’re being killed.”

“We don’t know how (much) greater the risk is today, we do know that terrorism has changed, there’s been a trend in high casualty suicide attacks.”

AUSTRALIA’S THREAT LEVEL REMAINS UNCHANGED IN 11 YEARS

Australia’s terrorist alert has remain unchanged since our National Terrorism Public Alert System came into force in 2003, driven by the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“We’ve never been beyond ‘medium’ since the system came into being,” Mr Williams confirmed.

«Louder than words». Mία παραγωγή που έχει χορογραφήσει ο Αντώνης Φωνιαδάκης (και ο Rafael Bonachela), ενώ ο σχεδιασμός των κουστουμιών ανήκει στον Τάσο Σωφρονίου.

Με ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον οι φιλότεχνοι της Αυστραλίας, κυρίως στο Σίδνεϊ, αναμένουν τον χορευτική παράσταση του «Sydney Dance Company» στις αρχές Οκτωβρίου με τίτλο «Louder than words».

Η παράσταση αυτή παρουσιάζει και ξέχωρο ελληνικό ενδιαφέρον, αφού ανεβαίνει σε χορογραφία Αντώνη Φωνιαδάκη (και του Rafael Bonachela), ενώ ο σχεδιασμός των κουστουμιών ανήκει στον Τάσο Σωφρονίου.

Ο διεθνούς φήμης Έλληνας χορογράφος, Αντώνης Φωνιαδάκης, σπούδασε στην Εθνική Σχολή Χορού της Αθήνας και στο Rudra Bejart της Λοζάνης της Ελβετίας.

Από την Ιεράπετρα της Κρήτης βρέθηκε να χορογραφεί, μεταξύ πολλών άλλων, για την Εθνική Ομάδα Χορού Ουαλίας, την Ομάδα Χορού της Πόλης του Ελσίνκι, το Μπαλέτο του Μεγάλου Θεάτρου της Γενεύης, το Μπαλέτο του Ρήνου, το Μπαλέτο της Ουάσινγκτον, το Μπαλέτο της Όπερας της Λυών και αυτό το διάστημα στο Σίδνεϊ.
Αλλά και ο Τάσος Σωφρονίου που σχεδίασε τα κοστούμια έχει εντυπωσιακές διεθνείς επιτυχίες στο ενεργητικό του.

Για τις «παράνομες» δωρεές στο Φιλελεύθερο Κόμμα.

Αν και η Ανεξάρτητη Επιτροπή κατά της Διαφθοράς που ερευνά τη διαφθορά στη Νέα Νότια Ουαλία, αθώωσε τον ομογενή Αθανάσιο Συνοδινό, πρώην ομοσπονδιακό αναπληρωτή υπουργό Οικονομικών, ο οποίος αναγκάστηκε να παραιτηθεί λόγω της «εμπλοκής του», τώρα τον «εμπλέκει» ξανά ένας άλλος ομογενής.
Ο Πολ Νικολάου, υπεύθυνος για τη συγκέντρωση χρημάτων για το Φιλελεύθερο Κόμμα Νέας Νότιας Ουαλίας, στην κατάθεσή του είπε ότι το 2010 είχε κάνει μια πρόταση σε αξιωματούχους του κόμματος για το πώς μπορούσαν να διοχετευθούν «παράνομες δωρεές» στο κόμμα μέσω του φορέα Free Enteprising Foundation.
«Ο Συνοδινός ήταν στη συνεδρίαση εκείνη που έκανα την πρότασή μου» είπε ο κ. Νικολάου.

Ο ίδιος είπε ότι είχε την αίσθηση πως το θέμα εξετάστηκε από τους δικηγόρους του κόμματος και πως ήταν νόμιμη η αποδοχή των δωρεών.
«Εγώ», είπε, «συγκέντρωνα δωρεές. Δεν είμαι δικηγόρος».

Μέσω του Free Enteprising Foundation φαίνεται πως έφτασαν στο Φιλελεύθερο κόμμα της Νέας Νότιας Ουαλίας 693.000 από «παράνομες δωρεές».
Η Ανεξάρτητη Επιτροπή κατά της Διαφθοράς ερεύνησε και υπόθεση διαφθοράς στην εταιρεία Australian Water Holdings στην οποία ο Συνοδινός ως μέλος της θα κέρδιζε 20 εκατομμύρια δολάρια από ένα συμβόλαιο που θα της ανέθετε η δημόσια επιχείρηση ύδρευσης της Νέας Νότιας Ουαλίας, «Sydney Water», μιας και είχε ο ίδιος μετοχές στην ιδιωτική εταιρεία.

Η ίδια επιτροπή αθώωσε τον κ. Συνοδινό.

Έχει αναφερθεί μάλιστα πως ο ομογενής πρώην ομοσπονδιακός αναπληρωτής Οικονομικών θα επιστρέψει στην κυβέρνηση Άμποτ όταν ολοκληρωθούν οι έρευνες και αποδειχθεί ότι δεν υπάρχει καμιά σκιά για διαφθορά σε βάρος του.